CLARKSBURG --  On Tuesday, the Harrison County Board of Education granted a group of community members preliminary permission to build a new baseball field at R.C.B High School in Clarksburg.

The group plans to combine corporate donations and private support to pay for the $442,000 facility which will be located to the left of the school's access road near the tennis courts.

The Staton family pledged $352,000 towards the park which will include new lighting, fencing, a scoreboard and other amenities.

The group is also looking for donations for the seating or bleachers, Jimmy Staton said during the meeting.

Members plan to establish a "friends of baseball" non-profit agency in order to work with the BOE on the project.

Staton and colleagues said they planned to start on the project soon.

In other business, the BOE narrowed down its plans for a football field for Liberty High School.

Thrasher Engineering presented three options for the board to consider during Tuesday's meeting.

In the end, board members agreed they needed more information on two different options which both include building the new football field on Liberty's campus.

Board members eliminated the Hite Field location after more than an hour of consideration and debate.

One option includes relocating the baseball and softball fields and building a new football field in their place. This option is closer to the $2.5 million budget but would not include a field house for the players, members said.

A field house would significantly increase the price of the project, they said.

The other option includes building a football field at the current practice field location and making extra room for parking along the access road.

This option does include a field house but it puts the project roughly $800,000 over budget, board member Mike Queen said.

Board members have a number of questions about each option and have asked Thrasher Engineering to further develop the plans on both projects.

Thrasher will provide that information in a special meeting set for July 21st at 2:30 p.m.