Crane To Be Employed For Repairs At Starke County Courthouse

The courthouse tower was damaged by Tuesday morning’s storms.

Trees blew down around the Starke County Courthouse Tuesday morning and according to Maintenance Director Carl Goodrich, there was damage to the courthouse tower.

“This outfit from Wabash, Atlas Engineering, they came and checked out the structural parts of the tower and that seemed to be okay,” explained Goodrich. “The only thing that really sustained damage was the tile and the capping up there [on the tower]. They’re going to give me an estimate, by Monday hopefully, and see what the repairs are going to cost.”

The repairs need to be done at the very top of the courthouse, which stands over 150 feet tall. That work will be done by crane and a reliable crane operator.

“They’re going to have one of those huge cranes come in to get there. That’s the only way up,” Goodrich said.

Goodrich said he had some help cleaning up around the courthouse Tuesday.

“The Community Corrections people came over,” Goodrich said. “They were really helpful. They cut up a lot of limbs and took a lot of it out. Everything else is pretty well intact.”

The cleanup won’t be fully completed for a few days yet.