ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Thursday, February 13, 1997 TAG: 9702130014
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-1 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
DATELINE: PEARISBURG
SOURCE: LISA K. GARCIA STAFF WRITER
Giles County officials say their courthouse roof is fixed.
A portion of the flat roof has leaked for several years and repairs have been made. But they never seemed to solve the perpetual seepage. Evidence of the water damage could be seen in the room called the "vault" where the county's legal documents, such as marriage licenses and property deeds, are kept. Records there date back to the early 1800s and are considered irreplaceable by local court officials and historians.
The roof's most recent leak on Jan. 13 doused several deed books with water. Moisture from months of small leaks or seepage had caused other visible damage such as peeling paint, missing ceiling tiles and mushrooms growing on one portion of the ceiling.
Roger Mullins, county administrator, said the roof was replaced about a year and a half ago and it was still under warranty.
The roofing contractor came out and determined the problem was not a leak in the roof, but the fact that all the water from the main courthouse roof was draining onto this smaller roof over the vault area. Also, the drain for the smaller roof was clogged, preventing the water from draining properly, he said.
"We have rerouted water off that roof," Mullins said. "The cause for the leak does not appear to be any malfunction of the roof."
Mullins said changes in drainage done by the roofing company cost the county nothing.
Larry Blankenship, chairman of the county's Board of Supervisors, had said Jan. 17 that a new roof would be put on by spring.
On Monday, Blankenship said changes with the drains were all that was needed. He said the water damage in the vault is being worked on and a county worker has scraped off the old paint and cleared away the mushrooms.
"We'll replaster and repaint and rework the ceiling and put some new lights in," Blankenship said. "It'll be done by spring."
Scarlet Buckland Ratcliffe, Circuit Court clerk, was originally skeptical that the leak would be repaired because she had notified the board year after year about problems for six years and nothing permanent seemed to change.
"I was elected to maintain the records, not maintain the building," she said in mid-January.
Ratcliffe declined to say too much about the recent work on the roof.
"I apprised [the Board of Supervisors] and hopefully they will take steps to preserve the records," she said Monday.
The several thousand dollar job of reproducing the water-damaged records may be paid for by a grant that Ratcliffe is seeking. She said if the county gets the grant, reproducing the deeds will cost the county nothing. Originally she estimated the cost at about $7,000.
Ruth Blevins, a historical researcher who lives in Ripplemead, attended the Board of Supervisors' meeting Jan. 16 when the courthouse roof was discussed.
She remained skeptical this week when asked about the repairs.
"I got the impression that because of the flat roof that it is going to continue to have problems," she said. "My purpose in being there ... my appeal to them was 'it's urgent, don't put it off.'''
When the county was formed in 1806, Blevins said, it included a good portion of West Virginia, almost to Charleston.
"These records are not just important to people in Giles. We have people come from every state ... during the summer to do research. Lawyers have to vie for elbow room," she said.
Blevins said there is only one courthouse in Southwest Virginia older than Giles County's, which was built in 1836.
"It's a visible connection with history. It served as a hospital during the Civil War. It just stands for a lot," Blevins said. "It's a right shame for anything to happen to it."
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