Click here to subscribe today or Login.
By MELISSA JANOSKI melissaj@leader.net
Tuesday, February 01, 2000 Page: 3A
WILKES-BARRE – A sprinkler pipe at a rented warehouse burst and damaged
old Luzerne County records from the offices of the district attorney,
prothonotary and register of wills.
The ruptured pipe at the Thomas warehouse on Pennsylvania Avenue was
discovered Monday morning. It is unclear when the leak started, said Bill
Burke, deputy director of Property and Supply. The county rents the warehouse
on Pennsylvania Avenue from George Thomas.
District Attorney Dave Lupas said the damage was minimal. No evidence or
files of active cases were damaged, he said. “I’m not aware that anything of
major importance was affected,” he said. He did not know if any files were
damaged beyond repair.
Prothonotary Carolee Medico said about 1,800 records of lawsuits and
divorces from the 1970s were soaked. About 500 were destroyed, she said,
although at least some of the ruined files are preserved on microfilm. Medico
said the old records are seldom used, but problems could surface if records of
old liens or divorces could not be found.
Copies of divorce records, for example, are sometimes needed when someone
files for Social Security benefits. It is too soon to know how such problems
could be resolved, she said.
Some inheritance tax receipts and old financial records from the Register
of Wills Office also got wet, but can be dried, said Administrative Assistant
Donald Williamson.
Last week, the county commissioners doubled the amount of space the county
rents in the Thomas building to 22,000 square feet. The county will pay
$66,000 for a one-year lease. Under the old lease, the county paid $35,004
annually. Commissioners renegotiated the first lease, scheduled to expire in
November 2002, when they realized they needed more space, said Democrat Tom
Makowski, chairman of the commissioners.
He hopes to find a permanent solution to the county’s storage shortage, but
said it is too early to offer specifics.
Republican minority Commissioner Stephen A. Urban refused to sign the new
lease, saying the county should have sought bids in search of a better deal.
He said he also suspects the additional space might not be needed if the
county did a better job throwing out unnecessary records.
Call Janoski at 831-7331.