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Belington High School - Belington, WV
From: "Howard Brady" <hlbrady@msn.com>
To: "Robert Brady" <bradytrilogy@yahoo.com>
Sent: Tuesday, April 08, 2003 4:38 PM
Subject: Belington High School
Here's a story that Dad told about his days in Belington
High School, that he didn't include in his memoirs:
Belington High School had announced well in advance
of the Holiday season that the school would be closed for two weeks over
Christmas and New Year's Day. The Friday before the Christmas vacation was
to begin, the principal announced that the school
board had changed the plan, and students would be getting only the two holidays
off. The high school was filled with a bunch of unhappy students.
On Saturday night a group of boys from Junior went
skunk hunting. They caught a skunk, and carried it by the tail while driving
an old Model T roadster (with the rumble seat for the Skunk manager) into
Belington and up to the high school. (The general
belief was that a skunk could not spray if he was held up by the tail; apparently
it worked this time. I understand from later reading that it only works with
some skunks; some will deliver a blast even when held up by the
tail.)
The boys broke into the school furnace room. The school was heated
by forced hot air. Next to the furnace was a large horizontal hot air duct
about ten feet long that led from the furnace to the fan that fed all the
school hot air distribution ducts that led everywhere.
In the middle of this horizontal duct was an access door. The boys opened
this door, and placed Mr. Skunk inside the duct.
Sunday evening the school janitor came in to fire up
the furnace for the next day of classes. The Skunk was unhappy with the hot
furnace on one side and the fan on the other, and showed his unhappiness
by emptying his storage chambers. The hot air system
efficiently delivered Mr. Skunk's message to the entire school.
Not
only did the students get their two weeks off, but several additional days.
And, in icy January, classes were held with students and teacher huddled
in overcoats, because the windows had to be open enough to provide some relief
from the smell.
(When I asked Dad if he was part of the gang that went skunk
hunting, he said "never you mind." I really don't think he was part of the
gang, but he knew all of them very well, and probably knew what they had
done before the evidence was apparent to the school
administration.)
Note: In Reclaimed Memories, during the "This Is Your Life"
(Troy getting flamed) story which was read at Troy's retirement dinner, it
was mentioned that his cousins, the Shomos, owned
a Model T Ford. Stark Shomo, beside being family,
was his best friend growing up. I pointed this out to my father, Howard.
He said that it was more likely that the "Midnight Gang", mentioned in the chapter "From Rowtown to Junior", were the culprits. Dad says that he felt Stark was a bit too straight to have been involved......RmB 4-9-2003
This Belington High school building that Dad attended
was still in use when I was in High School. The Elkins High A Capella Choir
(of which I was a member for three years) went on a road trip in 1951 or
1952, and gave a performance at Belington High, in
the old building. I didn't notice any strange smells while there, however.
HLB
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