By Annie Rigby
Barry Brooks, Loris High School athletic director, and Jody Cox, assistant, joined all of Horry County Schools in lighting up the fields at the school in honor of the class of 2020. Brooks turned on the lights at the football field, tennis court, softball and baseball field for twenty minutes beginning at 8:20 p.m. which is 20:20 in military time representing the class of 2020.
Brooks was joined by the principal Richard Crumley, Nate Bellamy, Tim Graham the varsity baseball head coach, David Smith the head coach for varsity softball, Dr. Maudie Davis and Wanda Todd lead guidance counselor at Loris High School. Each stood at locations at the ball fields in anticipation that possibly some of the students wanting to see the lights would come to see the lights in their honor.
Brooks said, “I’m letting them drive around as long as they stay in their car,” he continued, “I’m letting them make a loop around the school where they can see the football field, the tennis courts which had just been redone, the softball field, the baseball field and they can go out the drive through where the police are stationed.” He stated they had a security officer set to tell everyone to follow the route. He said, “We turned the lights on at 8:20 on the dot.” At exactly 8:40 p.m. the lights dimmed down and darkness fell over the fields.
The Loris Recreation Center field lights on the softball field and baseball fields were also lit up in honor of the seniors. Mayor Todd Harrelson and Brandon Harrelson turned the lights on and waited and watched a few of the seniors drive around the loop.
On the football field Brooks said the athlete’s names and numbers on the field in the school colors. Sadly, the locks and chains to the gates of the field were damaged and needed to be replaced with temporary locks until the school can issue the standard lock for security reasons. He said he lost three locks on Friday, he reiterated in one day three locks were damaged. He made no statement as to who was responsible for the damage; however he was disappointed in the number of times the locks and chains were damaged in one day.
There were 25 vehicles that traveled the loop to see the lights in their honor. They began by viewing the lights from the road, they moved over to the recreation parking area where they were informed they could drive through to see all of the fields as long as they remained inside their vehicles. Five cars remained parked at the baseball field after the lights were turned off; it was a moment of reflection for the students who were able to visit the high school.
Loris residents were asked to turn on their porch lights at 8:20 to 8:40 p.m. to show their support for the LHS Class of 2020.