Volunteers needed to remove Christmas lights from square

Frequent snow squalls, rain and 80-mph winds have hampered efforts to take down the lights that decorated the Greencastle square for the holidays, according to officials involved in the effort.

Department of Public Works Director Paul Wilson told the BannerGraphic his crews have been busy in their efforts to remove snow and ice, deal with wind storms and clear flooded streets and have been unable to take down the lights that hang from atop the courthouse and on trees around the square.

"We have been fighting wind and hail," Wilson said Thursday. "Probably the last thing on our minds has been the Christmas lights."

But a volunteer effort to remove the lights is mounting with local attorney Sharon Hammond leading the charge. She said Thursday that she is seeking individuals to help take down the lights that hang on the trees and once the weather breaks, the lights will come down.

"It's just been too cold and too windy," she said. "We have to have good weather."

Hammond said that once the take-down is planned, it would likely happen on a Sunday. She has secured the use of several long poles, with hooks, in order to remove the lights from the trees.

As for the lights that hang from the top of the courthouse, the Department of Public Works will make use of its bucket truck to hoist a worker up to the corners of the buildings that surround the courthouse to remove the lights.

Jason Inglert and Steve Mason have helped in the past with detaching the lights from the courthouse roof.

Hammond said she hopes to get enough help to do the complete take-down in one day.

"We will take all the volunteers we can get," she said.

Anyone interested in volunteering is asked to call Hammond's law office at 653-2451.