By AARON CORVIN  Gazette-Times reporter 
Friday, January 29, 1999 



Balancing Safety with Integrity

County Officials Want to Prepare 
the Benton County Courthouse for an earthquake


     
Gary Feuerstein of Endex Engineering knows 
much about how the Benton County Courthouse 
would react to the forces of an earthquake. 
Feuerstein was involved in the 1978 renovation 
of the courthouse.


Shake, rattle and no more Benton County Courthouse.  
That's an apt description of what could happen to the 
beloved, more-than-100-year-old building if an 
earthquake rumbled through town.

The possibility of an earthquake may seem slim, but 
county officials aren't taking any chances.  They're 
starting to talk about which buildings need to be 
reinforced to ensure the public's safety, including 
how to prepare the historic courthouse for an earthquake.

Unlike any other building in the county, the courthouse 
serves two important functions: It's a place for 
courtrooms and the district attorney's offices but also 
a symbol of pride for the community.

So the question may boil down to how the county will 
brace the building for an earthquake without 
sacrificing the building's historical integrity.

Accomplishing both goals will cost more money. And 
the county could ask voters to pay for a bond measure 
to protect the courthouse.  "It really comes down to 
a dollars and cents issue," said Chris Bielenberg, 
facilities manager for the county.

Protecting the courthouse from an earthquake is not 
a new issue for Benton County.  Two years ago, the 
county's capital improvement plan described the 
building as "very vulnerable to failure in an 
earthquake."

And a grant from the Federal Emergency Management 
Agency has thrust the county to the forefront of 
natural disaster issues.  Last year, the county got 
$300,000 in federal money to help prepare for major 
disasters.  The money will be used to study which 
sites might be most dangerous during natural 
disasters, help teach people how to prepare 
for disasters and begin to reinforce some buildings 
and homes against catastrophic damage.

Among the buildings in the county, the courthouse is 
one of the most vulnerable to crumbling under the 
pressure of an earthquake.  The approximately 
32,000-square-foot building is made almost completely 
of brick, mortar and wood - materials easily battered 
by an earthquake.

In some places the brick and mortar are so soft that 
you can scrape them away with your finger.  Gary 
Feuerstein of Endex Engineering said he's confident 
the county can both prepare the courthouse for an 
earthquake and preserve its history.

He said funding options exist, including historic 
preservation grants, and the community has shown 
immense support for the courthouse in the past.  
Feuerstein was facilities manager for the county 
when he did the engineering work for the renovation 
of the courthouse in the late 1970s.

He knows the insides of the building as well as 
anyone and understands all too well the courthouse's 
structural weaknesses.  But it's not as if the 
courthouse is in immediate danger.  In the short term, 
the chances of an earthquake striking Benton County 
are slim. Geologists predict there's a 20 percent 
chance of a great quake shaking Oregon within the 
next 50 years.

It's the long term that raises questions.

A fault in the earth's crust runs through Corvallis, 
cutting a path underneath Crescent Valley High School, 
across Walnut Boulevard and west toward Philomath. No 
one knows how much danger the crack poses or how soon 
it will make the ground tremble.

In any case, the brick-and-mortar courthouse is 
vulnerable to even the tiniest of quakes.

"We'll certainly get hit at some point," Feuerstein 
said.