OLD MOUNDS SCHOOL BUILDING TO BE NEW COMMUNITY CENTER

MOUNDS, Ill. -- The old Titus School Building, which housed Mounds Township High School a number of years before the Meridian School District became a reality in the mid-1960s, will be converted into the Pulaski County Community Center.

Roy "Buddy" Walls, a Mounds businessman, and Kenneth Moore, of the Illinois Department of Natural Resources, who own the building, have donated it to the Mounds in Action for Neighborhood Youth (MANY).

The building, which is currently vacant, had once been used as business offices.

A special re-hab meeting will be held Tuesday at 6:30 p.m. at the First United Methodist Church in Mounds to discuss remodeling.

The building contains a number of rooms and a gymnasium which may used for a number of activities.

MANY has received a $10,000 grant to start the restoration project, said the group's president, Gabriel Harris.

MANY officials say the structure could be used for a number of projects, including a handicapped-accessible library, or day-care center.

The gymnasium includes a stage, which would be used for plays or musical performances.

The building, said officials, is structurally sound. One of the immediate concerns of the building is roof repair on a portion of the building.