Lightning Strikes

It was like a preview of the Year 2000 computer crash at the Washington County Courthouse in early May.

During severe weather May 7, lightning struck the courthouse, damaging computers in the Circuit Clerk’s office. The computers were working again a week later but maintenance workers were still chasing a “hot, electrical smell” through the building.

The smell baffled maintenance workers and even firemen who searched the building for the source of the smell. Carroll Powell, building maintenance supervisor for the county, says he finally traced the smell to an office on the second floor and electricians were working to repair the problem late last week. The smell apparently was created by a defective part in a lighting fixture, Powell says.

Powell says the courthouse gets hit by lightning once or twice a year. No word on the extent of the damage or the cost to the county, yet.