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NewsMonday, November 12, 2007 5:42 PM CST
Building roof collapses in LeRoy
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LEROY -- Part of Center Street and a nearby alley have been closed after part of the roof collapsed at an unused downtown building.

The street is closed from Chestnut Street to the intersection of Main Street. Most of the alley behind the former LeRoy Auto Supply building also is closed.

A passer-by noticed the partial collapse Sunday morning. LeRoy Business Development Group executive director Stacey Friedlein noticed plastic had fallen on one window and light was shining through. When he looked inside, he saw a 30-foot hole in the roof and debris on the bottom floor.

City Administrator Jeff Clawson said the city is hiring a structural engineer and trying to obtain legal access to the building, which is owned by Dennis Sullivan of New York.

Police Chief Gordon Beck said a relative of Sullivan is expected to take care of the problem.

The matter will come before the City Council on Nov. 19 and maybe sooner if Clawson can get all legal information together.

“The city will accept the responsibility to see that something happens,” Clawson said.

Clawson said Sullivan purchased the building sometime before 1999 and planned to have retail space in the front of the building, a woodworking shop in the back and apartments on the second floor.

He cleaned out the building and began working on it, but the work became sporadic after the council voted against a special-use permit for the woodworking shop.

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Reader comments on this story - 17 total

Note: All views and opinions expressed in reader comments are solely those of the individual submitting the comment, and not those of the Pantagraph or its staff.

you stop wrote on Nov 14, 2007 7:25 AM:

" The city has not saved any money since hiring Clawson.In fact LeRoy spends more than ever hiding it by using TIF money for projects and bills not in the district.Just wait till we get the bill to operate the recplex.But thank you for your comments Mrs. Clawson "

Stop wrote on Nov 13, 2007 6:51 PM:

" I think that Clawson is doing a good job with this town. I think that people should find out the entire story before they start bashing. LeRoy has grown and many new businesses have come into town as well as getting rid of debt because of Clawson and there is nothing to complain about. "

Town bashing wrote on Nov 13, 2007 4:19 PM:

" This may not quite fit in here, but it must fit in somewhere. I was in a doctor's office today. A son was there with his elderly father. The son, from Colorado, was looking at the marble etching of Historic Bloomington. He laughed about Bloomington being called historic. Made fun of how could Bloomington have any history whatsoever because it hadn't been here long enough. Same sort of tone used about small towns, when people look down on smaller towns. I listened to him long as I could then quietly said that Bloomington was incorporated I thought in 1850 and first settled 20 years or so before that. He shut up since I noted his lack of intelligence. Why are people so hateful about a town they know nothing about? Same as LeRoy and Farmer City. "

boo hoo wrote on Nov 13, 2007 3:39 PM:

" why does everything end up insulting? Goodness, a roof collapsed, so what, thank goodness no one was hurt, stop the darn bashing. If there is a problem between these 2 people, one from LeRoy and one from Farmer City, work it out yourselves, I don't want to hear it. "

I am.. wrote on Nov 13, 2007 3:33 PM:

" moving from Clinton and bring my girlfriend from Streator with me to Leroy. "

whatever wrote on Nov 13, 2007 1:03 PM:

" When the city steps in they wont buy a tarp.It will be torn down ala the old grade school.Besides that isn't there talk of the daycare renting space at the wreckplex? "

a shame wrote on Nov 13, 2007 12:45 PM:

" i recall that building housing a napa store at one time it would make a great place for a pool hall "

I Agree With Typical: wrote on Nov 13, 2007 11:58 AM:

" Only they need a tarp big enough to cover all of downtown! "

Typical wrote on Nov 13, 2007 10:54 AM:

" It sounds like the typical downtown leroy building. I heard it was going to be the new site of the towns daycare. It still will be after they get a big enough tarp to cover the hole. "

Funny wrote on Nov 13, 2007 8:49 AM:

" Somebody from Leroy is saying Farmer City is trashy....what has the world come to? "

Dan from LeRoy wrote on Nov 13, 2007 8:34 AM:

" Clawson and the LeRoy council are a joke! The rich get richer in LeRoy and the poor...."What poor"? "

To : Mr Farmer City wrote on Nov 13, 2007 8:11 AM:

" Go back to your mobile home park and stay out of LeRoy! There is ALOT of history in LeRoy. I don't mean the history like that in Farmer City- you know, the town where the first thing you see is a junkyard! Then trailers....... "

crawlerville alum wrote on Nov 13, 2007 7:25 AM:

" Thank goodness the woodworking shop didn't get opened.Can you imagine the mess it would have made?Watch how fast Clawsons council reacts to this and another building in LeRoy gets razed to the ground. "

To: Crawlerville......... wrote on Nov 13, 2007 3:16 AM:

" Your remark is about my hometown and I do NOT appreciate it. Though I don't live in IL anymore, I am still very fond of where I was raised. Just because the 'powers that be' in LeRoy now are so high-falluting and have sold out the town doesn't mean the whole town is bad. This is what happens when outsiders come into a town and try to big the big shots; they sell buildings and then put restrictions on the people after they buy them. It's a good way to obtain a building again and still have the money in the pocket. This is SAD. "

leave it wrote on Nov 12, 2007 10:56 PM:

" to a special use permit denial to stop progress....... "

Mr Farmer City wrote on Nov 12, 2007 9:06 PM:

" I think that this may be a historic bld. I think the Lincoln and Mr Speed once shared a room in this bld while riding the circuit. "

Crawlerville wrote on Nov 12, 2007 7:17 PM:

" Only in crawlerville. "

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