Doling out green for new artificial turf

PORT NECHES [Texas] — On Tuesday, the Port Neches-Groves ISD school board spent almost $400,000 on a new turf field for Indian Stadium, after FieldTurf, the company currently being sued by the district for installing a defective turf, offered to replace the field for free.
The district will pay a new company, Hellas Construction, $379,289 for the new synthetic turf field.
PN-GISD school board president Rodney Balsamo declined to comment on the major purchase, which is to be taken out of leftover funds from the 2007 bond, and referred all questions to the district’s attorney Lance Bradley.
“I think (the PN-GISD school board) lacks confidence in FieldTurf based on prior dealings with them,” said Bradley, during a telephone interview Tuesday. “They want a safe bet.”
FieldTurf’s offered to replace the four-year-old field but would not grant a new warranty to the replacement turf, according to Bradley.
“Do we want the field if they don’t have enough faith in it to give us a warranty?” said Bradley.
Four months ago PN-GISD entered into a lawsuit with FieldTurf, the company which installed the turf in 2008, after several evaluations reported premature deterioration of the nylon fibers in the synthetic grass surface of the field.
According to previous statements from the PN-GISD superintendent Rodney Cavness, FieldTurf was refusing to recognize their end of the contract...

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