After gun arrests, Muscogee school district suspends football games at McClung stadium

Mark Rice
·3 min read

The Muscogee County School District won’t play football games in the city-owned A.J. McClung Memorial Stadium until unspecified security issues are addressed to its satisfaction, officials told the Ledger-Enquirer.

The decision comes after Columbus police arrested three teenagers outside the stadium Friday night on weapon charges after police confiscated three guns.

Those arrests happened after a fight among fans inside the stadium broke out near the end of the third quarter during the game between city rivals Carver and Spencer high schools. Officials ended the game early after the fight caused chaos in the stands and on the field.

An officer with the Muscogee County School District’s police department inspects a bag at Odis Spencer Stadium in Columbus, Georgia prior to the Aug. 24, 2023 varsity football game between Kendrick High School and Shaw High School. 08/24/2023
An officer with the Muscogee County School District’s police department inspects a bag at Odis Spencer Stadium in Columbus, Georgia prior to the Aug. 24, 2023 varsity football game between Kendrick High School and Shaw High School. 08/24/2023

“Due to staffing issues related to security, the District has suspended the use of the stadium until the security situation can be adequately addressed,” MCSD communications director Kimberly Wright wrote to the Ledger-Enquirer in an email Tuesday.

As the Ledger-Enquirer reported Tuesday, MCSD announced new safety rules for spectators attending varsity football games at the two fields owned by the school district: Kinnett Stadium and Odis Spencer Stadium.

Spencer Stadium is where a 17-year-old was arrested during the Aug. 18 game between Spencer and Greenville high schools on two counts of carrying a weapon on school property after an MCSD police officer noticed the outline of a handgun in the teen’s book bag and found two loaded handguns during the investigation.

Wednesday, the Ledger-Enquirer tried to better understand what Wright means by “staffing issues related to security” at McClung.

Wright didn’t reply before publication, and MCSD athletics director Jeff Battles referred the Ledger-Enquirer back to her, but did say part of the concern is jurisdictional.

Jeff Battles is the director of athletics for the Muscogee County School District.
Jeff Battles is the director of athletics for the Muscogee County School District.

The school district, which has its own police department, is in charge of the security at Kinnett and Spencer stadiums, with the Columbus Police Department and Muscogee County Sheriff’s Office also assigning officers to help. But CPD is in charge of security at McClung because it’s a city-owned stadium, Battles said.

Although he couldn’t specify the number of officers assigned to football games at those stadiums, Battles said the number varies depending on multiple factors, such as the expected size of the crowd.

Odis Spencer Stadium opened last year to give MCSD three fields to play football games and other sports for its eight high schools with athletics programs. That helped reduce the need to play home games Thursdays and Saturdays, but MCSD will have to use alternative dates for at least some of the four games being rescheduled from McClung this season, Battles said.

Here are the rescheduled games:

  • Sept. 15, Jordan vs. Southwest Macon, moved from McClung to Odis Spencer, same date at 7 p.m.

  • Sept. 22, Carver vs. Hapeville, moved from McClung to Kinnett, date changed to Sept. 23 at 2 p.m.

  • Oct. 6, Kendrick vs. Northeast Macon, moved from McClung to Kinnett, same date at 7 p.m.

  • Oct. 19, Jordan vs. Central Macon, moved from McClung to Odis Spencer, date changed to Oct. 21 at noon.

Columbus city manager Isaiah Hugley referred the Ledger-Enquirer’s questions about security at McClung to Mayor Skip Henderson, whose position makes him the city’s public safety director as well. The L-E didn’t reach Henderson before publication.