Letter to the Editor

Main Street says 'thanks' for wonderful help

Wednesday, January 14, 2009

To the Editor:

On Dec. 24, 2008 a board member of Main Street Greencastle received a call about a major hot water leak in the Opera House building on the downtown square. Main Street owns that building and rents space to various tenants. One of the tenants had come in on Christmas Eve and noticed the water gushing from a plumbing leak in one of the first floor restrooms.

The water was quickly shut off to the leak and the call went out to several Main Street board members to help with the assessment of damage and clean-up. Sharon Hammond and Holly Wyatt responded to the calls and came to the Opera House at about 2:00 PM.

Despite three hours of work, we soon realized that the moisture in the walls, ceiling, carpet and flooring could ruin the interior of several spaces in the building. We called Harry Tran to ask for his assistance in saving as much of the interior drywall, carpet and furnishing as possible. Harry responded by immediately coming to our rescue. He and his great crew worked until 3 AM on Christmas Day vacuuming water from carpets, setting up fans, and positioning industrial humidifiers to dry the interior of the building. He was back later in the afternoon on Christmas emptying the humidifiers and spraying chemicals to prevent growth of mold in the carpet and walls. Without a doubt, his efforts prevented water and mold damage to the first floor and lower level of the Opera House.

Main Street contacted our insurer, HBG Insurance and Bonds, immediately after Christmas and determined that the limited damage, the remediation cost, even the cost of the lost water was covered by our policy. We are now in the process of arranging for the damage to be repaired. All of these events were done without displacing any of our great tenants.

Main Street Greencastle would like to thank those who helped us in this near catastrophe. Thanks to Holly Wyatt, Sharon Hammond, HBG Insurance, and the lady (I'm sorry, I don't know her name) from the water department who came out on Christmas Eve to check our water meter. We would especially like to thank Harry Tran and his crew who worked so hard during a time when most of us were with family and friends. Harry assured us, "No Problem, we work 24/7". Greencastle is very fortunate to have the Tran family as one of our own.

Thanks to you all

Gary Barcus

President

Main Street Greencastle