Vandals crack security windows at Houghton Elementary School

This story was published Wed, May 26, 1999

By Theresa Goffredo
Herald Oregon bureau

IRRIGON - Vandals cracked three security windows at A.C. Houghton Elementary School here, but the perpetrators failed to break the protective seal for the school's special air system that would keep bad air out if there was a lethal nerve agent leak at the Umatilla Chemical Depot.

The three windows were part of a panel of 10 reinforced glass panes that were installed last year along the school's foyer between the gym and the cafeteria.

The 35-foot length of the foyer is covered with 3/4-inch-thick reinforced glass as a "beefed up" security measure against anyone trying to enter the school during an emergency at the depot, Principal John Sebastian said Tuesday.

Administrators at A.C. Houghton - and other schools within the 10-mile radius of the depot - are concerned about and are trying to take precautions against panicked parents who might try to take their children from school during a depot emergency. A.C. Houghton officials decided to have the original glass wall along the school's foyer reinforced in case of such a panic, Sebastian said.

"The safest place to be during an accident is at home and to stay alive in a taped-up area of your house, rather than be at risk and come to school," Sebastian said.

He said the vandalism did not compromise the school's overpressurization system.

"The glass is extremely strong," Sebastian said. "And even though the safety glass looks like a prism because it was broken, there's no field of breakage on the inside. Everything is 100 percent intact."

The special air filtering systems are in place at A.C. Houghton and at 10 others in Umatilla and Morrow counties. They are designed so that air that might be contaminated with nerve agent doesn't enter the building when the system is turned on.

Should an accident occur at the depot, schoolchildren would be ushered into a safe area of a school - either the cafeteria or gym - and sealed inside. The students breathe clean, filtered air until any threat of harm has passed.

The depot stores 3,717 tons of lethal nerve agent, scheduled to be destroyed by 2005.

The vandalism at A.C. Houghton occurred Saturday and Sunday night. It appears vandals broke one or two of the windows Saturday, then returned Sunday and continued to try and shatter the glass, Sebastian said.

The original 10-glass security panel cost about $8,000, paid for through the federally funded Chemical Stockpile Emergency Preparedness Program.

Replacement panes will cost about $2,000 and are covered by the school's insurance policy, Sebastian said.

The broken panes probably won't be replaced for about six weeks, after they are ordered from Germany, he said.

"There's no rhyme or reason to it. It's just malicious," Sebastian said.

 

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