Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, September 6, 1995 TAG: 9509060050
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-3 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: PAUL DELLINGER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: PULASKI LENGTH: Medium
The county's brick courthouse has been expanded from 15,500 square feet to 28,500 square feet - enough room for the county's Circuit, General District, and Juvenile and Domestic Relations courts.
This is the first time the general and juvenile courts have had a permanent home since late 1989, when fire wiped out their former quarters in the county's 100-year-old historic stone courthouse. And this is the first time in years that all the county's courts facilities are downtown again.
After temporarily operating in the county's Administration Building, the courts were moved in 1993 to leased space in a former furniture building on East Main Street (Virginia 99). Circuit Court facilities were moved there, too, so the brick building that had housed them could be expanded and renovated.
All of this is a far cry from Pulaski County's first court session, which was held in a private home in Newbern on April 20, 1839, before the first county courthouse was complete, Virginia Supreme Court Chief Justice Harry L. Carrico said at the courthouse dedication ceremony Saturday. It was the 28th courthouse dedication he has attended.
In the days before movies and television, Carrico said, "Court Day" - the first day of a court term - was a focal point in a community for people coming together to socialize, trade goods and tall stories, and occasionally "imbibe freely in distilled spirits" which sometimes led to fisticuffs even in the courtroom.
Times have changed, Carrico said, but not principles. "The rule of law is what sets this nation apart from every totalitarian state," he said. "Not only will justice continue to prevail in Pulaski County, but it will prevail with a new dignity."
Pulaski's stone courthouse, now renovated, houses county offices such as treasurer, commissioner of revenue and registrar as the county's Finance Building. The brick courthouse is now known as the county's Courts Building.
The new building titles were applied Saturday by Alan Groseclose, chairman of the Courthouses Committee which has been working for six years to restore and improve both structures.
The county Finance Building also houses county natural and historic exhibits, in keeping with its designation as a historic landmark. Out front is a county War Memorial, dedicated July 4, with monuments to county citizens killed or missing in action in the nation's wars.
The Courts Building has Circuit Court on its top floor, as before, but with its offices all located up there, too. The other courts and their support offices are now located on the first floor. The worn dull-brown wood of their previous furnishings have been replaced by bright new blond wooden seats and tables.
New facilities were in the works even before the 1989 fire. The stone courthouse, built in 1895, replaced the county's original courthouse at Newbern when the county seat shifted to Pulaski. The Circuit Court moved to the brick courthouse when it was built in 1957. By the mid-1980s, the county Board of Supervisors realized these facilities had become inadequate and started working on a plan to expand them.
The fire accelerated this planning, leading to the formation of committees, enlisting of volunteers, and the passage in 1991 of a $2.9 million bond issue to pay for what had been planned.
"From substandard facilities six years ago, Pulaski County now has the most outstanding courthouse facilities in Southwest Virginia," Groseclose said.
All of this was made possible by committee members, county officials and more than 120 volunteers who have spent recent years on projects ranging from the historical exhibits to the memorial.
The committee members include Groseclose, architect Thomas Douthat, retired Army Col. Dallas Cox, Juvenile and Domestic Relations Court Judge William Thomas, Commissioner of Revenue Maynard Sayers, Supervisor Mason Vaughan and County Administrator Joe Morgan.
by CNB