Posted by RangerMark (anonymous) on October 23, 2008 at 12:19 p.m. (Suggest removal)

If anyone cared for the school it would have been restored or kept up. The only thing it was good for the last several years was paintball. The only thing bad about the paintball was you had to dodge glass and cow patties.

Posted by onevoice (anonymous) on October 23, 2008 at 2:18 p.m. (Suggest removal)

Regardless of your feelings RangerMark that school held a lot of memories for a lot of African-Americans in Chilton County. Yes, it should have been restored years ago, but that takes money, time and dedication. Look at the old Adair school lot ... it is an eyesore and the Board of Education is responsible for it. It takes a lot of time and effort for projects of that magnitude. When segregation was a mainstay in Chilton County, this was a place where African-Americans could get a good quality education without being ridiculed and looked down upon. Now that the structure is gone the memories will live on forever.

Posted by davyhay (anonymous) on October 23, 2008 at 7:41 p.m. (Suggest removal)

I think it could be easy to take Mark's statement as, at worst, hateful and at best, insensitive. However, I doubt he has the knowledge of what this landmark means to many in Chilton County and what it represents as a monument of Civil Rights.

Architecturally, it is hard to miss the similarities between this structure and Chilton County High School. This is because the CCTS was in use when this great nation—and even more so the South—subscribed to the philosophy of “separate but equal.” This was true despite the 1950's rulings of Brown v. Board I and II. Here, the Supreme Court stated in the majority opinion that there can be no separate but equal because the fact that African-Americans were separate at all endowed in them a stigma that was necessarily unequal. The reason for this is because telling a person of a certain race that they are not allowed to integrate into the majority is tantamount to creating a state-sponsored racial cast system.

Though Brown made such policies illegal in the 1950's—even ordering in Brown II for such practices to cease with “all deliberate speed”—the ruling lacked a critical enforcement element, creating a loophole that was heavily exploited in the South. In fact, the federal government did not attain wide-spread enforcement authority until the codification of the Court's ruling in the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Congress managed to tie the desegregation of schools into the rights of the government under the Commerce Clause of the Constitution. This meant the government could take action in these situations with fear of constitutional reprisals.

I live about three miles from the CCTS and every year or so I will drive by and just look at the place—trying to put myself in the shoes of those students during the Civil Rights Era. It is astounding to think that, in less than fifty years, we have gone from segregated public schools to a black man being favored in the upcoming presidential election. As a white man in the South, I am haunted of what I have seen and even what I have at times thought. However, knowing that I can drive a couple minutes to see a vestige of our blemished past and then drive a couple minutes in the other direction to cast my vote for Senator Obama gives me hope for our future.

Posted by Asbestos (anonymous) on October 29, 2008 at 8:35 a.m. (Suggest removal)

Asbestos Surveys are an integral part of combating this problem. Asbestos training and awareness can prevent future management problems of this nature and i believe it is the responsibility of local councils and, schools and business owner to do all they can to prevent asbestos related issues. For this you need to use a qualified, experienced company.