Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, June 26, 1995 TAG: 9506260170
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE:
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Stonewall Jackson Middle School won't fall like the Oklahoma City federal building.
The demolition of the school in Southeast Roanoke will be gradual and piecemeal, with a wrecking ball. There will be no explosives.
After most of the bodies were removed from the Oklahoma City federal building, demolition experts knocked it down in eight seconds.
That was on the mind of some Southeast residents recently when Richard Kelley, assistant school superintendent for operations, outlined plans for the $6 million modernization project.
They wanted to know how the building would be razed.
"It won't be like Oklahoma City," Kelley said.
The old classroom wing, which was built in 1923, will be demolished and rebuilt on the same site. It will be linked to the cafeteria and gymnasium, which were built about 1960 and will be renovated.
Kelley said several historical features would be saved from the old building - the cornerstone and school name block, granite steps, original classroom flooring and stone frames at entrances.
Some of the historical pieces might be used in a gazebo on the lawn or at the entrance plaza to the building, Kelley said.
The entrance will be moved from the Ninth Street side to Montrose Avenue, where buses will drop off and pick up children.
Saving Starkey Park
The message from the Roanoke County Board of Supervisors to School Superintendent Deanna Gordon was clear:
Save Starkey Park if you want to build a new Cave Spring High School.
And it has complicated planning for a new school if that is what consultants recommend this fall.
If the park is eliminated, Supervisor Harry Nickens predicted that voters would reject a bond issue to pay for a new high school.
"I am not going to support a plan that eradicates a $565,000 park. What won't pass is spending money twice for parks," Nickens told Gordon recently. "It will go down if that park is taken for a new school."
The issue has arisen because the 12-acre park is next to the proposed site for a new high school off Merriman Road near Penn Forest Elementary School.
School officials need more land for a new high school. They own about 25 acres and have negotiated the possible purchase of several additional acres, but they need 40 to 60 acres.
Gordon said that consultants studying the school issue would decide whether the site was a good one and how many acres were needed. School officials bought the site several years ago, before the study began.
The study will also decide whether one large high school would be preferred or if two small high schools would be best.
Until the study is finished, school officials won't know whether the park land would be required for the school, Gordon said.
School officials have raised the possibility of incorporating the school's athletic fields into the park and creating a joint complex. The consultants have been asked to study this idea.
In the meantime, the supervisors have told a community group that it can proceed with plans to build additional facilities at the park. The county will reimburse the group for their expenses if any facilities are supplanted by a school.
Barking up the right tree
The U.S. Forest Service just put a lot more bite into its law enforcement and search and rescue operations on national lands in Virginia.
The latest member to join the George Washington and Jefferson National Forest unit is Jerry, a three-year-old, 110-pound German shepherd who was trained in Russia. The dog responds to 60 commands spoken in Russian by his handler, Officer Vonnie Howard.
Jerry can sniff out drug traffickers as well as stranded hikers. He and his two-legged partner will be stationed in Buena Vista and patrol the recently merged forest, which covers almost 2 million acres. The duo will also assist other federal, state and local agencies in cracking down on narcotics trafficking and search and rescue.
The Forest Service has few K-9 law enforcement units nationwide, and most of them are typically trained in foreign countries and respond to commands in Russian, German and Dutch, as well as English.
Jerry cost $3,000, plus another $4,000 for training, which includes officer protection. Howard and the dog continue training several hours a week to keep their skills sharpened.
"People have a whole new respect for me and the work I do," Howard said.
by CNB