Mayfield officials try to save court records damaged in storm as lawmakers vie for more relief dollars

GRAVES COUNTY, Ky. (WDRB) -- As the sun came up Saturday, Dec. 11, 2021, sunlight gave clarity to crumbling structures. And the historic Graves County courthouse was one of them.

Circuit Court Judge Kevin Bishop and other elected officials representing parts of the judicial system in Graves County presented the damages last week before Kentucky lawmakers.

"This is the entrance to my circuit courtroom," Bishop said, looking at photographs. "The ceiling has now become the floor with about 12 feet of rubble."

Bishop said the tornado destroyed the courthouse, and water flooding into the basement damaged all the court records there.

"There was water in the basement that was knee-deep high," she said. "The basement is where we had three decades of files."

The documents aren't a total loss. Servpro, which specializes in water damage restoration, has the courthouse's documents for at least the next three months.

Regardless, for the first 20 business days following the tornado, the entire court system in Graves County was shut down.

"It was catastrophic," Bishop said. " ... it was an immediate shutdown."

Rep. Patti Minter, D-Bowling Green, is a historian by trade and said this brings to light a downfall in the system.

IMAGES | Mayfield, Kentucky faces a long recovery after December tornado

"The truth is that perhaps a tornado of this size is a once-in-a-lifetime event," Minter said. "Well, I certainly hope that's the case, but there are plenty of other things that could happen to records anytime."

As the state approves $200 million for Western Kentucky State Aid, Minter hopes to secure money this session to help digitize records.

"As we rebuild and recover, we have an opportunity to think about what we could do better," she said. "Because we don't know what's next. We only know that something will be next."

Graves County Circuit Clerk Emily Bluzanis said it would be a wonderful advancement for clerks across the commonwealth to have digitized records.

Now, the courthouse is in a temporary spot in a shopping plaza while the plans for a $3 million new courthouse are considered.

Bluzanis said she hopes for patience from those going through any legal proceedings in Graves County and hopes for more construction to boost the temporary location.

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