The St. Johns herald., 1921-11-24
MORE ABOUT
 THE TRUSSES
BY A. M. MCFATE


 broadcast throughout the country that
 have done faulty work in connection
 with the Edgar church building. that
 the truss work supporting the roof is
 giving way, that the roof is in bad,
 even dangerous condition, that the
 trusses have been condemned and are
 to be torn out etc. Such report can
 do those who assisted in constructing
 them, as well as myself, who had
 charge of the job an untold injury if
 allowed to go uncorrected. And that
 the truth may be known 1 take this
 means of letting the public know (as it
 public building the public should know)
 the truth about the roof construction,
 etc.
 First, I will state that the supple ment to specifications which were given me to follow reads as follows: No. 5 Build truss of wood instead of steel, see detail for construction. Very ear ly in the spring of 1920 l gave a bill to the building committee for truss timber to be gotten out at once from select material placed in the shed to season and to be surfaced before using, no timber ever came. Then again asked that permission be asked of the Forest office for me to go to the mill and select such trees as would give us the lumber for truss and inside finishing, this per mission understood was given and l went thru the woods with Mir. Isaacson and selected such trees as we thCt would fill our needs, nothing more was done about this deal as far as l hnOw, any way no truss timber ever came. The brick walls were standing in danger ous condition, and winter closing in. So with full knowledge of the Com. drew a plan of truss to be made of such tim Der as had on the job and could get at lumber yard, this plan was not of same dimensions as the one 1 would have made with proper material AS specif cations note followed detail as nearly as possible with the class of material had to use. Before giving the plan to MT Lesueur to send to foundry for steel endorsements to be made, I call ed MT. Stanton in and went over the entire plan of truss and roof with him as I valued his advice since he is man of life long experience in such work. He assured me that in his opionion the truss plan was O. K. and ample to SUD- | port its load in perfect safety.
 MT. Scott, mechanic whose ability ranks second to no other in the country, assisted me in building the trusses spoke only words of confidence in the trusses supporting their load, and complained of nothing save the clasa of timber they furnished to do the job with. Bishop | Wiltbanks, man whose integrity and | good judgement is known to all, assist ed me in placing the steel on trusses, I receiver from him only words of praise for the solid appearance and durability of the truss work.
 Thru an oversight of my own tor some one else) the steel did not all arrive, noted missing parts, giving same to MT. Lesueur to look up or have made. I placed the steel had on hand, and pro- ceeded with the roof work, expecting that the Com; would rally the men of town and hurry the roof on. as it was winter and storms meant damage to building. No help to speak of came. About the 18th of December, when I had the shingles we'll under way the Com. thru their chairman laid me off, thinking as they say now they thot the trusses and roof framing was finished. A few days later 1 met the Bishop on the street, and asked him what about the work and he told me that the Com. had decided to stop the work. I said to him ''Surely Bishop you will not allow that roof to stop the shape it is in now," and as he rode away replied, 'FYes it will stand right where it is." Those sitting in my car overheark this conver- sation. Now I will say to those inter ested, that was not trying to handle a job knew nothing about, had per feet knowledge of the weak places in the unfinished trusses and with due diligence was watching same, and of course would have let the bishop known had he cared to listen. ,
 Nothing more was said to me about the truss work. However, two or three months passed and about the time Mir. Love had crew of men working on