Farmland's 'Preservation rock stars' hit Ohio

By CYNTHIA AUKERMAN

News-Gazette reporter

Four of Farmland's Courthouse Calendar Girls traveled to Tiffin, Ohio to lend their celebrity status to help save the 1884 courthouse in Seneca County.

Joyce Barrett, executive director of Heritage Ohio, wrote, "On behalf of the preservation community in Ohio, I would like to thank the Courthouse Girls for their support and dedication to the cause of community."

In the Toledo Blade, Barrett hailed the Courthouse Calendar Girls as the "rock stars of Preservation."

Larry Francer and Jerome Herron escorted the women on the 3 1/2 hour journey to attend a rally at the courthouse. The Courthouse Calendar Girls were the final speakers at the rally.

Once more Francer had the sad opportunity to repeat the saying he often applied to the Randolph County Courthouse: "a historic building is like a beautiful older woman, created with love and etched with memories derived from a lifetime; it is a reminder to all who see her, love her and have learned from her, that the years have only polished her beauty and worth, not diminished it."

Herron showed his model of the potential destruction of the Randolph County Courthouse and told ralliers "this is what could happen to yours."

Francer said the women really wanted to lend their support to the preservationists trying to save the courthouse that was named the most endangered historic building in the state. He said their reception at Tiffin, Ohio was wonderful, and the women gave those who are fighting to save the courthouse a real lift.

Afterwards, the people adjourned for a screening of the documentary "Courthouse Calendar Girls of Farmland" that just won the people's choice award in Beckenridge, Colo. They sold their calendars and courthouse shirts.

Barrett wrote, "What makes their appearance meaningful really isn't the calendar, which may have been the vehicle to fame, but their dedication and determination to take a stand for conviction when one knows the cause of their community becomes a priority."

"The spark of energy and enthusiasm they brought to Ohio reminds us the struggle is worth it," Barrett wrote. Voters recently rejected an $8.5 million proposal that would have preserved and restored the Beaux Arts-style courthouse built in downtown Tiffin in 1884. Commissioners recently advertised for bids from demolition contractors, but the Tiffin Architectural Board of Review denied the county's application to raze the courthouse.

Francer said the feelings in Seneca County are particularly raw because the county collected a special tax to renovate the courthouse and then spent it on other things. The county moved out of the courthouse and built an annex with the intention of renovating the courthouse and then moving back in. That never happened, and the courthouse has been vacant for two years.

Locally Randolph County has collected a special EDIT tax for years, spent $1.4 million on the courthouse, then spent more millions on renovating the old hospital to free space in the courthouse and now plans to build an annex and renovate the courthouse.

Asked if Seneca's situation, with money being spent on an annex but not renovation of the courthouse, could be duplicated in Randolph County, Francer said he was confident it would not be. He said Seneca's situation couldn't happen here because Randolph County has bonded for the full amount of the annex and renovation project.