I found this at Omaha.com:
<<<<<<<<Last-Minute Funding Props Up Hopes of Saving Roundhouse
BY TODD VON KAMPEN
WORLD-HERALD STAFF WRITER
Nebraska City's half-collapsed Burlington & Missouri River Railroad
roundhouse has won a reprieve from the wrecking ball. Its champions hope
Mother Nature will be as kind.
The City Council, which started taking steps in October to complete the 1887
roundhouse's destruction, has delayed further action until Dec. 18. They
relented after John Kotouc, vice chairman and chief executive officer of
Omaha-based American National Bank, assembled the $36,000 needed to prevent a
potentially dangerous final collapse of the structure.
Work crews should begin in a week to 10 days to remove a damaged truss,
waterproof the roof and install a 6-foot-high fence, said Kotouc and Gerald
Kopiasz, executive director of the Heartland Railroad Historical Society. The
society had been trying to restore the building.
Part of the roof and a wall collapsed in October 1999, raising worries among
city officials that a heavy snowstorm could topple the rest of the structure.
Private donations are being sought toward both the short-term job and the
estimated $507,000 bill for a full-scale restoration. But Kotouc said his
bank, which has a Nebraska City branch, will provide a temporary loan if
needed to keep the structure standing for now.
If the building can't be stabilized by the council's Dec. 18 meeting, city
officials will take demolition bids, said City Commissioner Pat Haverty. But
"we don't want to stand in the way of this project if they're going to be
able to complete it," he said.
Supporters are watching the skies as they ready their plans, Kopiasz said.
"I've been keeping my fingers crossed as I watch the news and see those
storms skirting off to the north."
The involvement by Kotouc, a railroad buff and supporter of Omaha
preservation projects, revived the hopes of Kopiasz and his small nonprofit
group that the five-stall roundhouse can be saved.
Railroad workers serviced steam and diesel locomotives until the mid-1950s at
the roundhouse, which later was used by a trucking firm. Kopiasz, a Creighton
University student, promoted its cause for nearly a year. He told city
officials in October that he couldn't finalize plans in time to ease the
council's fears of a collapse this winter.
Kotouc said Jacobson Helgoth, an Omaha environmental consulting firm, is
doing a fast-track assessment of any environmental problems at the site,
either from the railroad or the trucking operations. He expects a report soon
from the firm, which has done similar work for the Union Pacific Railroad.
"That's the only potential danger on the horizon that could put this project
at risk, along with not raising enough money to do this project," Kotouc
said.
Possible uses for the roundhouse include museum, retail or wholesale space.
Kotouc and Kopiasz said they will seek a grant from Nebraska's $3.5 million
annual share of federal funds for the restoration of historic transportation
buildings, highway beautification and trail construction.
People interested in donating to the project should contact American National
Bank at (402) 399-5000 or Kopiasz at (402) 598-6641. They also may e-mail
Kopiasz at the following address: hrrhs@a... >>>>>>>>
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