| Junior high demolition digs up old memories |
 |
 |
 |
| Written by DAVID DUPONT Sentinel Staff Writer | ||
| Friday, 25 May 2012 10:20 | ||
Roger Shope, who is monitoring the project for the city Public Works Department, said bystanders have been lining the end of South Grove Street since the work began Tuesday. Some of them, he said, have been teary eyed as they watched the walls come tumbling down. There are also the children thrilled at the sight of so much construction gear in action. Midwest Environmental Control, which acquired the property from the city, is doing the demolition. "There's been a lot of footsteps that have gone through those hallways, a lot of generations," said Danny Pockett, a school district custodian who worked in the school in the mid-1990s. "If those walls could talk what a story it would be," he said. He admitted to being "kind of sad" to see the school reduced to a pile of rubble. He attended high school in the building, before it was a junior high. He has fond memories of that time. Pockett said the 85-year-old building "was always functional" though it needed "a little cosmetic work." "I think it still had life in it, but it reaches a point how much money do you put into it," he said. Dick Mlinarik spent 28 years in the school, first as a teacher and later as assistant principal. He said the building's brave front concealed internal issues. "It had bad moisture problems," he said. There was water in places it shouldn't be from the roof to the basement. "I don't think it impacted the quality of education whatsoever," he said, Watching the digger gouge into the piles of debris, Mlinarik said it was "sad, but I think it has to be done." He said he's looking forward to green space replacing the abandoned school. Lupe Herrera was one of Mlinarik's charges. He attended seventh, eighth and ninth grade there, and remembered it as a time of "new beginnings" when he made a lot of new friends. He stopped by both Wednesday and Thursday. "Just weird watching it go down," he said. While visiting the site Herrera has met with some of his old teachers. He's surprised even more people haven't come down to pay their respects to the old school. His daughters, now 18 and 20, attended school there, and the building seemed to suit their needs. "They didn't have any problems. They just breezed right through." Shope has his own memories of the place. He was a student there in 1978 and 1979. He remembers gazing out the windows as much as the building itself. While some have questioned why the building couldn't find a new use, Shope said that would be impractical. "I don't know how you could have renovated it," he said. "It takes so much money to renovate." Bricks from the school are available at the Public Works garage on Tarragon Drive off East Poe Road. Work on the site is expected to continue through the end of June.
|
||
| Last Updated on Friday, 25 May 2012 10:33 |
Front Page Stories
| BG students face extra fee 06/19/2013 | MARIE THOMAS BAIRD, Sentinel Education Editor  The Bowling Green school district will add pay to participate this fall to all o [ ... ] |
Horizon enters new stage 06/19/2013 | DAVID DUPONT, Sentinel Arts & Entertainment Editor  Horizon youth theater instructor Duffee Maddox (left) and students (from left) Yelia X [ ... ] | Other Front Page Articles | ||
Comments
RSS feed for comments to this post.