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PITTSBURG —
The flagpole that has long stood in front of Pittsburg Community Middle School on Broadway Street has come down for good.
The pole stood as a beacon for the school perhaps since it was built, maintenance director Jim Newell said, but its structural integrity has recently been called into question by several people.
“The guy that used to paint our flag poles got to a point where he didn't want to mess with it,” Newell said. “Myself and some other folks were concerned with it’s mechanical stability. We’re not sure how old it is, but it is old, old. The last thing we need is for the pole to fall down and hurt someone. I’m not saying it would, but it has five joints, and it’s hard to say how stable they are since it's been there as long as it has.”
Add to that fact that another pole was added on the building’s north side, facing 14th Street, when USD 250 renovated the building several years ago, and it was just time to remove it, Newell said.
“We’re also taking out the sidewalks,” Newell said, adding that the district’s insurance provider advised it to remove them since they’re not in use.
“There are enough cracks and bad spots in them and they told us to either reform them or remove them, so we’re taking them out.”
Freddy Van’s is handling the removal and is using the large track hoe out front to take up the sidewalks.
“We’ll wait until fall and seed the sidewalks with grass,” Newell said. “With sod, without water you can’t make grass survive.”
Fred Van Becelaere, owner of Freddy Van’s, said the pole came down easily.
“It came down just like we planned, and we had it down in about two hours,” he said.
Van Becelaere said he gripped the upper half of the pole with an excavator and attached a forklift at the bottom so he could cut the base of the pole. “We cut all but two inches and bent it over and eventuall she broke,” he said.
Van Becelaere said he plans to haul the pole away as soon as he can get a trailer that’s long enough.
The flagpole that has long stood in front of Pittsburg Community Middle School on Broadway Street has come down for good.
The pole stood as a beacon for the school perhaps since it was built, maintenance director Jim Newell said, but its structural integrity has recently been called into question by several people.
“The guy that used to paint our flag poles got to a point where he didn't want to mess with it,” Newell said. “Myself and some other folks were concerned with it’s mechanical stability. We’re not sure how old it is, but it is old, old. The last thing we need is for the pole to fall down and hurt someone. I’m not saying it would, but it has five joints, and it’s hard to say how stable they are since it's been there as long as it has.”
Add to that fact that another pole was added on the building’s north side, facing 14th Street, when USD 250 renovated the building several years ago, and it was just time to remove it, Newell said.
“We’re also taking out the sidewalks,” Newell said, adding that the district’s insurance provider advised it to remove them since they’re not in use.
“There are enough cracks and bad spots in them and they told us to either reform them or remove them, so we’re taking them out.”
Freddy Van’s is handling the removal and is using the large track hoe out front to take up the sidewalks.
“We’ll wait until fall and seed the sidewalks with grass,” Newell said. “With sod, without water you can’t make grass survive.”
Fred Van Becelaere, owner of Freddy Van’s, said the pole came down easily.
“It came down just like we planned, and we had it down in about two hours,” he said.
Van Becelaere said he gripped the upper half of the pole with an excavator and attached a forklift at the bottom so he could cut the base of the pole. “We cut all but two inches and bent it over and eventuall she broke,” he said.
Van Becelaere said he plans to haul the pole away as soon as he can get a trailer that’s long enough.
