Seneca County (OH) Courthouse, in Danger of Razing

After many years of lies, stalling, giving us hope that our Seneca County (Ohio) Courthouse would be renovated & restored, 2 of our county commissioners, Ben Nutter & Jeff Wagner, have decided that they will tear down our beloved Courthouse, "BECAUSE IT IS TIME". It is NOT time....it will NEVER be time!! This building is on the National Register of Historic Places.....it was built to last, out of materials that are still as strong today as they were when it was built in 1884, & the only reason anyone can ascertain as to why they want to tear it down is so they can build their own MONUMENT TO MEDIOCRITY in the rubble of this grand old building....only weeks after promising that they would NOT build anything else in it's place. Our town is dying.....our county is dying.....we have so much to offer here, but nobody will ever see that, because our commissioners are more concerned about their own political futures than they are about what's actually good about or for Tiffin & Seneca County, Ohio. Our history is being trashed. The only good to possibly come out of this is that Ben Nutter & Jeff Wagner's political careers will, hopefully, come to an END due to their short-sightedness, lying, & inability to comprehend the FACTS: that a restored/renovated Courthouse is worth more than a pre-fab fantasy courthouse; that it will cost more in the long run to tear down, build, maintain, & eventually replace anything put in it's place, because new construction is inferior to old construction; & that they'll lose the space they've been whining about needing, because they plan to tear down the space they already have, to build something that will be approximately 10,000 sq ft SMALLER than what they already own.

THE DEMOLITION CREWS ARE SCHEDULED TO START NEXT WEEK....MERRY CHRISTMAS 2011! THE TIME TO STAND UP, ACT UP, & BE HEARD IS ***NOW***!!!!!

• Category

  News & Politics

[LinTK]

Spend some time in front of the Courthouse this weekend.....see how many people are driving by, honking their horns & giving us the thumbs up, yelling "don't tear it down!" The ratio of those for, vs those against, is easily 5 to 1. You, & every single man, woman, & child in Seneca Co is being lied to by Nutter & Wagner.....but, unfortunately for you, you won't realize that until it's too late. You have my sympathies.

[LinTK]

CalvertBlue: Keep your eyes on the news, kid. It's FAR from over....thanks to the idiocy of our wonderful commissioners, & the incompetency of the demolition contractors they gave the lowest bid to.

[jao216]

im watching the news...and there saying it will be restored to its original condition...with the original tower.

[LinTK]

I didn't see the news tonight, but I'm sure they meant to say that *IF* the commissioners resolve to do this, it will be restored to *CLOSE* to it's original condition, w/ a tower that will *LOOK* like the original.

If you go down to the SEIDC office starting, I believe, next wk, they will have copies of the plan proposed by Conaway & his group, for the public to view. It's an amazing plan they've come up w/, & it would be an honor for Seneca Co to have such a wonderfully restored building.

[LinTK]

During the tours of the Courthouse, I met a man & his young son who were taking the tour. The man told me that he thought it was very important for his young son to see the Courthouse, since they were descendants of WH Gibson (who's statue is out front). He felt the Courthouse was almost like a part of their personal family legacy, & it would be a shame if his young son never got to see the inside of something that felt like it was part of their "family".

[jao216]

my parents got married in the room at 2:13

[LinTK]

Thanks for that, jao. There are so many people who have so many important memories of life events in our Courthouse. I have quite a few myself. Losing all those memories would constitute losing a part of who we are!

[CalvertBlue]

I have watched a couple of the videos of the commissioners meetings that have been recently posted online. You people sound so self centered. Maybe you should move your focus to the next building that needs to be saved. Since they only last 50 years there has to be one somewhere in Seneca County that needs repair. I love the lady who said she did a survey based on "honks" and "thumbs up". LOL! That's some good statictics to base an arguement on!

[Dreambro1]

The courthouse has seen the Wrecking ball! Demolition has started !

[mkstractors]

things are not going to change until the politics of this town are changed its sad that even when people vote something down it still goes in to effect such as the 1 % tax increase that was just recently shut down by the people but is in effect any ways! we have to take a stand and get our town back and quit allowing corporate greed ruin our community this is all b/s its too late for the court house but we need to stop them in their tracks down with mayor montz and the rest these useless people!

[CalvertBlue]

I think everyone is tired of seeing the same few women getting the media attention. With the wrecking crew on the front lawn and the steps gone and you don't think it's over then something is wrong with you. Move forward because 99.9% of Seneca County has.

[CalvertBlue]

I'm sure glad this is all coming to an end. It's time to move on. You can dwell and cry about the past or move on with a positive attitude towards the future. Hopefully everyone realizes what happens when you don't maintain a building for 20 years. Live, learn and move forward.

[jao216]

well i know they said they already had 3mil in grants and 5mil in loans set up for it