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Unused Missouri jail advertised on eBay By Todd C. Frankel
http://www.JewishWorldReview.com |
(KRT) HUNTSVILLE, Mo. — In the heart of Missouri, a jail is for sale. It is the second county jail to go on the market in central Missouri in recent months. And while word of the sales have been treated in a mostly haughty, joking manner - both jails were offered as oddities at the online auction site eBay - one community is taking it seriously. A good sale might offer some hope for the fading county seat of Huntsville and erase the memory of a double murder that occurred there. The Randolph County Jail in Huntsville, about 45 miles north of Columbia, Mo., was built in 1910. It looks like a stately home of brick and stone. Several sheriffs and their families resided there. They lived in one half, while inmates lived in the other - an attached 30-man cellblock of metal bunks and steel bars. The sheriff's wife usually cooked the inmates' meals. But with a new jail open, the county wants to sell the old one. And the goal is to breathe new energy into Huntsville, a town of about 1,500. "Too many buildings around here are vacant," said Mark Price, 46, who grew up in the jail as the son of a county sheriff. The jail presides over the corner of Main and Elm streets, at the far end of Huntsville's three-block downtown. The two grocery stores, a hardware store, drugstore and TV store that existed here when Price was growing up are long gone. The old buildings remain, but the County Courthouse and post office are the major attractions now. Most of the jobs and stores are over in Moberly, a few miles away. Huntsville was once the county's economic engine, but its long, slow slide began when a major railroad switching station arrived in Moberly around the end of the 19th century. More trouble arrived when the region's coal mines closed in more recent decades. For something good to come from the sale, said Price, "It'd be a step in the right way." Randolph County got the idea to sell its jail from neighboring Howard County, where a 116-year-old former sheriff's residence and jail sit right off the square in the town of Fayette. No one wanted it. Tearing it down might have threatened the square's listing on the National Register of Historic Places, said Jim Steele, editor of the local newspaper. So with the help of Steele's wife, Christy, an eBay aficionado, county officials turned to the Internet. In November, the jail sold for $42,000 to a Los Angeles lawyer. He plans to renovate it into a country getaway for himself. The sale was judged a resounding success. "If there's anybody who is not happy," Steele said, "I have not encountered them." Randolph County hopes to duplicate the result. Its jail was listed on eBay through the end of December. Bidding is expected to start in coming weeks. Minimum bid: $32,500. "We were told by a real estate agent, one who knows these things, that someone could buy it for $36,000 and put another $36,000 into it and have a beautiful, beautiful residence," said Jim Myles, Randolph County presiding commissioner. Marketing materials suggest the jail could be a home, law office or bed and breakfast. "What's your dream?" the ad asks. The building is solid but worn. The residence was transformed into office space in 1989, when future sheriffs decided not to live there. Heavy scuffs mark the hardwood floors, "probably beat up by ankle chains and such over the years," Myles said during a recent tour. The cellblock looks exactly as it did when the last orange-jumpsuited inmates left in June. Graffiti adorns the metal walls, like the pencil-written "Yeah, this place sucks." "It sure does," Myles said, reading the inscription. The front hallway is a fortress of bulletproof glass and steel doors. This is a legacy of the shooting. On June 22, 2000, a man and a woman burst into the hallway, intent on breaking out a friend jailed inside. They shot and killed a deputy and a jailer. But they could not find the correct keys to unlock the doors. They were later caught. All three are serving life sentences or sit on death row. "It's a sore subject for me," said Don Ancell, who was sheriff when the shooting occurred. He had complained for years that the old jail was unsafe. But the county never found the money to build a new one. The shooting changed that, persuading voters to boost the local sales tax to pay for a new justice center, which has space for 100 inmates. The center is dedicated to the two officers who died. Ancell said he supports the jail's sale, even if he can't imagine what anyone would want with it. "If they can sell it, as bad shape as the county is in, I'm all for it," Ancell said. The county is in debt, but the selling price is "a drop in the bucket," Myles said. One benefit to the county would be regaining the public's trust, especially since a county commissioner was charged in November with stealing more than $5,000 from two groups, including the local Cub Scouts. Offering the jail for auction "has been a very positive thing, generating lots of publicity," Myles said. National TV and newspapers have carried the story, and it has bounded around the Internet, making Huntsville and county leaders sound enterprising. They just need a buyer. More than 100 people have contacted Myles for more photos and information. Myles hopes to find someone like Howard County's Los Angeles lawyer. "I think we'll ask him if he'd like to own two jails," Myles said, "or if he has a friend he could recommend to us."
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Comment by clicking here. © 2006, St. Louis Post-Dispatch. Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Information Services |
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