Dozens protest courthouse demolition plan

WINCHESTER, Ind. --About 200 people toting homemade signs gathered on the lawn of the Randolph County Courthouse to protest plans to demolish the 128-year-old brick structure.\n"This courthouse is Randolph County's symbol," said Dick McCord, a Winchester resident who attended Saturday's rally and carried a sign he made using a photo of the courthouse blended with images of the United States and Indiana flags.\nCounty Commissioners had spent a year discussing almost a dozen options before voting 2-1 on June 6 to raze, rather than renovate, the three-story building and build a new one on the city's courthouse square.\nThe Winchester Chamber of Commerce, across the street from the courthouse, provided fliers and petitions for people interested in preserving the building 20 miles east of Muncie. The Historic Landmarks Foundation of Indiana has joined the opposition.\nA consultant has said the new courthouse would be designed in the same style as the current one, but that was not good enough to satisfy some people.\n"I just don't think they should build a new one. You don't get that kind of structure anymore," Tonya Harshman told The Star Press of Muncie.\nWinchester resident Dianna Younts said she hoped the opposition would help sway the commissioners.\n"People just don't want to keep history anymore," she said. "I hope we can make the change."\nCommissioner David Lenkensdofer, who cast the sole vote against demolition, plans to ask the board to reconsider the move on Monday.