February 3, 2015 - Albany, GA - Albany Technical College’s Law Enforcement Technology program will cut the ribbon on its new Courtroom Simulation Lab on Wednesday, February 4, 2015, at 10am in Freedom Hall, Room 112.
During the latter part of 2013, Lynn Miller, Law Enforcement Technology instructor at Albany Technical College, saw a segment on WALB News regarding the old Federal Courthouse. Ms. Frances Krack, the property manager was advertising the courtroom basically “for rent.” As Miller watched, she thought to herself “who in the world is going to ‘rent’ a courtroom.”
Over the next few days, she wondered if Albany Tech somehow get the courtroom fixtures and use them for the Law Enforcement program. She then discussed the idea with Kenneth Singleton, Chair of the Law Enforcement Technology program at Albany Tech and Joy Knighton, Dean of the Technology, Business, and Personal Services Division at Albany Tech. They were on board with further investigating the possibility. Miller finally made contact with Ms. Krack. She and Singleton looked at the courtroom and took pictures. She drafted a proposal and provided it to Dr. Shirley Armstrong, Vice President for Academic Affairs at Albany Tech. She discussed it with Dr. Anthony Parker, President of Albany Tech and he agreed to pursue the idea further.
An agreement was made with Louis Wiener, Property Owner, Frances Krack, Property Manager and Daniel Knoechelman, Property Engineer, for Albany Technical College to acquire the courtroom fixtures. It was the responsibility of ATC to safely and securely remove the courtroom fixtures ensuring the integrity of the fixtures.
ATC Carpentry Instructors, Wayne Barnette and Steven Wengerd entertained the idea of having carpentry students with assistance of ATC Facilities Department remove and re-install the courtroom fixtures. Many
considerations and measurements later, it was determined the courtroom fixtures were built inside the courtroom and were too big to be removed without disassembly.
LRA Architects in Albany was contracted to disassemble the fixtures and deliver to ATC. The courtroom fixtures arrived in what seemed like a gazillion pieces. In January 2014, carpentry students under the careful guidance Wengerd re-assembled each piece and refurbished all of the courtroom fixtures to their original grandeur.
Beginning Spring Semester 2015, the original courtroom furniture and fixtures from the Federal Courtroom located at 345 W. Broad Avenue that have not been used since the C. B. King U. S. Federal Courthouse was completed and occupied June 2002 will be utilized daily for instruction of Law Enforcement Technology students at Albany Technical College.
