BRICK WALL AT SCHULTZ COLLAPSES

It didn't take Joshua and the battle of Jericho to collapse the walls at L.J. Schultz School Thursday.

A 60-foot section of the brick parapet of the school at 101 S. Pacific collapsed onto the roof Thursday afternoon. No one was hurt.

Principal John Eck blamed the collapse on the building's age.

Dr. Richard Bollwerk, acting superintendent, said the damage was likely caused by extreme temperatures. The cold followed by a thaw probably added water to the brick mortar and loosened it, Bollwerk said.

Schultz and May Greene schools are the oldest buildings in the Cape Girardeau School District. Both were built in 1914. Schultz was added to in 1919 and the building renovated in 1953.

The building has had other structural problems. In 1987, the entire south wall separated from the building. In 1992, a large section of the cafeteria roof caved in.

A $25 million bond issue for new elementary and middle schools, air conditioning and another building extension was rejected twice by voters.

"The mortar crumbles like dry oatmeal," Eck said of the collapsed section. He said teachers and students heard a loud boom during the afternoon but thought it was a sonic boom or rock blasting.

No one saw the collapse until 4:30 p.m. when a teacher noticed it from across the street as she was leaving.

The toppled bricks, which stood about four feet above the roof line, collapsed backward onto the roof. The weight of the bricks is probably close to a ton, said Robert Martin, a building janitor.

A teacher who always looks up at her room when she leaves school discovered the collapse, he said.

Classes weren't canceled because the collapse doesn't pose an immediate safety threat.

The bricks will be removed today by maintenance crews, Bollwerk said. Damage estimates are expected today as well.