Houck Bridge closed until repairs can be made

The Houck Covered Bridge, vandalized late last month, has been closed by order of the Putnam County Commissioners.

The bridge was closed Tuesday and will remain off-limits to all foot traffic -- vehicular traffic now uses the new, adjacent bridge -- until repairs can be completed and graffiti eradicated.

Besides unsavory pictures and writing, minor damage to the bridge itself has been noted, Putnam County Sheriff Scott Stockton said. He reported that the entrances to the bridge have been closed off and damage covered until necessary repairs can be made.

Entrances to Houck Covered Bridge have been closed off until the weather breaks and repairs can be made to the structure that was vandalized last week.

The county commissioners requested that County Highway Superintendent Mike Ricketts take the closure action Tuesday until inclement weather lets up, allowing county highway workers to make the required repairs.

Meanwhile, investigation into who vandalized and damaged the historic covered bridge continues.

Anyone with information about the incident that occurred sometime Feb. 25 or 26 is asked to call the Sheriff's Office at 653-3211 and follow the instructions to access the department tip line.

More than 20 individual pieces of graffiti are apparent on the structure located on County Road 500 South near Boone-Hutcheson Cemetery, southwest of Greencastle.

Houck Covered Bridge is one of the three oldest (all built in 1880) of Putnam County's nine covered bridges.

"It's graffitied up pretty badly," Sheriff's Department Chief Investigator Det. Pat McFadden said last week, indicating that vandals scrawled such things as pentagrams, swastikas, lewd drawings and phrases like "Hail Satin (sic)," undoubtedly in misspelled reference to Satan.

Unfortunately, authorities have few leads on the perpetrators at this time. McFadden is asking help from anyone who may have seen anybody or anything suspicious recently in the area of the beloved bridge.

The vandalism does not include any signature names or even a hint at any school or other connection.

"I wish we had something that blatant out there," the veteran PCSD detective said, adding that his experience leads him to believe the culprits are young people.

"That's my gut feeling right now," McFadden said.

Houck Covered Bridge, a Howe truss-style bridge built by the Massillon Bridge Co., was replaced by a new structure recently as part of a $1.7 million project that rehabbed the covered bridge and built a new bypass span.

No damage estimate is available on the work needed at the Washington Township site.

Most of the cost will be clean-up work, to be undertaken by the County Highway Department. That effort will consist mainly of manhours of elbow grease and power-washing to remove the vandal's handiwork. Repairs to some boards and supports are also anticipated.