Judge maintains injunction against auction plans
A Greene County judge Wednesday maintained an injunction against the Monon Center Inc. of Greensboro’s plans to auction off artifacts and historical memorabilia that were donated for display in a museum in the old Greensboro Schoolhouse. Common Pleas Court Judge William Nalitz issued a ruling continuing the injunction he ordered July 30 blocking the auction that would have occurred that day.
The ruling was made during a meeting held prior to a hearing scheduled for Wednesday afternoon on the injunction. The hearing was cancelled after the ruling was issued, said Greensboro Borough Council President Mary Shine.
Monon Center officials turned over records to a representative from the state Attorney General’s office, which intervened in the case to try to determine if the nonprofit Monon Center Inc. is allowed to auction off the memorabilia, Shine said.
James Minor, Monon Center board president, could not be reached for comment.
The Monon Center ran the museum, an art studio and community center in the old Greensboro Schoolhouse, which is in a National Historic District, from 1974 until about nine years ago, when the center closed.
The Southeastern Greene School District donated the schoolhouse to the borough in 1967 and borough council deeded it to Monon Center Inc. in October 1974 for $1 with the stipulation that ownership would revert to the borough if the center closed, according to court records.
However, that stipulation was not recorded on the deed, which was dated April 1975, according to records.
Some of the items donated over the years to the museum include a stone slab with American Indian hieroglyphics, prints of George Washington and Abraham Lincoln, riverboat equipment, the Monongahela House Hotel ledger from 1860, a 1990 bike and a functioning scale model of the former Lock and Dam No. 7 that used to be located in the borough.
In 2003, the center tried to auction off the schoolhouse, the donated items and a log cabin on the property, but the auction did not take place.
Shine said the borough condemned the schoolhouse and cabin, which have deteriorated, in August 2007 and is trying to acquire it through eminent domain.