Saturday, March 29, 1997
New school buildings meet with approval
By LORETTA FULTON
Regional Editor
MUNDAY - Rodney Bennett squints, looking back toward the trumpet
section, and cups his ear with his right hand.
He points to one trumpeter in the long row of players. The
student adjusts his horn to bring it in tune with the others.
The player may not like it, but Bennett loves it. The acoustics
in his brand new band hall at Munday High School are so good that
he is able to hear individual sounds.
"At the end of the first musical piece we played in the
new facility, the students were thrilled at the sound they were
able to achieve," Bennett said.
Not that the band needed any help. The 100-plus member band
has been to the state marching contest six times, qualifying for
the finals five times and finishing second in 1995.
In 1994 the band was named the Class A State Honor Band by
the Texas Music Educators Association. The band also has won UIL
Sweepstakes, taking first division ratings in marching, sightreading
and concert, eight times.
The new band hall should do nothing but make the Purple Cloud
Band even bigger and better.
Just a few blocks away, children in Mary Murphy's kindergarten
class are enjoying their new surroundings, too. A 4,000 square-foot
addition made it possible for all classes to be in a permanent
structure.
It had an added benefit, too.
"They can put their stuff on the walls like all the other
kids," said Superintendent Jerome Hall.
Go a few more blocks and the 10 new apartments owned by the
Munday Housing Authority stand out as proud symbols of the progress
being made in Munday.
The new facilities, plus the arrival Thursday of U.S. Sen.
Kay Bailey Hutchison for her first ever visit to Knox County,
had everyone in town standing a little taller.
Chamber of Commerce and Agriculture Manager Lenora Hammett
hurriedly put together a reception for Hutchison.
Hutchison's aide "contacted us Monday morning and said
she would like to come to Knox County and Munday on Thursday,"
Hammett said.
Hutchison got busy straightening up the place and calling people.
She expected 12-15. She got 30-40. People in Munday weren't going
to pass up the opportunity to brag on their hometown.
No one was prouder than Hall, whoses schools have $735,000
in new facilities to show off. Part of the cost, $425,000, came
from a state facilities grant. The rest came from local reserves.
Thanks to the addition to the old elementary school, built
in 1936, the two kindergarten classes, the pre-K class and the
special ed class are meeting inside instead of in temporary buildings
on the school grounds.
The addition also houses a computer lab and new elementary
library.
Just as proud is Jeanie Carden, executive director of the Munday
Housing Authority. Her 10 new apartments were funded by the Rural
Economic Community Development program at a cost of $346,800.
They were named for Dorse Collins, a longtime supporter of
public housing and former board member for 25 years.
The new apartments are the first all-electric apartments built
by a housing authority in Texas.
The apartments bring to 109 the number of units operated by
the Munday Housing Authority. Carden has been director 19 years.
Applying for the new apartments required a mountain of paperwork,
but proved to be worth it, Carden said.
"It took years before they were built," she said.
Final inspections were made March 7 and occupancy began immediately.
Loretta Fulton/Reporter-News Mary Murphey, a kindergarten teacher,
and Superintendent Jerome Hall supervise children's work in their
new classroom at Munday Elementary School. New facilities at the
school are among the improvements being made in Munday. COLLINS
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Abilene Reporter-News / Texnews / E.W. Scripps Publications
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