BLACKSBURG MIDDLE HAS AWFUL GYM, TOO

                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SUNDAY, February 7, 1993                   TAG: 9302050028
SECTION: CURRENT                    PAGE: NRV-2   EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium
BLACKSBURG MIDDLE HAS AWFUL GYM, TOO
Thanks [to Staff Writer Ray Cox] for your outstanding column concerning the conditions at Blacksburg High School's Bill Brown Stadium. Blacksburg High has long had premier programs in football and soccer. It is a disgrace to the young people who perform there as well as our entire community.
Aside from the rotten press box, I am most embarrassed at the toilets. From a health standpoint, they are small and not equipped to handle the crowds; from a safety standpoint, there is no reason to subject school facilities to basically unsupervised crowds.
Booster clubs have done the lion's share of the work at the stadium; it's time [Montgomery] county did some work.
As for another facilities issues, go by Blacksburg Middle School and look at the "Swiss cheese" looking gymnasium floor. The county put approximately 6,000 recessed screws in it to keep it from buckling. Can you imagine the floor burn this would give a fallen player?
Also, the gym at the middle school has not had its lights replaced recently, unlike the other five public school gyms around the county.\ FRED H. BURTNER\ BLACKSBURG

Editor's note: According to Larry Shoff, Montgomery County schools facilities director, renovations to Bill Brown Stadium that would include a new press box and toilets as well as other improvements are the capital improvement program; the target date for completion is 1994-95. The cost is about $200,000; the project will be started if and when the money is available, he said.
As for the middle school gym, he said, new lights there were overlooked after they had been provided at the other five county school gyms. "We are going to correct that problem within the next two months," he said.
The screws, which he numbered at approximately 3,500, were installed to correct warping of the floor from years of moisture buildup from, among other factors, a leaky roof. Also, he said, the facility is very old and its floor is prone to breakdown from simple wear and tear. The middle school has as much or more traffic as any facility in the county, he said.
Bids are going to go out soon to refinish about 7,000 square feet of the gym floor (the section under the bleachers not included) at the middle school. When that is done, all holes will be filled in addition to the usual sanding, refinishing and sealing, he said.

by Archana Subramaniam by CNB