Ground was broken!!!

Today, at 12:15 CST, the first scoops of dirt were removed from the lots that will be soon covered by our new grade domed school in Leoti.

Even though it was a brisk and windy day here, many people still came to be a part of the festivities.

Dr. James Hardy, Wichita County Schools Superintendant, School Board President Kathy Bangerter, and Lonny Busch, manager of Cargill Feeders (Caprock), gave a very nice and informational talk to all in attendance. This week's students-of-the-week from Kindergarten through fifth grade were bussed to the construction site to dig some dirt. The school also selected two students from the 6th grade to have fun in the dirt. I hate to say this, but the only two kids who I recognized were Brannon Burch, son of Werner and Adrienne McRae-Burch, and Leighlyn Blau, daughter of Stan and Lynn Elder-Blau. They represented the 6th grade. As soon as THE LEOTI STANDARD comes out and announces the names of those other children, I will post their names also.

Dr. Hardy introduced the powers-that-be of the construction company who are building the domes and Mark Jones and Leif Christensen who are in charge of doing the dirt work required for this amazing project.

After all of the years of great bitterness from the people who were in favor of the new school and their opponents who wanted to continue to use the existing grade school, this was a monumental day in Wichita County history. I was proud to be a part of it. I seriously doubt that the project would be underway if it weren't for all of the hours, days, weeks, months that Dr. Hardy put in to finding a compromise that all of us could live with. Kudos to him!!!

The first dome should be ready for inflation next Thursday or Friday. It is located just north of the high school gym. Dr. Hardy promised to try to get the word out so that people can be there to watch the inflating. You can count on me to try to get that information to you as soon as I know anything!

A great many thanks are due to Dr. James Hardy, the Wichita County Schools School Board, and the many Wichita Countians who stepped forward and voted YES last year when it really counted!!!

VLE-B