BY RANDY McNUTT
The Cincinnati Enquirer
OXFORD -- If you want to take a photograph of the old water tower, you'd better hurry.
It will fall next week.
John Alderice of Fairfield did just that Wednesday morning, after getting a haircut.
"I worked here for 20 years, so I'm used to seeing the tower," he said. "The town won't be the same without it."
Demolition crews will start tearing down the tower Aug. 4, and finish in three to four days, said Brian M. Custer, a city engineer who's working on the project.
The only thing that could slow that down is the weather," he said. "Most of the work is already done. Once the crane comes in, the tower will come down pretty fast."
City Engineer Max Johns said crews from the Pittsburgh Tank and Tower Co. have been cutting the metal in patterns in what is called a "stitch cut."
"When the crane arrives, workers will finish the cutting and the pieces will fall out," he said.
Wednesday, small, cut squares were visible on the light-green tower, which was built in the 1920s and has become a recognizable site in Oxford.
The squares allow workers to breathe while working in and on the tower, City Manager Mark Roath said.
"They've been cutting away, and the next phase is to bring up the crane," Mr. Roath said. "They've already been cutting out pieces, in sections of 5,000 pounds."
Because of concerns about the tower's poor condition, the city emptied the tank in November 1993.
In a nonbinding referendum in November, voters decided 60 percent to 40 percent to tear down the 130-foot tower in Memorial Park in the business district.
July 7, city council voted 4-2 to hire the Pittsburgh firm -- for $44,550 -- to demolish the tower. But some residents considered it a landmark that needing saving.
William Stitt, an Oxford physician who tried to save the tower, implored city council to "consider the tower for what it can be, not what it has been."
Council members said they wanted to implement voters' wish -- to demolish the tower.
Last week, several council members said they received death threats and eggs were thrown at their homes to protest the demolition. Police have made no arrests.
