By Mannix Porterfield
Register-Herald Reporter
BECKLEY —
Once the aroma of chopped onions and beef patties sizzling on a hot grill wafted across much of Beckley’s business arena, it signaled another busy day for the old G.C. Murphy Co. and other merchants lined up in the same block near the city’s mercantile anchor.
All that has gone, replaced by the whir of machinery in the hands of a crew raising a three-story structure to hold the heart of Raleigh County’s judicial system.
And despite the stifling blows administered by one of the harsher winters in modern memory, G&G Builders of St. Albans actually is ahead of schedule in creating the $12 million annex.
“They hit a brick wall during the winter because of the weather, but they did work through the whole thing,” county commission president John Humphrey said.
“But we got through it, and they’re really making headway now. All the steel is set basically through the building. They’ve poured all the concrete floors.”
As spring finally yawned under the gathering strength of the sun, crews began to lay dividers.
“They tell us about a month from now we won’t even know the building as we see it now,” Humphrey said.
“It will move that quickly, once the mud and mortar start flying. It will start shaping up. It’s a stone-type building with concrete panels. It’s got a very nice, modern look to it. The color tone will kind of match in with the federal building.”
Crews hope to have the initial phase finished in November, the shell of the building itself, and, that done, will move into the interior work. By the fall of 2011, it should be ready for occupancy, covering about half a block.
“They actually are telling us they’re two months ahead of schedule right now,” Humphrey said.
- - -
In the basement, the new structure will make room for an evidence room, accommodating law enforcement agencies.
On the first floor will be the magistrates and their clerks. The second floor will be devoted to family courts, and top floor is set aside for the three circuit judges.
“There will actually be a fourth courtroom on the second floor for a fourth judge, if we ever get a fourth one,” Humphrey said.
“Our judges seem to think we will. Based on the caseload, they say we’re due for a fourth judge. We plan on that.”
An expert will be ushered in to evaluate the entire courthouse to ascertain the best way of shuffling offices around and getting the maximum use of the available space.
“We would like to have some evaluation by someone with the expertise and look at all the elected officials’ space to see how we can use it for the best purpose,” Humphrey said.
Except for the older, larger courtroom, which is to be retained, possibly for use by the state in certain trials and for local special occasions, the current courtrooms are likely to be renovated for offices.
Existing magistrate offices on Prince Street will be used to store voting machines and train poll workers.
“Right now, we have to rent space every time there’s an election,” Humphrey said.
“For a month or two, at the armory, we set up machines to be able to get them all set up for the election. There’s a tremendous amount of work in the elections. If we had this set up (at the magistrates’ building) we could do all the training over there. We don’t have room at the courthouse to do it. We need a few thousand square feet to be able to do it.”
Commissioners borrowed $5 million, and except for $200,000 provided by the Legislature, the rest came out of the county’s budget. That left $3 million yet to be rounded up.
“We found $1 million we have on hand, so we need $2 million more,” Humphrey said.
By some belt-tightening and money accrued through the coal severance tax, he is confident the county can get the final $2 million.
For some who grew up in the era when Beckley was the business hub of the region, long before the invasion of interstate highways and shopping malls, the transition carries a twinge or two of sadness.
“A lot of people didn’t want to see the old G.C. Murphy building leave, along with some of the others,” Humphrey said.
“We had to do a feasibility study for the historical people to show them that the building wasn’t worth fixing. There were too many problems. I’m the same way. Even in my age group, I hate to see a part of history leave.”
He expects to see some growth in the downtown area, but nothing on the order it had decades ago when it was a major shopping area.
“It’s going to be more restaurants, eating places, lawyers’ offices and government agencies,” he said.
“If you look at a lot of the old towns throughout the country, that’s the way they are now.”
— E-mail: mannix@register-herald.com
