MARFA — Presidio County employees were relieved to see repairs underway on December 27 to fix an elevator with ongoing mechanical problems that has been unusable for eight weeks. County officials noted that an operational elevator is crucial, both in following the Americans With Disabilities Act laws and in providing safe access to upper floors that don’t require employees or visitors with mobility issues to navigate steep steps — including access to the justice of the peace office for citizens to pay fines and to the courtroom for hearings.
“Well, I was super excited because after one month we would finally have an elevator,” Frances Garcia posted to a local Facebook group. Garcia was finishing out the last four days of her term after resigning from county treasurer recently. “The tech came to the courthouse to get us taken care of. But instead, he got bit by a dog.”
What might sound like a temporary setback became deadly serious as the elevator technician — William Arend of Midland working with TK Elevator — discovered that the bite was worse than he initially thought. He told The Big Bend Sentinel that he was walking along the sidewalk in front of the courthouse, and a woman with a chow on a leash walked by. “All of a sudden, the dog lunged and bit me in the back side of my calf.” The woman apologized, but then moved on, and Arend then discovered a deeper wound — leaving him dog-bit without knowing how to locate the owner to see if the chow was vaccinated for rabies.
Garcia posted to the Facebook group asking for help locating the woman and her dog and even had the sheriff’s office review video footage from a camera mounted on the jail across the courthouse square. However, the dog was never found, and Arend had to undergo rabies shots as a precaution against being infected by the deadly virus.
On Tuesday, Arend was back at the courthouse working on the elevator. He said the treatments were painful but that he was feeling fine.
Precinct 4 Commissioner David Beebe said the courthouse elevator dates to the early 1980s and has served the county well but that it became clear that a new elevator was needed, and the commissioners court recently approved a $220,000 contract with TK Elevator for the work which will begin in three to six months. Temporary repairs are being attempted this week to get the existing equipment working until that time, he said.
Beebe also said he would pursue installing security cameras outside the courthouse — not just for identifying rare incidents like the dog bite, but also because it makes sense for general security.