Concerns over faulty light poles are forcing universities and high schools to move or postpone football games.
The University of Arkansas at Monticello announced this weekend's football game will move to Arkadelphia because the poles at Convoy Leslie-Cotton Boll stadium have fatigue related cracks. At least 19 Arkansas communities have the same light poles.
We first told you about the
Consumer Product Safety Commission alert last week.
Monticello is like a lot of other schools. Taking the next step now that they know its light poles need to be checked out.
Add Monticello to the growing list of Arkansas school districts looking at their stadium light poles.
"When we first heard about it, we were concerned for the safety of our community," Monticello School District Superintendent Bob Harper says.
With good reason. Other poles from the now out of business Whitco Co. of Fort Worth, TX have had catastrophic failures, collapsing onto bleachers, even crashing into a gymnasium.
"Schools really need to pay attention," Wes Oliphant says.
Wes Oliphant works for Reliapole Solutions which inspects poles for structural integrity and potential design flaws. Oliphant says he's inspected approximately 100 Whitco poles in multiple states, 30 of which already show cracks at the base where the pole connects to a mount bolted into the ground.
"The other 70 don't have cracks, but over time, they will too," Oliphant says.
Monticello High would typically just move its games to the University of Arkansas-Monticello stadium. However the UAM stadium has the same Whitco lights.
The Reliapole crew on Thursday sprayed red magnetic dust directly onto polls at Convoy-Leslie Cotton Bowl Stadium. The dust attaches to any imperfections in the steel. The tests at UAM revealed small fatigue related cracks in the base plate.
"Sometimes it will show that the pole isn't in danger of collapsing immediately, but that certainly doesn't mean its safe," Oliphant says.
Harper says he expects to receive a report from Reliapole early next week to determine what the next step is for Monticello High School.
"We're not sure what we're going to do," Harper says. "If we have to move our home games than we might end up playing all our games on the road."
The Consumer Product Safety Commission has confirmed nine incidents where Whitco poles collapsed.
The poles were constructed between 2000 and 2006.
Searcy High School has already
moved its home football games to other stadiums.
