Anonymous donor provides $600,000 for D-B stadium new light, sound systems

KINGSPORT — Talk about a secret Santa: Christmas came a little early late last year for Dobyns-Bennett High School and Kingsport City Schools with a donation of more than half-a-million dollars.An anonymous donor has given $600,000 to upgrade the lighting and audio systems at J. Fred Johnson Stadium, the venue for D-B football and other KCS and community activities. The Board of Education accepted the money at its Nov. 30 meeting and in a separate vote hired a design firm for the project at a cost of $25,000.Assistant Superintendent of Administration Andy True said that the funding sources was an "anonymous donor." Asked if the donor was alive or dead, male or female, individual, group or business, True would respond only that the individual was an "anonymous donor."In recent history, the donation is among some of the larger ones. Those include the 2014 installation of the end zone score board and video screen funded by a donation from Pal's Sudden Service founder Pal Barger, who died in October 2020, and the 2006 donation of the land on which Adams Elementary School that opened in 2009 in the Rock Springs community by the Danny Karst family/Edinburgh Development Group."The administration of Dobyns-Bennett high school has been approached by an individual that has expressed interest in funding an upgrade to the light and sound systems at J. Fred Johnson Stadium," Moorhouse wrote in a Nov. 16 memorandum to the board. "Preliminary estimates for these upgrades are approximately $600,000."Moorhouse wrote that an architect, required for a project of that size, may add to the cost. The board, after a presentation by Chief Financial Officer David Frye, presented a proposal from Johnson City-based Holston Engineering for the "Stadium Upgrade Project." Frye wrote that covers "complete engineering package through receipt of bids and project management with associated documentation for a complete project."The board voted 4-0 with one absent to approve the agreement for Holston to provide engineering services for the D-B stadium and dome upgrades for $18,000 and $6,000 for project management with associated documentation for a complete project, making for a total of $25,000, according to a letter to KCS from Derwin E. Cartmel, principal mechanical engineer and president of Holston Engineering.The audio system at the stadium is all but worn out, True said and Moorhouse wrote.However, per discussion at the Nov. 30 board meeting and Moorhouse's memo, the lighting system still has some life left in it. During the meeting, he said the lighting may be moved to the new Sevier Middle School home, the former Sullivan North High School campus.KCS purchased that property with $20 million out of Sullivan County bond proceeds, a pot of money that also funded the addition and new front to D-B, as well as Sullivan County's new West Ridge High and Sullivan East Middle schools, the new Tennessee Middle School in Bristol and a portion of the Liberty Bell improvements in Johnson City.Try the Kingsport Times News app today. Download here from Google Play and the App Store.