The lintel is falling!

Bill Weathers reports:

To reinforce his argument for the need for a county jail, Hamilton County Sheriff Simon L. Leis Jr. sent out a photo of deteriorating window frame at the Queensgate Facility to the county commissioners Thursday.

The photo illustrates some of the structural damage to the Queensgate facility that will eventually have to be repaired, sheriff’s spokesman Steve Barnett said this morning.
Paying for such repairs would be “putting good money after bad trying to patch this place up,” Barnett said.

On Wednesday, Leis met with the commissioners to ask them to approve spending public money so he could hire private attorneys to sue the commissioners and force them to build a jail.
The commissioners unanimously rejected the request, and Leis then said he would take the issue to court.

In November, Hamilton County voters defeated a proposed sales tax increase to pay for a new jail.

Sorry readers - For some reason, the photo wouldn't upload.


Here's the e-mail:

-----Original Message-----From: Barnett, Steve [mailto:SBarnett@sheriff.hamilton-co.org] Sent: Thursday, December 21, 2006 9:49 AMTo: pat.dewine@hamilton-co.org; phil.heimlich@hamilton-co.org; Portune, Todd; patrick.thompson@hamilton-co.orgSubject: Failing Lintel at the Queensgate Facility

Gentlemen,

Sheriff Leis requested that I forward the attached photo to you. The photo shows the lintel above windows on an outside wall of the Queensgate Facilty. As you likely know, a lintel is a horizontal piece across the top of an opening (as a window or door) that carries the weight of the structure above it. When a lintel fails enough the wall will collapse.

In addition to this severe structural damage at Queensgate, we have also been informed that the rear wall is bowing. That wall is located above loading docks and the inmates outdoor recreational area. This problem is more difficult to show in a photograph.

Steve Barnett