
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: TUESDAY, September 12, 1995                   TAG: 9509120011
SECTION: CURRENT                    PAGE: NRV-3   EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY 
SOURCE: GRACE LEARY SPECIAL TO THE ROANOKE TIMES
DATELINE: RADFORD                                LENGTH: Medium

COURTHOUSE WORKERS EAGER FOR MORE SPACE

On a recent weekday, three workmen busily sawed boards and screwed them to the bottom edges of a boxy, orange doublewide, putting the finishing touches on what is to serve as a temporary addition to the city's courthouse.

Open toolboxes attached to a work truck showed jacks and power screwdrivers.

And courthouse workers, who have complained for years about cramped quarters, talked about finally having more space.

The 24-by-40-foot unit, purchased for $27,000 from Valley Modular Offices, Inc. in Maryland, will be used in this spot for two to four years, said City Manager Robert Asbury.

Its bright color should weather to blend with the bricks of the courthouse.

"It's a long time in coming," said City Councilman David Worrell.

The unit, similar to temporary classrooms used in the schools, is a partial solution to crowding until a permanent courthouse addition can be built. Worrell said he's unsure when construction on such an addition would begin. With luck, he said, it will start two years from now.

Meanwhile, the modular unit will house Debra Bostic, clerk of the General District Court and the Juvenile and Domestic Court, her staff and records. The city's two judges will occupy the small space in the courthouse they leave behind.

Moving to the new quarters along with the staff is a whole lot of paperwork - the ceiling-high files that have lined all the walls in the old clerk's quarters and boxes of computer paper that have been stored under the judges' desk. Right now, Juvenile and Domestic Judge Patrick Graybeal and General District Judge John Quigley, when they are in Radford, take turns using a tiny desk wedged into a corner of a small, crowded office. With all that paper under the desk, they can put only one knee under it at a time

The courthouse also houses the Circuit Court, Radford's city manager and a number of city offices.

J. D. Harmon, clerk of the Circuit Court, said that his office, too, is running out of space. His staff carries to the basement records that should be in the overcrowded vault. A peek into the vault revealed floor-to-ceiling racks of big green books of records of deeds, marriages and laws and court proceedings. Harmon had hoped that the advent of microfiche would solve the space problems, but found that he still has to keep a "hard copy" on paper.

Circuit Judge Duane Mink was a prime mover in the project to expand court space. Council requested a study of the situation after Mink wrote a letter outlying the problem.

Since then, the city has hired a consultant to look at a design for a permanent addition.

by CNB