Lincoln County Long On Resiliency After Courthouse Fire

Public service was interrupted only briefly when the Lincoln County Courthouse burned two weeks ago.

Thanks to a dozen cellular phones and a lot of determination, the county was back in business about three days after the Dec. 21 fire. Workers were still scattered all over Davenport Friday, but every department was handling routine business.

As one official put it, the disaster united county workers “like a hill of ants.”

County Commissioner Ted Hopkins, a retired Army lieutenant colonel, also is given much of the credit for organizing the quick recovery.

“He’s done a marvelous job at that,” Deputy Auditor Marlene Gralapp said. “Everybody is very pleased.”

Hopkins, who had just taken over as chairman of the commission, said his Army training helped him through his baptism by fire.

“In the Army, sometimes every day is a crisis,” he said.

Hopkins persuaded a cellular telephone company to donate a dozen phones the day after the fire, and had regular county telephone numbers forwarded to the cell phones. Regular phone service has been restored to some departments, but many are still using the portable phones.

When several department heads gather in a room, there’s often a mad scramble to find which of their identical-sounding phones is chirping.

One of the biggest breaks from the fire was that turn-of-the-century vaults kept most of the county’s records safe. Many documents are still in the vaults, and Sheriff Dan Berry is keeping a 24-hour guard on the burned-out courthouse.

“We’re thankful that the Superior Court clerk’s files are fine because we can get a lot of documents from them,” said Janice Emery, an assistant in the Juvenile Court Services Department, which lost all of its records.

Departments farther from the source of the fire were more fortunate. Assessor Jon “Frosty” Freeze said he lost his aerial photos, but his backup computer records were fine. He credits much of his good fortune to those “heavy old metal desks and cabinets” that were once the butt of office jokes.

“Except for our office being in a different location, I don’t think the public will be able to tell any difference,” he said. Big signs will soon be posted at the courthouse to take care of that problem.

The departments of the auditor, treasurer and assessor moved into a vacant downtown building immediately after the fire. That’s where they’ll stay until the courthouse is repaired or replaced.

Hopkins said inspections by several structural engineers indicate the courthouse probably can be repaired. An insurance consultant will be in Davenport this week to help county officials decide what to do.

Officials still haven’t figured out where to keep their records. Access to the courthouse vaults is limited to a few times a week because of the difficulty and danger of entering the building.

The Superior Court Clerk’s vault had to be sealed Wednesday after melting ice began to run inside.

The Superior Court clerk’s staff is bumping elbows with lawmen in a cramped corner of the sheriff’s building. The Juvenile Court office is in the Counseling Service office downtown, and Prosecutor Ron Shepherd is shoe-horned into the Public Works building outside town.

But justice is still being served - in the auditorium at the county fairgrounds.

“We have a computer and a phone and, if we have those, we can do anything,” Deputy Court Clerk Peggy Semprimoznik said.

At the fairgrounds kitchen, District Court Administrative Assistant Donna Sitko had more room but no computer.

“We’re just kind of floundering along,” Sitko said.

She was issuing hand-written receipts for traffic fines and calling Olympia to clear up suspended driver’s licenses. Sometimes she had to shout to be heard above the noise of salvaged equipment being moved into the fairgrounds building for storage.

Sitko wished that whoever burned the courthouse could be forced to help clean up the mess.

“This person doesn’t realize the headache that he or she has caused for so many people,” Sitko said. “… He should be working right along with us.”

Or maybe alongside some of the half-frozen utility workers and carpenters who, on Friday, were rushing to set up several modular offices behind the courthouse. The judicial departments hope to begin moving equipment into the offices Monday.

Like Sitko, many workers are angered or saddened that someone would burn the stylish 1897 building they called the Grand Old Lady.

“When you spend eight to 10 hours a day in a place, you start taking ownership in it,” said Deputy Auditor Gralapp. “Besides, it was a beautiful building and a part of our history.”

Mary Gamble, a deputy Superior Court clerk, fondly recalled going to the courthouse cupola with her parents in 1947 to watch for airplanes in a civil defense drill.

Aside from the identification of a suspect in the arson, perhaps the biggest triumph so far came Dec. 29 when county workers got their paychecks on time.

To get the job done, workers had to recover computer records and piece together a few still-working computers at their new quarters in a vacant downtown building. All but five pieces of computer equipment were knocked out by smoke or water if not flames.

A few computers and printers were purchased immediately and a few others were patched up to get the county by until bids for new computers are taken this month. Counties all around the state have offered loaners, but officials are trying to hold out for new equipment so they don’t have to rebuild their system twice.

Hopkins said the county also tentatively declined state Sen. Bob Morton’s offer to seek help from the Legislature. However, he welcomed a moving van full of surplus office furniture donated Friday by Spokane County and said Auditor Shelly Johnston will go to Hanford Monday to pick more surplus furniture there.

“We’re very grateful for that,” Hopkins said.

County officials also are grateful for numerous offers of buildings for temporary offices. They’re working on a long list of thank-yous.

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