prickly prank

It may have been a prank, but a criminal investigation has started into a bizarre incident at Tawas High School.

The Tawas-Alcona football game was moved to Alcona after thousands of toothpicks were found in the football field at Tawas.

It may have been a prank, but whoever pulled off the toothpick caper could face some criminal charges.

"It certainly was different," said Tawas Superintendent Don Thwing.

"This was the first for me," said Tawas Michigan State Police Lt. Robert Lesneski.

It was most likely the first for a lot of people who were waiting for the Tawas-Alcona football game to start Friday night.

One of the players during warm-ups felt something odd on the field, and that's when they realized someone had planted toothpicks into the turf.

Lesneski was on the field that night.

"At least a couple of thousand," he said. "You couldn't see them because they were pushed into the ground, probably half to three quarters of the way."

They used a tractor and roller to drive them into the field, but that didn't work.

That's when hundreds of fans came out of the stands and started helping remove the toothpicks. But the officials felt the field still wasn't safe.

Tawas High School also lost revenue that night as everyone got in the cars and headed north to Alcona County, where the game eventually started at 9:30 p.m.

Another school district offered its field that night, and Thwing says while a few may have gone out of their way to spoil senior night, the region came together to get the game in.

"When you look at the community response, it was just very gratifying," he said.
The investigation continues.

"We did recover some evidence at the scene that will probably lead us in the direction of where that product was purchased," Lesneski said.

The State Police is looking at an allegation that another area high school had a similar stunt where plastic forks were put into the football field a few weeks ago.