Tibet center to be auctioned

The Tibetan Cultural Center is scheduled to be sold on the auction block after a judge foreclosed on its mortgage. Monroe County Circuit Court Judge E. Michael Hoff ruled March 14 that the cultural center owed the mortgage holder, Mooring Capital Fund, Inc, more than $1.75 million in payments, according to court documents.\nOn May 6, Mooring Financial requested that the center be sold at the Monroe County Sheriff's sale. According to a Web site for SRI Incorporated, an Indianapolis-based company which handles Monroe County Sheriff's sales, the property is slated to be put up for sale on June 17 at 10 a.m. in the main lobby of the Justice Building.\n"If (the Tibetan Culture Center) is closed, it would be a big loss to the local Tibetan people and the people in Indiana," said Tendar, the press secretary for the Office of Tibet in New York City.\nHe said though the Tibetan population in Bloomington is comparatively small, the center also serves many Americans who are interested in Tibetan culture and Buddhism.\nThe Tibetan Culture Center was founded by Thubten J. Norbu, the brother of the Dalai Lama. Thubten was also a professor of Central Eurasian Studies at IU. In 2003, the Dalai Lama, the holiest man in Buddhism, consecrated the Chamtse Ling Temple on the grounds of the center.\nNo one from the Tibetan Culture Center could be reached for comment and no one appeared to be at the grounds of the center itself.\nBloomington Mayor Mark Kruzan did not have a comment on the Center's sale by press time.\nJohn Graub, who represented Mooring Financial in its case against the center did not return phone calls Wednesday.