Story 15- Stumbling into a stake-out
As a preface, I guess I should begin this story back in the days when I was in the Army Reserves; a sergeant in charge of a medical section. As requisitions for supplies were always a pain, I found it easier to take a case of beer to fellows at the supply shack during summer training, while my men went through the back door, filling our jeep with our needs for the year. It worked well…… well, up until they caught on and I was met at the door, case of beer in hand, but with a .45 leveled at my forehead. We left with no supplies and, of course, with no beer.
I was reminded of this event the time in the mid-seventies when I was asked to teach a lapidary summer school class in the high school’s auto shop. With a lot of equipment having to be moved from Goddard to teach the class, it was much easier to do in the evenings when I could get some help from our Boosters.
At one point there was a need to use the restroom. I had been told that our room key should fit that room as well. Although it was dark, I was under the impression the room was right next door. My suspicions were confirmed as the key easily turned in the lock and the door swung open. However, I had to take a step back when I turned the lights on as, Lo and Behold, there before me lay a fully equipped Chemistry classroom/lab.
Keeping in mind, I was a pre-med back in college which meant I had to carry a very heavy load of chemistry, I couldn’t help but to stand back in awe at how well this classroom was equipped. I was especially overwhelmed with the abundance of the high stools at each work station not to mention beakers and other glassware.
This was an opportunity just too much to pass up, so memories of my Army days in supply acquisition kicked in, we started, how do you say(?), relocating some of the equipment and supplies. Matter of fact, many of the stools and glassware is still utilized in the classroom/shop to this day.
Now, before you point a nasty finger at me, keep in mind how funds for a department are given to the one in charge of the department in the public system. As an underling, I was never given this figure; only a little of the run-off of the total amount; the majority of funds going to the elite classes; that, and I was far from greedy in my new found gold mine. Still, ample was left behind.
However, this story concerns what I didn’t procure. Wandering through the backroom where the chemicals were stored, I was a bit taken back with many of the compounds on the shelves; so much so that I remarked to whomever I was with is that I was surprised that organic chemistry was being taught on the high school level. Heck, I didn’t have that class until my junior year of college. No big thing. I shrugged and we left.
The rude awakening came about two weeks later when the headlines in our local newspaper was about a local high school chemistry teacher being arrested for making illegal drugs in the school lab. Now that was just the eye-opener. What really made my mouth go instantly dry was the fine print in the body of the article: “the room had been under surveillance for several weeks after the school had been tipped off by the chemical supply company that they had a teacher making some very exotic perfumes; or some very illegal drugs”.
I have to say, I spent more than a few days after reading that, waiting, waiting, and waiting even more for my doorbell to ring and a set of handcuffs being placed around my wrists.
Bottom line is that I also recall asking one of my more favorite high school Principals for funds only for him to reply: “Funds are pretty tight this year”. My response was, “You know, Dave, I’ve been here nearly 30 years. Can you tell me a single year when they weren’t tight?” Yet, I have in my desk here, pictures of thousands, and I do mean thousands, of text books and library books dumped ingloriously into the school dumpster. Sad! The solution? It should be obvious, but I’ll post on it down the line.
Yet people ask how the rock program was so well equipped. Easy answer. We raised our own funds; and, because of the hard work, we managed them well. There’s a message here….. if you are listening.
Wishing you well,
LarryBme@aol.com