Gazette: Senator alleges backroom deal for artificial turf fields in Howard Co.

Howard school system was not pressured, delegate counters
by Andrew Ujifusa, Staff Writer

A Howard County senator is alleging that a backroom deal secured $2 million in alcohol tax money for new artificial turf fields at two county high schools.
Sen. Allan H. Kittleman (R-Dist. 9) of West Friendship said Thursday that the Howard County Public School System was pressured to spend half of its $4 million windfall from new alcohol tax proceeds to install turf fields at Atholton and Hammond high schools.
The school system was told that the $2 million had to be spent in districts represented by legislators who supported the new alcohol tax, he said. The artificial turf funding was not part of the originally intended use of the money in the capital budget plan the school system approved earlier this year, but was added later, Kittleman said...