The Register-Herald, Beckley, West Virginia

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  • Christian Giggenbach

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January 7, 2009

Sheriff: Old office should be torn down

Christian M. Giggenbach

LEWISBURG — New Greenbrier County Sheriff Jim Childers says it’s time for his department to get some new digs.

Childers recently gave a tour of the sheriff’s department to all three county commissioners and both Greenbrier circuit judges. The sheriff’’s main office is located in the old Greenbrier County jail which was built in 1953. The sheriff’s office was moved to the county jail after it closed in 1994.

Childers gave print and TV news media a tour Wednesday of the dilapidated facility which had sewage backed up in several offices last month. Many of the offices that deputies and personnel worked out of were in dire need of painting and were generally in poor condition due to the many years of service of the 56-year-old, three-story building.

The worst areas were confined to the third floor, which had becoming a dumping ground of sorts for the courthouse. Old office equipment, files, clothing and other items were found strewn throughout the top floor. The department employs about 29 deputies, six of whom are assigned to the office in Rupert. Several other civilian employees work out of the old building also. A few of the jail cells are still used to hold defendants awaiting trial and court hearings, Sgt. H.D. Fankell said.

“I am committed to try and change this as quickly as I can,” Childers, who was elected sheriff in November, said. “How can you have good morale in a department when our officers are working under these conditions?”

Childers said the old jail “needs to be torn down” and a new office space needs to be found for his department. County Commissioners Brad Tuckwiller and Betty Crookshanks both agreed.

“Yes, we all agree that the sheriff’s office is in disrepair and not a modern office,” Tuckwiller said by phone Wednesday. “The first floor is workable for some things, but it’s not enough.”

Tuckwiller said he would like to see the building razed, but there is a possibility that part of the building could be renovated for use by the county’s new Day Report Center. Plans for a new judicial annex will be revisited in the future, he said.

Crookshanks, who was elected commission president Wednesday, also said the issue of tearing down the building or saving it will be addressed.

“There is a sewage leak that has to be dealt with immediately,” she said. “And the storage upstairs needs to be cleaned out.”

Childers said he will be drawing up legal documents to have some of the items taken to the dump.

“What’s not salvageable, I will respectively ask a judge to issue a destruction order for what can be thrown away,” he said.

— E-mail:

cgiggenbach@register-herald.com

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