Jim Thorpe to get new dugouts

The Jim Thorpe Area School District board approved a plan to allow members of a local labor union to donate new dugouts for the school's baseball fields at not cost to the district. The Lehigh Valley Carpenters Local No. 600 in Bethlehem made the offer after learning that the school lacked updated facilities.

The dugouts will be fabricated mostly from steel at a local foundry and will be transported to Jim Thorpe to be erected on or about November 16, according to board president Randall Smith.

Smith said that the district came to the attention of the union when Carbon County Commission Charles Getz found out the local union was seeking a community service project and made the introduction.

"I've seen their steel fabrication shop," Smith said. "By the time you calculate the cost of the steel, the labor and equipment to build them and then the transportation costs, this donation is saving the school district close to $200,000."