The Rescue squad voted to man an ambulance at the football game, but the Board of Commissioners voted to keep the ambulance at the station. Thus, the first football game of the season was equipped with a Cherry Point ambulance, and in protest, all but 9 members of the Havelock Rescue Squad went on strike.
A compromise was finally reached after about 2 weeks of the strike stating that the Havelock ambulance could stand by at the football game as long as they remained with the ambulance and stayed available to answer calls. This is the main reason that there is a gate at the far side of the football field. From then on Havelock has provided service to the Havelock football team as a stand by unit at the games.