Thunder will rumble at Taggart

September 14, 2006


By Pat Litowitz
New Castle News


Eleven games into its inaugural season, the New Castle Thunder will play a true home game.

In a 6-1-1 vote last night, the New Castle Area School Board granted permission for the minor league football team to use Taggart Stadium Saturday for a North American Football League contest.

Peter Yerage, Donna Donati, Karen Humphrey, Allan Joseph, Mark Kirkwood and Richard Panella Jr. supported the action.

Philip Conti voted against the measure. Board president Fred Mozzocio abstained and Charlotte Sheffield was absent.

“Taggart Stadium ... is built to play football,” Thunder owner Anthony Razzano said during the meeting’s pubic participation session. “That’s why it’s there.”

Thunder officials sought use of Taggart on Saturday and Sept. 23. Yerage amended the original measure to reduce the number of games from two to one.

Conti, who backed the Thunder’s two-game request, opposed the change.

“What are you trying to prove by limiting (the Thunder) to one game?” Conti asked the board.

He received no response.

District solicitor Charles Sapienza met last week with Razzano and team attorney Carmen Lamancusa to discuss the district’s rental agreement. Sapienza said the team met the standards set by the district.

However, before giving its approval, the board needed to address a district policy adopted in 2004. At issue was an exemption that prevents “commercial groups who primary aim is the sale of a product or service” the use of school facilities.

“We’re not a product; we’re not a service,” Lamancusa said to the board prior to its vote. “Keep that in mind.”

Razzano also rejected the notion that the Thunder is, in simplest terms, a commercial venture.

“To try to draw the analogy that football is a service is wrong,” he said. “It’s sports entertainment.”

Approving the rental agreement meant the board was violating its own policy, Sapienza said. However, board members have the right to waive policy provisions and re-examine them later.

“What we have now is a policy in place that limits the use of our facilities,” he said.

“You are the ultimate interpreter of your own policy.”

In supporting the Thunder’s request, Donati said that school property does not solely belong to the district’s board members, administrators and employees.

“Schools are owned by everyone in our community,” she said.

The Thunder, sporting an 8-2 mark, will host the Ohio Invaders. Playing in the NAFL’s Grass Roots Division, New Castle has qualified for post-season play.