WOMEN WORK TO SAVE WET RECORDS; BROKEN PIPES DAMAGE SCOTT COUNTY DOCUMENTS

BENTON -- Mother Nature wasn't responsible, but Father Time apparently played an early April Fool's joke here as aging water pipes in the basement of Scott County's courthouse burst March 25 resulting in important court records being submerged in water up to 2 feet deep.

The lines apparently broke between March 22-24. By 10:30 a.m. March 25, the town's 72,000-gallon storage tank had emptied.

It took firefighters about three hours to pump the water out of the basement.

Numerous county records, including prosecutors' case files, assessors' and collectors' records, and the court stenographer's papers were saturated and not all are salvageable.

That's when Margaret Beggs of Jackson and Joan Feezor of Charleston came to the rescue. The women, both with degrees in historic preservation, are with the state's office of the Local Records Program.

Although both have been with the Local Records Program since July, they said this was their first disaster.

"I just hoped and prayed that my training had paid off and that I knew as much as I thought I did," admitted Feezor.

She said they knew a lot of work was ahead of them from the beginning when they saw there were more records involved than expected.

"The first thing we did was to assess the situation to see how saturated the records were," Feezor explained. "We knew we had a limited time period because of the growth of mold. We had to get the papers out of the boxes to let them dry."

According to Feezor, taking the papers out of the boxes was a considerable job; there were approximately 20 large boxes and 20 small ones filled with court papers.

Next, the papers had to be spread out in the basement. Other problems awaited the women.

"We didn't have enough space in the basement so the county clerk authorized me to use the three empty office spaces and the hallway on the third floor," Feezor said. "But there still wasn't enough space and time was running out to find some way of stabilizing those records."

Since time was crucial, another location had to be found to dry them. Feezor said freezing the papers was the perfect solution as it would allow them to be kept safely until they could get to them.

"We talked to the county commissioners and they called around and asked if any businesses had a freezer we could use. One of the local businesses said they would donate one for as long as we needed it. This way we can deal with it next week and the next week after that...."

Feezor and Beggs have been busy since the ordeal began. They must continually turn the pages to assure the entire package of information is drying. Records range from one or two sheets to three-inches thick.

"We go down in the basement and turn them and then we go back upstairs to do those," Feezor said. "By the time we get the ones upstairs turned, it's time to go back downstairs again."

Feezor said it is too early to tell how many of the records have been destroyed, estimating it may take a few more weeks before all the records are dry.

"We think some may have to be destroyed, but luckily most of them have already met their retention time. After a period of time, certain records can be destroyed if the county officials wish."

Instead of trying to save some of the more badly damaged records, she said, county officials authorized them to dispose of them.

"We'll keep turning them until they are dry and not sticking together," she said. "We're finding that one of the problems is with felt paper, which is a cheaper brand of paper. The fibers of paper break down and come apart and when they dry, you end up with one solid mass of paper. Computer paper is not holding up well either; it seems to be fading."

Other problems as a result of water damage include ink coming off the paper, dye bleeding on records and rust on records that were attached with metal fasteners.

"This is a very trying type of work," Feezor said. "It's intense because we know we can't take a break now. Fifteen minutes can be crucial, we know time's running out."

Despite the grim outlook, both women agree that they started on the work in time to save many of the records.

Once the records are dry, Feezor and Beggs will rebox them. They said, however, it was doubtful that the records would be put back in their original order.

Feezor said this incident should be a warning to other counties.

"I think this has shown that counties need to come up with some type of contingency plan in case of a disaster. You can think you have every plan you need but when it comes down to an emergency, you don't.

"Counties need to draw up a list of volunteers to contact who can come in at a moment's notice."