Lamar State College Orange (LSCO) in the downtown section of town did not escape the winds of Hurricane Laura last week and suffered some damage. Fortunately, none of the damage was catastrophic.
LSCO President Dr. Tom Johnson described the damage to the buildings that were effected by the hurricane. The Academic Building on Front Street had a facade peeled off by the wind that was part of a twenty-year old renovation to the facility.
A blue tarp was employed to cover the missing section. It was the only part of any building on the the campus that received significant water on carpet requiring the carpet to be ripped up there.
The Ron E. Lewis Library lost five windows. Fortunately, the windows are double paned so the rain getting into the building was limited. Johnson informed, “We were able to dry that up.”
A crew is working on the roof of the Student Center. The Welding Building had its door blown off. Dr. Johnson indicated they were able to get the door back on and joked it could be practical experience for students in that facility.
The Brown Estate which is operated by Lamar State College Orange escaped serious damage. Dr. Johnson reported many trees there and on the LSCO campus were knocked down.
Sadly a large beautiful oak tree near the Shahan Center was lost. The uprooted base of the tree was taller the college’s president. Johnson is glad to report several of the smaller trees have been resurrected or at least re-erected by the landscaping company and should survive the storm.
They are staying busy at Lamar State College Orange drying things out. “If you drive by there now you’ll hear a humming noise, it’s because we have so many generators going so that we can get electricity because we want to keep it climitized,” Johnson related.
Regretfully, some of the staff and the students did suffer damage to their homes. Some of those had serious damage especially those that live in southwest Louisiana.
Dr. Johnson outlined the scheduled to starting up instruction again at Lamar State College Orange. The college’s employees will report back to the campus on Wednesday, September 9, and the students will report back on Monday, September 14. “That way we don’t have to get in a huge hurry,” Jones replied.
With the classes scheduled to start again on September 14, Dr. Johnson sent off to the state of Texas requesting a shorter semester from 16 weeks to 13 weeks. “When you do that you just have to add maybe ten or fifteen minutes more to each class so that you still get all your hours in,” Johnson explained.
Dr. Johnson is a regular guest on KOGT’s People in the Know. He can be heard every other Wednesday at 7:00 AM on the KOGT Morning Show with Gary Stelly.
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