Chester Stinger statue almost here

</element><element id="paragraph-1" type="body"><![CDATA[The Chester High School Yellow Jackets granite Stinger statue is finished and will be getting shipped to the high school at any time now.

The statue will eventually be located out in front of the entrance of the gym. The small grassy area in front of the gym will become a plaza featuring the granite statue. The base of the statue will be similar to that of the Olive Oil statue that is a part of the Popeye and Friends Character Trail. In front of the base there will be bricks that will be engraved as class bricks, family bricks and/or special awards bricks for everyone to see the Yellow Jacket pride. The bricks can also honor people or display special messages on them.

"The whole idea of it is to get school spirit," said Chester High School principal Keith Kittell.

Spots are still available if you want to engrave something on the pedestal according to Kittell. The deadline for the pedestal to be finalized is August 1 and the deadline to get the bricks finalized is September 1. Kittell said that they are currently about $2000 away from their final goal.

If someone wants to get an engraving on the pedestal of the statue it can be bought at either $400 for a 4X12 spot (3 lines of lettering with 17 characters per line) or $850 for a 12X12 spot (9 lines of lettering with 17 characters per line). There are four different prices for the plaza bricks and they are $100 for a 4X8 paver (3 lines of lettering with 13 characters per line), $200 for an 8X8 paver (6 lines of lettering with 13 characters per line), $300 for a 12X12 Gray Granite paver (9 lines of lettering with 17 characters per line) or $400 for a 12 X12 Black Granite paver (9 lines of lettering with 17 characters per line).

"The school pays nothing at all," said Kittell. "It is all through people purchasing bricks and spots on the pedestal."

For more information about purchasing a spot, contact the high school at 826-2302.