Missouri Western State University - Griffon Yearbook (St Joseph, MO)

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Buchanan County Court House renovated lllt was a momentous event and the people entered into the spirit thereof with pride and enthusiasm, and well they might, for they were laying the cornerstone of the grandest county building in the West at that time. Au- gust 25, 1873. -The Daily News' His- tory of Buchanan County and St. loseph, The St. loseph Publishing Co., c. 1900 A once magnificent structure in downtown St. joseph is finally being renovated thanks to the voters of Bu- chanan County. Perhaps the word ren- ovate is too harsh to describe the pres- ervation of the Buchanan County Court House. ln 1979, a four-year levy was ap- proved by voters to provide the coun- ty with funds to restore the now na- tionally-registered landmark. lan Mehl serves as Grants Coordinator and is in- volved in keeping watch on the progress, The option of renovating rather than building a new office for the county court lltook place because of the cost and particularly because of the feeling for the building, lan added. UA new building would look just like any other bank building and symbolize the bureaucracy of today. Besides, cer- tain people in St. joseph would have made it impossible to build a new one. Presently, all exterior work is under contract. lt will total about S51 million and be finished by the summer of 1980 Interior work will cost about 52 mil- lion which first will include the heating and cooling system. Then work will be- gin on the east wing, to increase interi- or space. Comparing the Court House to a Eu- ropean Cathederal, lan related, llThe building should last for 500 years. In Eu- rope, the Cathederals stand as the cen- ter of the towns, much in the same way the Court House did when it was built. Missouri Western students have many reasons to visit the Court House. It is the place to pay property taxes, 12fCourt House fight legal battles, and attain marriage license, among other services. Some students frequent the Court House more often. Linda Bachman is enrolled in a 2-l-2 program which pairs associate degrees in para-legal and criminal justice. Linda works at the Court House in the Support Enforce- ment Unit as an investigator. 'I think the Court House renovation is an excellent plan. It meets two ob- jectives. First, it is not wasteful of tax- payer's money. lt would cost a lot more to build a new building, Linda explained. Second, it preserves what we have. The beautiful structure has much po- tential. Most citizens don't. know what's happening, nor do they appre- ciate it. But they'll be glad when it's done. ln contrast, the decaying county jail, built in 1900, is not a first for Buchanan County. Back in 1900, citizens faced the same problem as today. 'The people of Buchanan County have no cause to be either proud or satisfied with the county jail. lt

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is an antiquated, unsafe, unsanitary pile that would be considered about the 'proper thing' in Spain, where they are retrogressive and cruel. -The Daily News' History of Buchanan County and St. loseph, c. 1900 Perhaps a new jail is in the future for Buchanan County as was a restored Court House a few years ago. . -MIKE HOFFMAN The restoration of the courthouse nears comple- tion fbelow leftj, but much of the interior lbelowj remains the same. The new YMCA fabove rightj was completed this year. Some of the new equipment fbelow rightj is being tried out. ew Y offers diversity The new St. joseph YMCA opened its doors to the public on December 4, 1978. The 53,600,000 structure located at 6th and Charles streets was finished. lt replaced an old and battered building at 10th and Faraon that had been in operation since 1910. Instead of cater- ing only to men, the new YMCA pro- motes the family atmosphere. The Young Men's Christian Association has become more of a generic term and there are equal facilities available for both genders. Due to this new image, the YMCA has become very popular and its membership continues to grow rapidly. The following year brought some changes to the YMCA. Missouri West- ern students were affected directly by one of these changes. The student membership rate was abolished and the annual rate was increased to 575. Fred Hoffman, the director of the YMCA, commented, The other YMCA's we talked to were doing away with the student rate. The cost of running the YMCA is very expen- sive, and cutting out the student rate is one way to help meet the increasing costs. At present, the YMCA does not of- fer any programs specifically targeted toward the students here. 'lThe YMCA is a group work agen- cy. We must direct our efforts to the community as a whole. We are inter- ested in the Missouri Western students, but we have to direct our efforts to- ward a larger group and just hope the students 'want to involve themselves, Hoffman stated. Many students do par- ticipate in the various programs that are set up for local citizens such as Y- League basketball. Even with the rate increase the YMCA is still fairly inexpensive in com- parison with other private clubs. Mark Campbell, an accounting major, relat- ed, 'll like to play racquetball. The cost to play at the YMCA is a bargain com- pared to the private club in town. There are also more facilities available to use when l don't feel like playing racquetball. Do you have an extra S75 laying around? If so, a YMCA membership might be a pretty good investment. Es- pecially during those cold winter months when one tends to be -less ac- tive and grow those extra inches around waistlines. - BRYAN DANCER YMCAX13