Free Mesothelioma Information Packet
Enter your information to receive a comprehensive mesothelioma packet free of charge at your doorstep within 24 hours.
Asbestos Issues Complicate Museum Renovations
The Tularosa Basin Historical Society of Alamogordo, New Mexico will not be able to afford to install a museum in the city's old Plaza Pub building due to financial difficulties. In a meeting with city commissioners Monday night, members of the Tularosa Basin Historical Society revealed their decision to abandon the plan to open a new museum in the Plaza Pub building. The society has decided to discontinue their lease on the building.
The society had hoped to open a new museum in order to display their growing collection of artifacts. The building was in need of renovations, but now that asbestos has been found in the structure's roof, the additional costs of removing the cancer-causing substance are too much for the society to bear. Asbestos causes lung cancer and mesothelioma. Mesothelioma is a rare cancer that can kill sufferers within only a few months.
"It's with very heavy hearts that we have made this decision," Historical Society President Elizabeth Padilla said. "But we believe, because of the limited funding, we cannot continue to go through the process of renovating the Plaza building." Padilla explained to the commissioners that because the society is nonprofit, about half of their funding comes from membership dues, one-third comes from bookstore sales, and the remaining amount comes from public donations. "We don't have a regular stream of income," Historical Society member Dr. Dave Townsend said. "Without volunteers, we'd be dead in the water." The future of the building is now uncertain.
Many buildings nationwide - especially those built in the early nineteen hundreds until the eighties - contain aging asbestos products, including roofing tiles or piping insulation.