The Starr's

Mill High School stadium, now under construction, will

have concrete bleachers instead of aluminum seating,

based on a funding arrangement with the Panther Athletic

Booster Club.

The

boosters have agreed to raise $150,000, half of the

$300,000 necessary to have concrete in place of aluminum,

which is in short supply worldwide according to Wayne

Leslie of Leslie Contracting Inc.

"There

will no incremental costs to the Board of

Education," Jimmy McCullough, president of the PABC,

told the Fayette County Board of Education Thursday. The

other $150,000 has been pledged by the Fayette Community

Foundation, a group of anonymous donors.

Leslie has

issued the PABC a two-year, interest-free note on the

$150,000 and McCullough is confident his organization can

muster the money. Their current budget is in excess of

$100,000 and the move to switch to conrete has the full

support of the PABC and the Starr's Mill Band Boosters.

Completion

of the stadium is likely to be in February 2000. The

uncertainty of obtaining the aluminum bleachers could

have delayed the project even further. "This could

have a severe impact on the spring athletic programs, as

well as the inaugural graduation exercise,"

McCullough said.

The board

called the proposal a win-win arrangement and gave

approval of the plan, pending the legal consent of their

attorney.