At the Homecoming football game September 24, Benilde-St. Margaret’s students were ready to see their varsity team come out with a win. They had to do so, however, while being crammed into a fourth of the grandstands ? a tight situation to say the least.

This circumstance was a result of a failed visitor bleacher inspection. The new visitor stands were up and ready but not approved for use during the Homecoming football game. Weeks afterwards, the visitor stands have finally been cleared for use.

The root of the previous problem lay with the original inspection. On September 24 at 2 p.m., the city inspector deemed the bleachers unfit for occupation, even though they were structurally sound, said Mr. Jerry Pettinger, Benilde-St. Margaret’s Athletic Director.

September 24 was also the day of the game, and this tight inspection schedule led to the complications with the stands as well. “Things were rushed because it was so close to the deadline,” Mr. Pettinger said.

It specifically allowed for little time to sort out the reasons of failure immediately afterwards, though it seemed to be that the city inspector made a simple mistake. “I believe the city inspector was looking at the wrong set of engineer drawings ? had there been more time, things could have been straightened out,” said Mr. Pettinger.

Aware that BSM students were extremely uncomfortable being forced into a small part of the home stands to accommodate the visiting fans during the football game, Mr. Pettinger said that he truly hoped to be using the visitor stands as soon as time allowed.

As the week of Octobor 4 approached, the bleacher situation improved drastically. “BSM re-submitted all the paperwork for the bleachers on Monday, there was an inspection on Tuesday and we granted a certificate of occupancy on Wednesday. I am very pleased that we are able to use the visiting bleachers,” said Mr. Petinger.

Approximately two weeks of waiting yielded the approval of the visitor stands and more space for BSM fans. After previously waiting with much anticipation for a space to truly call their own, BSM students have received the solution to the crammed stands that they have long been waiting for.