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8/5/01
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PHS Bulldogs On-Line               Aug 05, 2001
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4 Bulldog alumni notes today:
Ron Dupuis (62)
Rick Givan (63)
Pat McNeill (62)
Ron Buckles (67)

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From: Ron Dupuis (62)

  Where are all the Bulldogs? I haven't seen any messages from anyone in about a week.

  You know what I miss about the high school football Season? The last game with Kennewick. That was the game that we looked forward to all season. It was homecoming and it didn't matter what the records of both schools were. I know that this game which was a tradition for so long is no longer played as the last game of the year and hasn't been for a long time, but it was something to look forward to by both schools.
  Remember the big bon-fires that we would build and light down by the junior high? You would have to stand watch over the pile of wood because someone from Kennewick would try to torch it before it was time to light it. Oh well, things change and time passes on but not always for the better in my opinion.

  You know another thing about school was the cars that people drove. You pass a high school parking lot today and the cars all seem fairly new. That was something you didn't see much of when we were going to school. Hell, you could buy a car for a few hundred bucks and cruise all night on a buck's worth of gas. A few of the guys had cars that they had customized. Maybe lowered in the front or back and some customized roll and tuck seat covers. It was a different era and one I look back upon with fondness, but I don't think I would want to go back to that time. Oh, maybe if the golf green fees were the same - that would be nice.

  Everyone have a good weekend and I'll look forward to reading messages from former Bulldogs.

Ron Dupuis (62)
Snohomish, WA
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From: Pat McNeill (62)

  Happy to read the articles sent in. Also, would like to view any old high school, junior high, or grade school pictures.

Pat McNeill (62)
Kennewick, WA
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From: Rick Givan (63)

  Maybe each batch of PHS students had to rediscover the Flume, out Road 68. We didn't know about it until Sandy Kahle told us in the spring of '63. But we made up for lost time with a vengeance.
  We would put our socks on our feet and walk up the approximately quarter-mile long hill. At the top we'd put our socks on our hands and start sliding barefoot on the moss that grew on the cement bottom. An inch or two of water coursing down the flume kept us moving. When we got to the road bridge over the flume we'd sit on our hands, and be slowed  by the absence of moss under the bridge. We'd stop in the backwash at the lip of the flume. Then it was socks back on our feet, walk up the hill, do it again.
  If we were feeling brave, we'd go ahead and slide off the edge of the flume down 10-12 feet into the cove of the Columbia. Extra points were earned by walking out the 10foot wall and jumping into the cove.
  In those spring and summer days we'd have 30 or 40 guys (some girls) at a time out there going  up and down the flume. We'd get trains of guys racing down the hill. I remember being on one train with Lonnie Fricke as the engine. We were stepping out. We won by 10 yards. Then Lonnie sailed right off the edge of the flume...splashed half the water out of the cove.
  Nightflumin' was eerie, but fun. You couldn't see much, just hear the rushing water, and sense the shadow of the bridge coming up. I recall my first night jump off the wall. I wasn't much of a swimmer, so some of the guys (Jim Jorgensen, Dennis Maguire, Larry Zeigler, the Bells, Ron and Mark, and the Bells' cousin (a pretty Italian girl from Richland whose name I can't remember) stationed themselves in a circle in the cove to save my sorry behind in case I drowned. When I jumped I thought it'll be my luck to land on one of them (and it would be one of the guys). But it all went smoothly. My night novice days were over.
  It was great fun. But, of course, too much fun for the water police, who deemed what we were doing too dangerous. Being experts in teen behavior they opted to dissuade us from using the flume by making it twice as dangerous. First they released a bunch of tumbleweeds up stream, so they all piled up under the flumes lip. That didn't slow us down much. We just didn't slide off the edge. Then they increased the speed and volume of the water, so there was no backwash at the lip of the flume, hoping we couldn't stop at the edge. So we took to tying ropes on the bridge guard rails, letting them hang into the water with a loop around the end of each on, so when we got to the bridge and sat on our hands, we'd grab the rope, slide down to the loop, put the loop around us, put our socks back on, and head up the hill.
  Then someone tied their rope to straddle the flume, instead of letting it run with the water, and some kid caught it badly. He hit his head, and was killed. Later Dave Dalthorp jumped off the wall towards the side of the cove to avoid the tumble weeds. The water was too shallow and he broke his neck (but survived).  
  For most of us that did it. The water cops had won. One or two dead kids, and a broken neck later, they'd made it dangerous enough. But what a run while it lasted.

Rick Givan (63)
Cabot, PA

(The kid that got killed was George Muse (67, RIP) - Paul)
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From: Ron Buckles (67)

  I was just digging deep down in some of the thoughts, about back in high school. Remembering when we would pick up a chick and cruise down Washington St. in Kennewick, heading north, at night. Now this was before they widened out the dike to Clover Island. Doing about 60 mph. As we went up the Kennewick side of the dike and air born, the girls would be screaming because it looked like we were going into the Columbia River. All we could see were lights shining on the river at night. But we knew we were landing on the street on Clover Island. We sure had fun with that one. But I also remember someone in their dad's car hitting the dike at a speed just a little too fast, and blew all the tires off when he hit the ground. Paul, do you remember that? Lots of laughs.

Ron Buckles (67)
Las Vegas, NV
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