CLARION – Four sets of clock hands from the Clarion County Courthouse are apparently back in county possession after being given away during a clock renovation project.
The hands on the courthouse clock had become warped several years ago and were replaced with aluminum hands. Recently, questions arose concerning the whereabouts of the four sets of clock hands removed from the courthouse tower clock.
“(The clock hands) are not missing,” Clarion County Commissioner Wayne Brosius said in an email response to the Clarion News. “Back in 2012 or 2013, Rodgers’ Clock Service was hired to replace the old worn out wooden clock hands because they were warped and/or broken and were causing problems with the operation of the clock system which is quite extensive in the tower.”
Brosius said the wooden hands were replaced with more durable aluminum hands.
“If I remember right, when the old hands came off, our buildings manager wondered what to do with the old hands which are wood with black paint on them,” said Brosius. “They were not in great shape and we wondered if we should just throw them out.
“Instead, each of the commissioners (Brosius, Greg Faller and Butch Campbell) took a set of hands and the buildings manager kept a set.
“The building managers’ set is in his office in the courthouse. I gave my set to the Clarion County Historical Society a few weeks after they were taken down and told them to do with them as they see fit.”
Brosius said he doesn’t know if the old clock hands were ever put on display, but that was his suggestion.
“Former commissioner Campbell has since returned the hands (which he had) to the county, and former commissioner Faller is returning the set he has to the county,” wrote Brosius.
Faller confirmed he had a set of the clock hands.
“All three of us (commissioners) had a set,” Faller said.
Faller said Brosius recently contacted him about the clock hands.
Faller said he looked closer at the clock hands and found the names “Forest Mealy” and “Loll” carved on the back of one of the hands. Faller said he recognized the Mealy name and he believes Forest Mealy probably made or helped make the clock hands.
Faller said he believes the date carved into the hands is 1981.
Commissioners Ted Tharan and Ed Heasley said the renovation and replacement of the clock hands happened well before they took office this year and had no comment of the matter.
Both Brosius and faller said the clock hands are in poor condition but acknowledged they do not know if the old clock hands have any value.
Faller said he would like to see at least two of the three remaining sets offered to the Mealy and Loll families whose relatives apparently made the hands.