Web poll
Tell us starting Wednesday at our web site, carrollcountycomet.com
Each week the Comet polls its readers on a different topic. Vote online at carrollcountycomet.com starting each Thursday, and then click the Comments link to send us an email voicing your opinion. The best responses will be printed the following week.

Should school administrators live in the school

corporation where they are employed?

(Reader submitted question.)
Yes
No
No opinion

Last Weeks results

Flora town official wants to know what should be done

with the old Flora School. What do you think? 19% Wait on a grant for senior housing which may never materialize

73% Tear it down and be done with it 08% Other - give alternative by e-mailing editor with poll

comment Total responses: 106

Reader's comments:

The school could be an assortment of several things - a daycare center, made in conference centers, small mall, etc. The possibilities are endless. You could even turn it into a bed and breakfast with a restaurant and sell goods made from Carroll County residents. Create offices.

* * *

It is always an emotional loss for many people when historic and, perhaps, personally familiar buildings pass from our presence, but life does go on. Things change. Buildings, businesses, and other aspects of our lives come and go.

The next best thing to spending untold amounts of money to preserving a building that ultimately cannot be saved any longer is to preserve it in other ways aside from its physical presence. Here are some ideas that might appease those who have attachments to it:

• Develop and publish a small booklet documenting the building and its history.

• Salvage important pieces of the building such as scoreboards, desks, trophy cases, flooring, lockers, etc. and offer them for sale to interested former students.

• Make a memorial walkway with the bricks where the former students can memorialize whoever they wish while honoring their alma mater.

• Make and offer a video on DVD of the school, its hallways and classrooms, and other related amenities.

• Put up a historical marker with salient facts on it.

• The sales of the above items needn't be a profit making venture, but simply cover the cost of their existence. In the end, they are there to savor the memories for those who were attached to the school in a personal way. The building can then be torn down and make way for something new and more useful for the citizens of Flora.

* * *

Just like everything else in Carroll County, just because we are in a budget crunch should we see this building torn down. The adage of getting rid of something because it is old is not always true. The need for Senior Citizen Apartments is very important, but maybe there are some other uses. A lot of older buildings are built better than what is being built today. You go to a lot of small towns throughout the country and it is really inspiring to see that they have found uses for their older buildings instead of tearing down and leaving an eyesore or a potential parking lot. There is something to be said about preserving certain buildings, heirlooms and culture.