The building of a Union County School \ D. Wayne Goforth Director

The building of a 21st Century School for Union County


The School!

Paulette Elementary
Week 4


By Chip Brown | Maynardville@gmail.com

As you know by now I enjoy watching heavy equipment work. Remember last week I told you I sit and watch heavy equipment on YouTube?

After three or four days the lightbulb in my head came on and I thought to myself...

  1. I have a digital video camera...
  2. I have a computer...
  3. I have an Internet connection...
  4. I have a little wire that hooks my camera to my computer...

I CAN MAKE A VIDEO!

Actually I must confess it was my wife who had the idea. She came in my office and said, "Quit watching those videos and get to work!" And added, "why don't you make your own video for the website?
In the video above you can see the pan moving dirt to a low spot on the site. If you look up near the trackhoe you can see what looks like a small pit. The floor of this pit is very near the elevation for the building. As they remove the little hill there, they place the dirt in the pan and take it to a lower place to raise the elevation. As the pan moves along the operator opens a gate and the dirt spreads evenly along the ground. The pan holds about what four dump trucks would haul together.

After the pan drops off the dirt it returns for another load. The small dozer then finishes the dirt making it smoother. This is repeated several times and then they move to another location. Once they move the white compactor comes over and presses all the dirt down making a solid base. This procedure is repeated several times until the elevation is even.

It is hard to gauge the progress of the project from Highway 33. Much of the work is going on behind the little mound of dirt. Once I moved around to the back I could see that the project is a lot farther along this week. As you can see from the photos and video no more rocks have been encountered. This has allowed the excavation company to make exceptional progress.

Near the back I found where a retaining pond is being built. All rain runoff will be trapped in this basin and released in a controlled manner. This allows for a large parcel of land to be leveled and not changing the natural drainage of the land.

As I watched the equipment I could make out a four wheeler on the far side of the property. Who should be on that four wheeler but Brian Oaks (Chairman of the School Board). He had stopped by to get a first hand look at the progress. He came over to tell me the things he has observed on the site. He stops by every day to see what has been done. I have to give a hand to an elected official who takes the time to do this.

Every week I drive down hoping to see "Tiny" the big dozer at work. Each week I get there just a little too late. The big Dressor dozer was down for maintenance when I got there Saturday. I am told it is having its transmission serviced. I'm going to keep watching and try to get some video of this massive machine.

I suppose the thing I was struck by this week was not so much how much the hill is going down, as it was how much the hollow is coming up. When I first walked the property after groundbreaking I was surprised at just how deep the hollow was. When I went there this week I was equally surprised at just how shallow it had become. It is a mixture of soil being moved from the hill and soil being deposited into the hollow.

One topic that keeps coming up when people see me is, what is going to happen to the little white house. Well, the fact is that house most likely will be taken when the state widens Highway 33. The highway will come several yards closer to the building site and encompass that house and its property.

I would like to thank all of you for coming each week and reading this. The stats for the page are very surprising. We even have a couple of fellows overseas watching the site through this. If you see something you aren't sure of or if you have a question regarding the new school feel free to ask them. On our main page is a Leave a Comment / Ask a Question button. Click it, ask your question or just leave a comment we enjoy hearing from you. Plus all questions are monitored by School Staff who answer and even Director Goforth will answer a question.

Above all else we join Director Goforth and the School Board in being dedicated to the future of our children. This website is dedicated to the kids, the new school and making the building project part of the community.

Post your comments and have a say!


Figure 1 - The big dozer down for maintenance. Note the size of the dozer in comparison to the full size Chevy truck.

Figure 2 - This photo shows the first point the target elevation is reached.

Figure 3 - The old white house near Highway 33 (rear view facing highway)


Thank you to each and every person who made this possible.