By Richard Kerns
rkerns@newstribune.info
tribune staff writer

KEYSER — With seven weeks to go before the first home football game is scheduled to be played at Keyser High School, the question of whether the kickoff will occur at the Golden Tornado's new stadium remains unanswered. Because it hasn't officially been asked.
That was the spin at Tuesday's meeting of the Mineral County Board of Education, where Superintendent Skip Hackworth opened the session by previewing promising preliminary results from standardized test results.
“We talk about a lot of important things,” he said. “Probably the most important is the achievement of our boys and girls.”
As the calendar turns to the approaching start of school, however, the fall football season is almost as important for many Mountain State residents, and in Keyser, once again, the topic of utmost concern is the status of the new football stadium.
“It's getting close to football,” School Board President Terry LaRue noted. “Some people are getting nervous.”
School Board member Craig Rotruck broached the issue, saying a scuffle almost broke out recently among regulars at the Royal diner, over whether the field will be ready.
Pulled to a perpetually uncomfortable topic, Hackworth dutifully updated the board on a number of items that need to be completed before the field house is ready.
Concrete has to be poured for the floors, and the school system is trying to get “apples-to-apples” bids for the work. Windows and doors can't be installed until the concrete is poured. Water is installed at the facility, but electric is not.
Furthermore, Hackworth reported on a recent meeting with officials from the State Fire Marshal's Office, who advised him that a fire alarm system would have to be installed throughout the building.
Despite those outstanding issues with the facility — most of which is dedicated to locker-room features —Hackworth noted that the prioirty must be the press box.
“We can dress at the high school,” the superintendent said. “What's important is the press box.”
Following the litany of still undone to-do items, Board Member Kevin Watson echoed Rotruck, saying the “rumor mill” is churning, and that several people in the past week had asked him if the facility will be ready, or whether Keyser will have to play its early home games at Frankfort.
“Can I squash that rumor?” he asked.
Hackworth replied with the kind of non-answer that was a staple in recent Senate hearings on Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor. Essentially he said the rumors are untrue, not because the athletic complex will positively be ready, but because the issue of a fallback venue has not been broached.
“There's no validation to any of those rumors ... none of that's been discussed,” he said. “There's been no discussion about playing anywhere else.”
Later, Hackworth apologized for what he termed his “smart aleck” response, but repeated that the question of Keyser's playing at Frankfort isn't on the table, because it hasn't been put there. “No discussions have been held with anyone,” he said.
LaRue offered his own take on how he responds to those same questions when he's asked about the status of the Keyser facility. “People ask me, I say it's going to be done,” he said.
To which Watson jokingly replied, “If they call me, I'll say Terry said it's going to be done.”