BISD gets permit to tear down South Park

By KEN FOUNTAIN AND AMY MOORE
April 1, 2010
Posted: April 1, 2010, 7:33 PM CDT Last updated: April 2, 2010, 12:13 AM CDT


An appeal to stop the demolition of South Park Middle School was filed on the same day the City of Beaumont issued the school district a permit to tear it down.

Michael Getz, attorney for the Beaumont Heritage Society and Eddie Estilette, a member of the South Park alumni group, filed a notice of appeal Thursday in the Ninth Court of Appeals.

They are asking the court to put a months-long legal battle against the district on hold for the time being.

Read previous South Park coverage here.

The alumni group dates from when the campus was a used as a high school. The "Greenies," as the group is often referred, hope to save the 1923 school building from being demolished.

"Obviously if there's no school there, there's nothing to appeal," Getz said of his hope that the court would approve the appeal and stop demolition.

The court was reviewing the appeal Thursday evening, but by press time there was no word on a decision.

Melody Chappell, attorney for the school district, said Thursday there is no reason the district could not move ahead with demolition.

"There are no temporary orders in effect anymore, so there's nothing that prevents them from demolishing the building with non-bond funds," she said.

The demolition is expected to cost roughly $136,000.


Comments

comments:

trey wrote:
Can someone please explain to me why tearing down a building in a "less than desirable" condition has become an issue? Would this still be an issue if this was NISD, PNGISD, LISD, or any other schook district and this same situation was happening (please don't use it won't happen in those districts for the sake of this question)?
04/02/2010 09:11 AM CDT

the rat chaser wrote:
Getting that permit to destroy one of the few remaining historical school sites in Beaumont is just Dr. Thomas' way of giving this whole town a great big FINGER, like him saying, "I got all the power, get over it!!" As for Dr. Teuscher, I honestly believed he got duped too. He was USED as the "white face", a person respected in the community, to sell the bond to the middle class folks in Beaumont. Didn't any of you notice that during the bond process, Dr. Thomas pretty much tried to stay out of the limelight and let Dr. Teusher be the "face" of the bond committee? Smart move. Had Dr. Thomas been in everyone's face back then or had the taxpayers known that Naomi-Lawrence Lee had already been lined up to be the Purchasing Agent before the bond passed, I'm sure the outcome of that vote would have been MUCH different.
04/02/2010 08:09 AM CDT

buddy wrote:
Someone should get a permit to tear down the houses of Doc Thomas and every board member of this corrupt school board. They should all be in jail for malfeasance.
04/02/2010 08:03 AM CDT

BORNONMOUNTAIN wrote:
Come on Fred. Teucher propagated the lie !!!
04/01/2010 11:29 PM CDT

fredsaid wrote:
David Teuscher MD has nothing to do with South Park School. He is only trying to keep the BISD board from running off with the bond money!
04/01/2010 11:03 PM CDT

BORNONMOUNTAIN wrote:
The Board should be indicted and Melody Chappell should be disbarred. The battle is just beginning. I personally will rent a store front to encourage petition signing and to discredit BISD. I may add the Beaumont Chamber and David Teucher to the list.
04/01/2010 10:28 PM CDT