ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Thursday, August 22, 1996 TAG: 9608220040
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: ROCKY MOUNT
SOURCE: TODD JACKSON STAFF WRITER
NOTE: Strip
AND THE MINISTER who owns the now-condemned building knows what his next sermon will be about: The Book of Job.
It was no ordinary ribbon-cutting that took place Wednesday at a rain-damaged apartment building on Greenmeadow Lane. The ribbon was a yellow police tape, and the eager onlookers were some of the 15 tenants who haven't been able to re-enter their apartments since last week, when heavy rains caused the four-story building's front porch to collapse and the back walls to buckle.
The tenants had been forced to wait nine days, prohibited from going into their apartments to get their belongings.
On Wednesday, a window of opportunity opened.
But the now-condemned building's owner, William Bratton of Roanoke, paid to have the structure braced Tuesday so tenants could go in and get their things Wednesday. A house-moving company staked the building like a tomato plant: Two steel girders wedged in the ground anchored a cable lassoing the building.
Wednesday morning, there was a ribbon-cutting of sorts. A yellow-band of police tape came down and the tenants were given the go-ahead to get their things. The tenants went in and were met by the odor of food that had spoiled over the past week, during which power to the building was cut off.
Edith Cook, who worried several days ago that she wouldn't be able to get a bunch of pictures she's accumulated over the years, was just relieved to be able to get back into her apartment.
"I've got a lot of stuff," she said.
Cook, who's now staying with a relative, said she planned to haul her belongings to a storage unit she's rented for $30.
Sandy Mattox was living in the apartment below Cook's. He and some friends labored slowly but surely Wednesday, loading a stereo, chairs, a television, and even a watermelon on the back of a pickup truck.
"This is a lot of work for something that could have been avoided," Mattox said.
He said he'll store his property at his sister's house for the time being.
The apartment building's imminent collapse has been an ordeal for everyone.
The tenants found themselves without a home in the middle of the night Aug. 12 when heavy rains washed out an area in front of the building. A concrete, front porch collapsed putting so much pressure on the rear of the building that the walls buckled.
With nothing more than the clothes on their backs, they scrambled for places to stay over the past week. In the meantime, they waited to hear if they'd be able to retrieve their belongings or if the building would be torn down instead with everything inside.
Rocky Mount and Franklin County officials have kept an eye on the situation. At times, they worried that something worse might happen, such as the building crumbling with someone inside.
Bratton, the landlord, may have more to worry about than anyone.
He says his insurance company probably isn't going to pay for the damage to the building, and several of his tenants are talking to a Roanoke lawyer about suing him.
As a good-faith gesture, he's given the building's tenants their security deposits back plus their August rent.
He's also had to pay the house-moving company more than $3,000 and shelled out money for 24-hour security since the building was condemned.
Bratton, a 43-year-old Roanoke minister who owns other rental properties in Roanoke, said he hasn't decided if he'll try to fix the Rocky Mount building or tear it down.
He said he could recoup his losses if he could rent the eight apartments again. Tenants were paying him a total of nearly $2,000 a month in rent.
But he's got to find an engineer who will OK a plan to repair the damage.
Town and county officials wonder if it wouldn't be better just to tear the 20-year-old building down.
Bratton, the building's fifth owner, says he'll make a decision in the next few days. But he was philosophical about the problem. "Trials and tribulations make you stronger," he said.
Bratton helped some of the tenants move Wednesday, and he said he never thought about turning his back on them.
"My name means more to me than that," he said.
Asked what the subject of his next sermon will be, Bratton smiled and said: "Job."
LENGTH: Medium: 87 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: PHILIP HOLMAN/Staff. 1. Former tenants carry outby CNBfurniture Wednesday. Braces and cables were installed Tuesday to
make the building safe to enter. 2. (headshot) Bratton. color.