Karns City opens gates to all fans
Karns City is swinging its gates wide open.
The school district on Tuesday announced it will allow spectators at sporting events effective immediately in response to the 66-page opinion by U.S. District Judge William Stickman IV on Monday that said, in part, that limitations on indoor and outdoor gatherings are unconstitutional.
Gov. Wolf and Secretary of Health Dr. Rachel Levine have limited gatherings to 25 attendees for indoor and 250 people for outdoor events.
Stickman wrote in his opinion that those restrictions violated the First Amendment right to freedom of assembly.
The Karns City school board discussed the ruling at its meeting Monday night. While they didn't vote on the matter, they agreed that Stickman's opinion paved the way for them to permit more fans at events, said Karns City Area superintendent Eric Ritzert.
Karns City solicitor, Tom Breth, of the firm Dillon McCandless King Coulter & Graham in Butler, worked on the lawsuit against Wolf.
“The school's solicitor agreed that since the ruling was the limits were unconstitutional, that we were not going to have to place numeric limits on attendance,” Ritzert said.
Karns City had a home volleyball match scheduled for Tuesday night against Keystone.
The boys soccer team will host West Shamokin Thursday at Diehl Stadium and the football team welcomes DuBois on Friday night.
Ritzert stressed it still won't be business as usual at Karns City, however.
Masks must still be worn at all times and fans must still make efforts to social distance.
“We're appealing to our fans to do the right thing,” Ritzert said.
The PIAA, the state's athletic governing body, will hold a virtual meeting Wednesday.
It is unclear if Stickman's ruling will be discussed. The PIAA also has a meeting scheduled for next week.
Officials at other school districts in Butler County are taking a wait-and-see approach, preferring to wait for an official stance from the PIAA, or for their solicitors to review the ruling.
Wolf on Tuesday said he will appeal Stickman's opinion.
“There's no sense debating a ruling that will be appealed,” Wolf said. “Two of three federal judges upheld what we did.”
Ritzert said that if Wolf gets a stay on the ruling, Karns City will have to change its stance.
“We will have to go back and comply,” Ritzert said. “It's not for us as a school district to challenge the governor.”
The news was welcome for coaches, athletes and parents at Karns City.It was particularly joyous news for those involved in volleyball.With the strict 25-person indoor limit, it was difficult to simply get both teams into the gym at the same time, let alone to have fans in the stands.Morgan Smith, a senior volleyball player for the Gremlins, said she screamed with joy at the news.“I was so worried that my senior year wasn't going to be as much as I lived it up to be,” Morgan said. “My parents and my grandparents were heartbroken that they couldn't come watch me play out my senior season. But finally (Tuesday) I got to tell them that they could come watch me.”Shavon McCanna, also a senior volleyball player at Karns City, said it will help the team logistically as well.“Practicing was kinda rough due to always having to have different team players outside of the gym — we had to keep switching everyone in and out,” Shavon said. “(It was also hard because) my No. 1 supporters couldn't be there.”Karns City girls soccer coach Tracy Dailey has been one of the most ardent proponents of dropping the number limits at events.She too welcomed the news with excitement.Dailey has several children who play sports in the district. Her 15-year-old daughter, Emma, plays for her on the soccer team.Hanna, 12, and Jaxx, 9, also play sports.“They did what was in the best interests for the district, students and parents,” Dailey said. “I think it is a decision that was tough to make, but the right one.“When you can go to Walmart with hundreds of people and Lernerville Speedway with thousands of people, it didn't make sense to have these limits,” she added.“Kids are doing a good job wearing their masks. Parents have done so much, taking them to and from practice. They need to be able to see their kids play.”
