{"id":32634,"date":"2026-01-25T10:57:10","date_gmt":"2026-01-25T15:57:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wzbd.com\/?p=32634"},"modified":"2026-01-25T10:57:11","modified_gmt":"2026-01-25T15:57:11","slug":"loss-of-gym-many-decisions-still-ahead","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wzbd.com\/index.php\/2026\/01\/25\/loss-of-gym-many-decisions-still-ahead\/","title":{"rendered":"Loss of gym? Many decisions still ahead"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

By BOB SHRALUKA<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

WZBD.com<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

No gymnasium in the Adams County Service Complex?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The gymnasium where hundreds of Decatur High School games were played?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Your home for kitchen cabinetry, bathrooms, windows and doors, right in the heart of Decatur! Check out their website to see how they can help you remodel your home. <\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Where the legendary Bellmont High School wrestling program was launched?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Where pickleball games and other activities are being held almost daily?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Yes, it could happen. In fact, an architectural firm is working on plans that would affect the gymnasium.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But numerous decisions would have to be made before the loss of the gym would become a reality.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The talk \u2013 and it is still talk \u2013 comes about due to several factors, including a desire to bring several county departments under the same roof.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Then there are the understandable security concerns, especially for Adams Superior Court, now located in the former library building.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Adams County Commissioner Stan Stoppenhagen says they would like to move superior court, Community Corrections (now situated a short distance north of Decatur) the probation department and the prosecutor’s office (both in the courthouse) into the service complex.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt would be more efficient and we would have better security; the old library building is not a place for the court,\u201d Stoppenhagen said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That would require a major project. \u201cAnd, unfortunately, we would have to take over the gym.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe had been going in a different direction,\u201d Stoppenhagen noted \u201cWhat we were looking at (a nearby site) we couldn’t get, couldn’t get control of.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cBuilding by the jail (on county land at the south edge of Decatur) would be much more expensive. We have a lot of infrastructure already in place (at the service complex), infrastructure that we would not have to duplicate. And we want to stay downtown.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe downside is, we would have to take over the gym.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He understands the concerns.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI love that gym,\u201d Stoppenhagen exclaimed. \u201cWe’ve been maintaining it since 1994 or 1995, when we moved in. I certainly would hate to vacate it.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMaybe we can work with the parks department and the city to find something new.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The county has hired an architectural firm that is now working on plans to make major changes at the service complex.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhen they get that, we can look at it, see what it would cost. Then we’ll discuss what to do next,\u201d Stoppenhagen explained.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By BOB SHRALUKA WZBD.com No gymnasium in the Adams County Service Complex? The gymnasium where hundreds of Decatur<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":32635,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[14,15,21],"class_list":["post-32634","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-decatur","tag-featured","tag-news"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/wzbd.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Gym-service-complex.jpg?fit=960%2C574&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wzbd.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32634","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wzbd.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wzbd.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wzbd.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wzbd.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=32634"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/wzbd.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32634\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":32636,"href":"https:\/\/wzbd.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32634\/revisions\/32636"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wzbd.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/32635"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wzbd.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=32634"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wzbd.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=32634"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wzbd.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=32634"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}