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Saturday, June 24, 2006
Ind. Courts - Grant County courthouse damaged by storm
The Marion Chronicle-Tribune's Barry William Walsh reported yesterday on the impact of a storm Thursday afternoon:
Marion Deputy Police Chief Cliff Sessoms heard the severe weather sirens sound shortly before 2 p.m. and went up to the second floor of City Hall to watch the storm.What he saw was part of the Grant County Courthouse roof torn off by high winds.
"I was standing right outside of the mayor's office, and all of a sudden the top of the roof just blew right off," Sessoms said about 4 p.m. "It kind of just lifted it up, twisted it and pushed it off."
By 2:30 p.m., the courthouse lawn was roped off by yellow caution tape, and all of the employees had been sent home for the day.
Near the northeast corner of the courthouse square lay large twisted piece of rusting metal that had once been part of the roof. Across Adams Street, sheriff's deputies used yellow caution tape to cordon off the area around the Iroquois Building, which also had portions blown off by the storm.
"Part of the sheet-metal roofing blew off, but the wood and rubber moulding are still on," Grant County Administrator Angela Banter said. "However, there are huge holes and leakage."
Around 4 p.m., Banter said the county's judges had decided not to open the courthouse today. She also said an Indianapolis engineering firm was coming to assess the damage to the courthouse. Based on their findings, a decision will be made as to when the courthouse is safe to reopen, Banter said. * * *
Another concern created by the damage to the courthouse roof is the court records stored in the courthouse attic.
"If it does not continue to rain, we won't have any more problems," Banter said. "(A roofing company) is trying to a lay a tarp now to see if they can secure it in terms of additional rain we may receive."
Banter said some of the records stored on the courthouse's fourth floor were damaged by Thursday afternoon's rain. "There was a small amount of damage, but they can be recovered," Banter said. * * *
The storm not only affected the court records and employees at the courthouse, but also people who had business at the courthouse, such as Marion resident Mike Reed.
"I was on my way down to get a marriage license," Reed, 58, said. "I don't know what I'm going to do about that now. I'm getting married Saturday."
Posted by Marcia Oddi on June 24, 2006 08:33 AM
Posted to Indiana Courts