Page 33 - 1985.Millard.North

. Pane surveys the damage done to the pool in this
oto from the Omaha World Herald.
Pride Not Destroyed

A s students entered the building on leakage caused ceilings to collapse in two
the morning of Oct. 22, there was administrative offices on the floor below.
a quietness in the air. This wasn 't There were also broken glass cases and
just another Monday with the usual blank equipment and bookshelves that had been
faces and red-rimmed eyes. It seemed as tipped over.
if many students were afraid of what The contents of 15-20 fire extin-
they'd find. guishers were emptied into restrooms,
Once inside, the excited chattering classrooms, and the pool. Besides the
began and stories, rumors, and facts were difficulty in cleaning up the thick, yellow
exchanged . For the janitors, teachers, powder, the chemicals were designed to
students, and administrators who'd spent saturate paper. The mess in Prep B was
perhaps as much as twelve hours cleaning worsened by the fact that some student
up Sunday, the mess was a reality. papers disintegrated in the cleaning-up
The break-in occurred sometime process.
between 10:45 Saturday night and 7:30 Weights , tables, chairs , and the foam
Sunday morning, when Associate Superin- " Port-a-Pit '"s used for diving practices
tendent Ron Witt of the district's adminis - were thrown into the pool. It had to be
trative office came in to do some work. drained and thoroughly cleaned because
. . What he discovered was a trail of of the chemicals from the fire extingu ishers .
destruction extending throughout the Broken glass from the shattered trophy
school. Damage was estimated to be cases, bulletin board covers, and the front
around $10,000, not including the $6,000 display case covered the hall floors.
worth of stolen property later recovered. Perhaps symbolically, the glass containing
The vandals apparently entered the the "Excellence in Education " flag awarded
building by breaking in a glass door on the just this year was also smashed.
west side with a wooden pole. They then Though the damage was extensive,
damaged property in several areas , with things were cleaned up in time for the
most of the damage being centered in the presentation of the award, which took
9-10 building. place only four days later. Representatives
In the 9-10 science area, water pipes of the U.S. Department of education from
were broken when laboratory sinks were Washington , D.C. presented Principal Ike
twisted off. The floors of two rooms were Pane with a plaque honoring MN at an
consequently covered with water, and all -school assembly.

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Unaccustomed to their surroundings, students Public relations director Nancy Holloran discovered
wander through the empty pool after the debris has her t.v./radio to be smashed in by the vandals .
been removed .

Vandalism 29