JSU may have to deal with new state law in rebuilding plans

April 14--An Alabama law passed last year that prohibits the "disturbance" of monuments, memorial buildings and other structures didn't stop the tornado that slammed Jacksonville last month.

The Alabama Memorial Preservation Act of 2017, passed amid a wave of efforts to remove Confederate-themed monuments around the nation, was broadened in scope as it made its way through the Legislature. Signed into law last summer, it protects public monuments, architecturally significant buildings and streets or buildings named for people from being "relocated, removed, altered, renamed, or otherwise disturbed."

That would seem to include at least one building at Jacksonville State University. Hugh Merrill Hall, opened in 1970, was badly damaged when an EF-3 twister roared across campus and through town on March 19. The university is still trying to determine whether the building is salvageable, according to university attorney Sam Monk.

"Our insurance people are involved, our architects and engineers are involved," Monk said. "We're still trying to determine if that building can be rebuilt."

Merrill Hall was named for Hugh D. Merrill, a state lawmaker from Anniston who helped get the institution's name changed to Jacksonville State University and who was appointed to the school's first board of trustees in 1967, according to a JSU history published in 1983.

Whatever the engineers and architects decide, a new state panel may also have a say in the building's fate. The monuments act set up a state committee with members appointed by the governor and top lawmakers.

One member appointed to the committee is the senator who sponsored the bill: Tuscaloosa Republican Gerald Allen. Allen said the damage to JSU's campus has been on his mind in the context of the new state law.

Allen agreed that the law will play a role in how JSU deals with the damaged building. He suggested, though, that as long as there's something called Merrill Hall on campus, the university might be fine.

"If they build a new building, then that name must stay with the building," Allen said. However, JSU could go to court to see if a judge would release the school from having to keep the name, he said.

"You can't please everyone," Allen said. "At the same time, the law was put into place to protect the historic value of the building, of the name of that building."

Figuring out exactly how the new law and the committee might affect JSU's situation is tough, because the committee has met only once, and is still figuring out its rules. Allen said no date has yet been set for the next meeting. Attempts to reach the chairwoman, Katherine Lynn, were unsuccessful.

According to the text of the law, protected buildings older than 40 years on public property can't be disturbed. Protected structures between 20 and 40 years old can be disturbed if the public bodies that own them get a waiver from the committee after providing lots of paperwork and opportunities for public input. Agencies that violate the act can be fined $25,000.

The law also says that public bodies that own the monuments or buildings can do whatever they need for the "protection, preservation, care, repair, or restoration" of protected structures. That's how the city of Talladega has justified pushing ahead with a project to repair the Big Springs Monument, a concrete structure along Battle Street that marks a number of historical events. The 50-year-old monument was in serious disrepair, in danger of crumbling, but the City Council last month voted to award a $167,790 contract to George Hicks Construction to restore it to its original condition.

"We're not making any changes whatsoever," Patrick Bryant, Talladega's city manager, said in an interview last week. He said the monument is definitely protected by the state law, but that the council didn't need the state committee's approval because no changes are planned.

But what if JSU decides it doesn't want to house its School of Business and Industry in a building constructed to exactly resemble the original 1970 facility? Monk, the JSU lawyer, who's looked over the law, says it's still too soon to consider that possibility. The school only resumed classes on Monday, three weeks after the tornado. JSU's board of trustees are to meet on campus Monday and Tuesday for the first time since the storm.

"Quite frankly, it's not one of the priorities," Monk said of the monuments act. "We're just trying to figure out, structurally, if the building can even be resurrected."

Managing Editor Ben Cunningham: 256-235-3541. On Twitter @Cunningham_Star.

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