Beer In the Basement - by Babcock

Not very many people ever knew that the OLD Heavener High School building had a basement. It was where the boiler was located that generated the heated water for the old steam radiators used to heat the building back then.

When I was a senior, I was kinda the chief photographer, and had set up a darkroom in the basement. ( see photo) The only door was in the hall just a little north of the door into the principal’s office. Mr. Monroe Henson was the principal at the time, and Senator Clem Hamilton was the Superintendent.

Now these two guys were as tough as they could get in order to straighten out the somewhat “out of control” discipline that WASN’T in the school. It was quite a shocker for those of us who were seniors, as we had enjoyed having everything go our way pretty well up until THEN.

There was a milk program going on during this time. We would pay something like 6 cents for one of those half pint cartons of white (plain) milk. Some one came up with the idea of washing the cartons out and filling them with beer.

We stowed our “milk” cartons down in one corner of the darkroom to keep them cool. Then when we had the opportunity to “go develop pictures”, we would have a cool, refreshing drink. Either someone ratted on us, OR, a teacher smelled beer on our breath. Or perhaps, we were drunk enough for it to be evident that we were drinking something we shouldn’t have been.

Now, there were only TWO keys to the padlock on the door of the “darkroom”. I had one, and there was one hanging in Mr. Henson’s office. The best I can figure, THIS is what happened.

Mr. Hamilton used the key to let Mr. Henson into the basement darkroom, then relocked the door. We, and I won’t call names, got down there in the “darkroom” and started sipping on our “milk” cartons. When we had gotten started real good, MR HENSON stepped out from behind the boiler. The ---- hit the fan!!!

He went up, opened the door so Mr. Hamilton could come down with us, and THEN, it really hit the fan. Now, you’ve got to understand, these guys’ job was to clean up the mess that was going on in the school, and the LAST thing they needed to get out was “BEER DRINKING IN THE SCHOOL”.

So, we were threatened with our lives if we EVER breathed a word of this to anyone. They locked the door to the basement and we NEVER were allowed to enter it again, EVER.

TODAY, I am breaking the silence. I would NOT under any circumstance be doing it if either one of these guys were alive. I’m sure they would put a contract out on me.

This is just another chapter in our lives that was never discussed until now. I’m sure this is pretty dull compared to what goes on in school today, but in that day, it was BAD.

Ya know, I didn’t like the taste of beer THEN, nor do I TODAY. Guess you could say that incident “left a bad taste in my mouth.”

Bill<>wb