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Quake rattles, Oakhill workers roll
TweetBy Ashley Luthern
aluthern@vindy.com
YOUNGSTOWN
An earthquake that originated near Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, shook many Valley residents Wednesday and closed a Mahoning County building.
Staff at the Oakhill Renaissance Place felt the quake — 5.0 magnitude at its epicenter — around 1:30 p.m. and evacuated the building.
According to the U.S. Geological Survey, earthquakes the size of Wednesday’s are uncommon east of the Rocky Mountains but have occurred sporadically in the area for the last three centuries.
Concerned labor representatives called Mahoning County Administrator George Tablack, and workers were sent home, but told to expect to return to work this morning.
“We always err on the side of caution, for the public and our employees,” Tablack said in a statement, adding that structural engineers have inspected the Oakhill building, county courthouse and old jail building, determining that there was no damage from the quake.
The work day ended three hours early, and it’s unclear if Oakhill employees will be compensated for that time.
“There’s no reason why [employees] should be penalized for leaving a building that they feel is unsound and going home,” said county Auditor Michael Sciortino. “We’ll have to see what’s reported on the time sheets, so we’ll go from there.”
Oakhill, the former Forum Health Southside Medical Center, houses various government offices, including the Mahoning County Department of Job and Family Services and the Youngstown City Health District.
Youngstown city officials also felt tremors at city hall.
“There were 18 of the city’s building, housing, fire, demolition and health inspectors in a meeting on the sixth floor and everyone was chit-chatting and then everyone got very quiet,” said Brenda Williams, chief building official.
“We were moving in our seats and realizing we were having an earthquake.”
Although tremors were felt as far south as Columbus, many of the phone calls reporting the quake came from northeast Ohio, said Mike Hansen, Ohio Seismic Network coordinator.
Vindy.com readers from Salem, Boardman, Toledo, Akron, Cleveland, Sharon, Pa., New Jersey and Canada wrote in about their experiences. Many were at work during the tremors.
“[I was] sitting in my desk chair and it slowly started to vibrate ... noticeably. I focused for a second and thought it was just my head playing games because I hadn’t eaten all morning, blinked a few times and looked away from my laptop and everything seemed to be OK,” said John Mansky of Salem in an e-mail.
Pat Burke had a similar report from West Middlesex, Pa.
“I was sitting in my office and felt the building shake like it does during high winds. I then felt my chair wobble and felt my chest to make sure I wasn’t having the big one,” Burke said in an e-mail.
Ian James was working at Accent Media on the seventh floor of 20 Federal Place.
“The building just started moving,” he said. “... I was thinking the Phar-Mor Building [former building’s name] is finally collapsing.”
Comments
What a bunch of bloodsuckers, name me one other company in fifty miles that sent home thier workers,just one. You won't find another company within a hundred miles probably. They are a bunch of pampered babies that should not be paid for the lost time. Man this burns me , This is why I won't vote for anymore tax increases for these fools.
God doesn't agree with the Oakhill purchase either.
Was this building inspected before the employees were allowed to return to work? If not, they should have never sent them home yesterday.
oldstown, your comment doesn't even come close to the article or discussion.
"“There’s no reason why [employees] should be penalized for leaving a building that they feel is unsound and going home,” said county Auditor Michael Sciortino."
So now the employees are experts in determining if a building is structurally sound? Aren't these the same people who have been unhappy with the building and complaining about it? Sounds like they were just trying to raise a stink.
"“There’s no reason why [employees] should be penalized for leaving a building that they feel is unsound and going home,” said county Auditor Michael Sciortino."
He also went on to say the Anthony Cafaro told him that it was OK if they took the rest of the week off, with pay !
Well, Silence, you are right--it probably would have been better to have the workers stay there when there is a question of safety--with a little bit of luck, the building would have collapsed and there would have been a lot of casualties.
You have no idea of the problems these workers have faced in the past years with the deplorable conditions in their workplace and, if you read their director's statistics, they have continued to work hard and increase their productivity . You are the fool. Try getting some facts before you spout off.
There was a fender bender this afternoon at 1:00pm and the workers at Oakhill asked to be sent home.
Do not believe what you read in this arm of the commissioners' office. The reason Oak Hill shook:
Traficanti dropped his lunch.
How people in California react to earthquakes.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YFkmRg...
I felt the earthquake-In our area-no one was swerving and no building were swaying. . Anyone who went home, sent people home or suggested it was appropriate to send people home is ...I can't think of the word or phrase that fits. I guess it would be like taking two weeks off for the flu, but then again -this is the Mahoning Valley. I only hope Leno, Letterman, Jimmy Kimmel-any one of the late night shows can embarrass us with sharing this story on the air. I see there was an earthquake on the Mexi-Cali border. I hope they enjoy their long 5 day weekend.
cassie the chicken little
The sky is falling, the sky is falling.
You are the FOOL. You still have not named one single company within fifty miles that sent there workers home. And let me tell you one thing.
YOU DONT KNOW JACK SH!T ABOUT BAD WORKING CONDITIONS. JOIN THE F-ING MILITARY SERVE A DECADE IN UNIFORM UNDER THE WORST OF CONDITIONS LIKE I DID THEN COME CRYING TO ME ABOUT YOUR POOR BROKEN DOWN AIRCONDITIONER, MICROSCOPIC FLEAS,LITTLE MICE, OR A STRAY GARDNER SNAKE...
Did the county courthouse shutdown and people sent home? That building is in poor condition.