Pranks
Noel Runyan

{Editor's note: We all know Noel through his work with accessible voting machines, but now we see him in highschool, as flamboyant as ever. And though this story happened before the accident that caused his blindness, he never let his "gone eyesight" stop him.

This was published in the May, 2020 SVCB In Touch newsletter after we all encouraged him at a SVCB Social Hour virtual meeting to write it.}

This first atomic caper story is one of several from my collaboration with Leon Cooper, our favorite high school chemistry teacher, and fountain of fascinating stories.

Deb and I grew up in Los Alamos, New Mexico, where the first atomic bomb was developed. It was a small, isolated community with only one movie theater, no drive-in, and only limited other venues for entertainment. Therefore, we youngsters had to get creative to come up with our own forms of fun. Intelligent, carefully thought-out capers were greatly prized by kids, and even more so if they left school principals and other adult authorities frowning hard (often while trying their best to not let a laugh or smile escape their lips).

A Dennis the Menace mischief kit got me started with pranks and capers, after a great response to a fake ink spill I set up in the cubby hole in my third grade desk.

Proper capers with real style endangered nobody, were not vandalistic, and were not real crimes. Some of our most sophisticated capers were in the form of senior graduation pranks.

Due to the statute of limitations, it is now finally safe to reveal these capers. However, most of the names have been withheld to continue to protect the not so innocent. Similarly, many of our caper stories have been written from a third-person viewpoint, in order to limit possible incrimination of the authors.

The flagpole was the focus of many capers such as a trash can placed high atop the pole, streamers of girls' panties flapping in place of the flag, and other flagpole capers. If you like this first caper about the moving flagpole, we can share many others. We would also like to encourage other members to write up and share their favorite caper stories.

The Moving Flagpole Caper

The Los Alamos High School complex was constructed in stages as the town grew into a city over the course of some twenty years. The high school library became so cramped that a larger facility was needed. Planners came up with a modern design for a new "IMC" (Instructional Materials Center) in the middle of the open area in front of the school. The flagpole stood right in the center of the future structure, so it's removal was the first order of work.

The heavy aluminum flagpole stood 120 feet in height, the tallest flagpole in New Mexico. It was firmly anchored in a large cylindrical mass of cement about four feet in diameter by eight feet deep. Massive equipment was required for removing the pole intact and laying it off to the side.

It was April of 1967, the time of year when devious students were considering options for the annual senior prank. Now keep in mind, the dozen or so of those devious characters almost always included the top scholars in the class. The flagpole might be a useful object for the prank. As mentioned previously, the senior pranks were never supposed to be destructive, didn't involve material costs to the school or community, and didn't harm anyone.

Creative minds went to work. How could the flagpole be incorporated into a unique prank? Numerous ideas were tossed around, but most required too much time and effort. After all, the enormous aluminum flagpole weighed more than a ton which, combined with the massive concrete base, made it difficult to manage.

A plan was chosen, and the wheels of progress began to grind. A few nights later, the clandestine group dressed in dark clothing, and went to work. All tools had been collected, and all measurements had been taken. They were ready.

Several kids equipped themselves with walkie talkies and secreted themselves at strategic places, in order to report on any police patrols cruising near the school. The others erected a tent made from a tarp over the concrete base, and proceeded to saw the flagpole from the concrete. Still others used a master key to enter the double doors leading into the high school D wing near the Little Theater, giving them access to the hallways. The D, C, B, and A wings were intersected by the main hallway leading to the front lobby and main entrance to the school.

The bolts holding the center post of the D wing door, as well as those holding the hallway door center posts, had to be removed with wrenches, to permit the temporary removal of the center posts.

The assortment of heavy equipment that had been brought to the high school construction site for excavation and construction of the IMC facility included a front-end loader. One of the kids became familiar with the operation of the loader through watching the operator a few days earlier. This student managed to start the engine, and moved the front loader up to the flag pole's formerly attached concrete base, picked it up gently, and drove to the high school D wing door. With only inches to spare, he entered D wing, proceeded to the main hallway, made a left turn at B wing and drove to the south end. He cautiously lowered the concrete base onto a wooden pallet that his friends had placed there to protect the floor.

A 12 by 12-inch fresh air vent was removed from the northern end wall of the hallway, providing an opening large enough for passing the flagpole through. Fifteen big kids spaced themselves along the pole, lifted it to their shoulders, and marched over to the opening. As each few feet of the pole was passed through the opening, one kid would run into the hall and shoulder the pole, repeatedly, until the entire pole was inside the B wing hall. It was then placed level on blocks, and the pole and concrete base were joined by spot welding at the joint, after which the joint was smoothed and painted with aluminum paint. Their work was excellent; the joint wasn't noticeable. The air vent was replaced in the north end wall, thus completing the job.

The tractor front loader was parked back in its regular place at the construction site, and everything else was restored "as was." The entire job was well planned and went off without a hitch, the total time being little over three hours. Parents, teachers, and others were unaware of the "night shift" mischief job until after school started the following morning. Only one teacher and perhaps twenty students were in on the caper.

The situation was that everyone attending classes in B, C, and D wings had to step high to get over the pole extending across the intersection at B wing. The principal wasn't amused; he called the superintendent, who also was not amused. The superintendent called school maintenance people to assess the problem and figure out how to remove the pole from B wing.

Even people from the Zia Company, who took care of all maintenance and construction in Los Alamos, were called in to consult, but no one could figure out how the pole appeared in the hallway. They were sure there was no way the pole, along with its massive concrete base, could have been set there without removing the roof. They checked the roof; it hadn't been tampered with. They checked the mortar between the concrete blocks in the end walls; it hadn't been tampered with.

The flagpole remained in B wing for two days before the superintendent announced that it would have to be cut up in short lengths and hauled away. It was at this point that a chemistry teacher instructed one of the main instigators to suggest to a janitor that the pole could be cut from the concrete base, thus saving it from destruction, and that, after removing the small air vent at the end of the wing, twenty men might be able to pass it out through the opening. And if they'd remove the metal center pole from the double doors at the front entrance, they might be able to place the concrete base on heavy duty dollies and roll it down the hall and out the front of the school. The lowly janitor earned a lot of points that day, since the school's administration successfully followed his "brilliant" suggestions to a "T".

A chemistry teacher was later quizzed by the principal as to whether he had any idea as to who the culprits might have been. The "baffled" teacher had to plead total ignorance.

Case closed.