Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, March 9, 1993 TAG: 9303090009
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-2 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: Paul Dellinger
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
WITNESSING HAS A NEW DEFINITION
First you pay, then you pray.That could be the motto at the new Pulaski County courts building on East Main Street (Virginia 99) in Pulaski, for those who might want to seek spiritual forgiveness after having been fined for doing wrong.
On the other hand, people about to go into Pulaski County Circuit Court, General District Court or Juvenile and Domestic Relations Court could opt for a few words of prayer in the lobby before a judge or jury acts on their cases. It couldn't hurt.
Pulaski County has got to have the only courts system around that shares its building with a church - in this case, the Brush Arbor Worship Center, which moved into the front part of the building in 1991.
The county is renting the rest of the 40,000-square-foot building from Guynn Realty Corp. of Galax. Because all the court offices are closed on weekends and that's the only time the church has services, there has been no problem with dual use of the 22-year-old building.
Despite its new courts sign, the building still is informally known as the Hub Furniture building. But it has not been that since Hub moved out on April Fool's Day 1990.
Last fall, the county considered using the about-to-close Jefferson Elementary School building for its courts, but it needed a place before that building would have been available.
Another option was using various downtown Pulaski buildings, including the now-closed Pulaski Theatre, the Dalton Building and Elks Building, but they would not have yielded as much space as either the school or furniture buildings.
The courts and other county offices had been in various temporary locations since December 1989, when fire gutted the county's stone courthouse. That facility has been rebuilt, but is housing county offices rather than courts.
The adjacent 15,500-square-foot brick courthouse, now being renovated and expanded by 13,000 square feet, eventually will house all court and clerk facilities, but it may not be ready until spring 1994.
Meanwhile, 19 full-time and part-time employees from those offices, along with others in the registrar's and adult probation offices, are working where they can also conveniently pray.
Paul Dellinger covers Pulaski County for the Roanoke Times & World-News' New River Valley bureau.