The Transportation Museum Saga Continues

You know all this mess with the Transportation Museum and the roof flying off in the storm the other day? Well here is the deal. I have been waiting, and waiting, and waiting for a freaking year to get into the museum and see the pictures that they have of Roanoke Firefighting. Meanwhile as I waited, I was able to speak with the guy who was working on the vehicles at the museum and get some pictures of the old Cadillac ARFF vehicle they have. However that wasn’t any help with the photos and he doesn’t work there anymore. Then after so many months of waiting for that phone call I stopped back by. The guy at the front desk remembered me, but the lady who was in charge (of what I do not know) was new. So I told her my story and that I wanted to see the pictures. She explained to me that it would take a couple of weeks to get to them, but that she would call. No phone call ever happened. Imagine that. Fast forward a couple of months to about two months ago. I placed a phone call again to speak to someone about the pictures. This time on the phone I was told that everyone was new, so I told the story again…yada yada yada. Nothing. So last week I stopped in to see about the pictures and the titles. Guess what? Everyone was out, except for the guy at the front desk who still remembers me…by name. The bonus news was that the museum just hired an archivist. This is great news for me, someone who can help me with the pictures. Then guess what. The freaking roof blows off, and the museum closes for a while, and the deadline for the book gets closer and closer, and now they found asbestos on the roof, so they will have to clean that up, and I probably will not get my hands on the photos. But wait, it gets better. Now there is a huge investigation going on in regards to the Museum Director Bob Dills and his use of funds. You can see a video of the ordeal on WDBJ 7.

I know that these guys are busy at the museum. They are probably underpaid and overworked. The thing about it is that all the pictures at the museum that are fire related belong to someone else. Several firefighters, mostly retired, let the museum borrow them for their exhibit that they still have up. The museum used the pictures they wanted and stored the rest.

So the book will move forward without the pictures which are being held at the Museum.

Thanks for letting me vent.