By By Marianne Todd/The Meridian Star
Oct. 24, 2001
After more than two years, the peeling and bubbling paint at the Lauderdale County Detention Facility is being replaced.
Workers began pressure-washing the exterior of the jail Tuesday; portions of the jail also will be sand-blasted. Then, Lauderdale County Sheriff Billy Sollie said, the building will be painted.
The county will pay no expenses in connection with the painting, he said, which is expected to be completed sometime around the first of the year.
The 3-year-old jail has had sheets of peeling paint and exposed yellow primer on its north, east and south walls.
The manufactured exterior steel pods, where paint is bubbling and peeling, were shipped and painted just before the jail's July 1998 opening. Efforts to resolve the problem with the manufacturer, Steel Plex, proved futile after the company went bankrupt in early 2000.
Since that time, Inman Construction Co., the general contractor for the jail's construction, has resolved the issue with their subcontractor and the painting will be done at no cost to the county, Sollie said.
Marianne Todd is a staff writer for The Meridian Star. Call her at 693-1551, ext. 3236, or e-mail her at mtodd@themeridianstar.com.