Commemorative bricks not reaching alumni

Tuesday, May 9, 2006 | 7:31 a.m.

Ain't that a brick through the window?

A group of former Basic High School students, who are trying to preserve the memory of their old redbrick schoolhouse at Van Wagenen Street and Pacific Avenue, are trying to give bricks from the demolition of the school as mementos for fellow alumni.

The demolition crew was leaving a pile outside the gates of the site for alumni, as the group found out, but leave a pile of bricks and you'll get a trail of do-it-yourselfers and those looking to make a quick buck by recycling the bricks.

"That definitely was not the intention," said John Moiseve, chairman of the Farewell to Basic Committee, and a member of Basic's class of 1958. He said he learned that one woman boasted that she has come to the site in the foothills of Black Mountain daily to get enough free bricks to rebuild her front porch.

The intention, Moiseve said, was for people to take one or two bricks. The giveaway is being done in part to reach large numbers of alumni and encourage them to donate items to a time capsule that will be built at the new school.

To stem the problem, only small quantities of the 10-inch-by-3-inch bricks are now being left on a pallet at the front gate. The free bricks will be available there through Friday, Moiseve said.

Basic High stood at Van Wagenen and Pacific from 1954 to 1972, the year it moved to 400 N. Palo Verde Drive.

For the next 32 years, the old site served as Burkholder Junior High until disrepair forced its closure in 2004. A new middle school will be built there.

The best of the bricks from the demolition will be used to build a wall on the new campus.

Moiseve can be contacted at 564-5701 for time capsule information.