New contractor hired for Roper hospital demolition
City to impose park curfews
Officials hope to deter vandals, others from lurking at park

By Christie Pool
Members of Jasper's City Council Monday night approved a bid to demolish the old Roper hospital on South Main Street, the second bid they've accepted on the project.
In September council members approved a bid from Colt Tritt to demolish the old building but had to go through the bid process again when he couldn't meet some conditions. Monday the council unanimously voted to accept Reliable Demolition and Construction's bid of $55,000 to handle the job.
"After reviewing seven bids, Reliable Demolition and Construction is the lowest," said Michael Castagna, planning officer for the city. "We have a records list of previous jobs they've worked and also a referral letter from the city of Stockbridge's city manager."
Mayor John Weaver pointed out the bid was $10,000 less than the previously accepted bid price.
There was no discussion from the council about the project nor discussion about when the project would get underway.
Council member Jackie Gise was absent from the meeting.
In other news:
* Mayor John Weaver asked the council to enact a curfew for the city park and Lee Newton park. Weaver said he was asked by police officers to consider a curfew at the parks to help prevent would-be vandals and loiterers.
"We'd like to have an 11 p.m. curfew for the winter months, and we can look at another time for the summer," Weaver said. "There is a lot of opportunity for vandalism late at night."
Police Chief Harold Cantrell said another problem is people leaving cars parked there all night and even camping out in their cars.
"One of the problems that exist is somebody just pulling in there either to leave their vehicle all night or in some cases pulling in there in an attempt to sleep there all night long," Cantrell said. "We even had one report of someone camping there all night just last night. It would help us to be able to post signs for specific visiting times, and we would view it as trespassing after those hours," he said.
Cantrell went on to say, "It's obviously understood by most people that parks sometime attract undesirables in that they attempt to make contact with other individuals for sexual favors. For that reason the parks would be more desirable for other people if we had a curfew and could better police the (parks)."
Weaver said he and Cantrell have had lengthy discussions about the matter and decided to put more patrols at the parks and have officers do periodic walk-throughs.
"We will pay close attention to who is using the park and make sure it's a place where everyone feels comfortable," Cantrell said.
Weaver said if anyone doesn't feel comfortable at the park they can call 911 and ask for a police officer, and "they will be there in short form."
"We're going to see if we can control it without being controlling," Weaver said. "At five or six in the morning we're not going to have a vandal problem - the people who are up then are true joggers - but from 1 a.m. to 3 a.m. is when we have the most problems. It's a sad thing we have to do that, but it is an issue."
* Chief Cantrell reported his department answered 924 calls for service during the month of October. Officers responded to 51 motor vehicle accidents and issued 203 citations. The following arrests were made: 4 DUI, 2 disorderly conducts, 3 disorderly conduct juvenile complaints, 2 pedestrians under the influence, 6 possession of marijuana less than an ounce arrests, 2 shoplifting reports with one arrest, 2 simple battery arrests, 2 maintaining a disorderly house arrest, 1 obtaining/ attempting to obtain drugs by fraud arrest, 1 party to a crime obtaining/ attempting to obtain drugs by fraud warrant, 1 runaway juvenile complaint filed.
Officers also responded to 48 alarm calls, 7 trespassing/ loitering calls, 17 disorderly person calls, 55 suspicious activity/ persons/ vehicle calls answered and 22 domestic dispute calls.
* Fire Chief Steve Roper said his department answered 106 emergency calls during October. The total for the year is 974, a 2.7 percent increase over the same time period last year, he said.