`HOLY MOLY, WHAT A MESS'

                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: MONDAY, March 15, 1993                   TAG: 9303150052
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: A1   EDITION: METRO  
SOURCE: LON WAGNER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium
`HOLY MOLY, WHAT A MESS' - LANCERLOT
The creaking and crackling sounds made late Saturday by a slowly collapsing LancerLot roof gave rescue workers plenty of time to get spectators and hockey players out of the building.
"At this end, the girders had started to bend over," said John Horan, the referee at the Roanoke Valley Rampage game against Richmond.
"It sounded like ice sliding off the roof."
Other supports then started to bend sideways.
"You could see them twisting," Horan said.
At 9:10 p.m. Saturday, both teams and 63 fans were evacuated. By early Sunday, the roof had collapsed completely, Capt. Gary Houff of the Vinton Fire Department said.
"We just got everybody clear," Houff said, "and let it do what it had to do."
LancerLot owner Henry Brabham said Sunday the building was "almost totaled." Brabham built the sports complex, off Hardy Road, in 1984 for about $3 million.
The roof apparently began to collapse after high winds blew snow from the northeast to the southeast side of the roof.
"I couldn't believe it," Brabham said. "You never dream something like that's going to happen."
The Vinton LancerLot's structure was questioned in 1988 after it was found to be in violation of the state building code. Persons who exercise had complained that the floors shook during aerobics classes.
Randy Austin, assistant Vinton town manager in 1988 when the town investigated the building, said Sunday that the building may have been designed to vibrate.
"I run out there myself," Austin said, "and I've noticed there's definitely some shaking."
Assistant Town Manager Bob Benninger said that, several years ago, Brabham had to move weight-training equipment from the upper floors to lower floors. "The floor wasn't designed to carry that load."
But, he said, the roof's capacity was never in question.
The roof over the hockey rink, about 75 percent of the building, collapsed. The roof over the exercise facility apparently was spared by a wall that divided the two parts.
Brabham was the subcontractor who built the LancerLot.
"Of course, I didn't design the damn roof," he said. "You put that many tons of snow on that much roof and you got a problem."
Brabham said an inspection today should let him know the extent of damage. He said the twisted steel could have damaged the structure of the fitness section.
Brabham said he didn't believe that his insurance would cover the entire loss.
Sunday morning and afternoon, a stream of vehicles passed the facility, the occupants surveying the damage.
Denis Skapski, who plays defense for the Rampage, pointed out that the roof's collapse also forced postponement of a Rampage game scheduled for Sunday night in Tidewater.
"All our gear," Skapski said, gesturing toward the twisted seats and sheets of aluminum, "it's in there."
Several folks pronounced the ice rink permanently closed.
"I guess I had the privilege of working the last LancerLot game," referee Horan said. "Holy moly, what a mess."

by Archana Subramaniam by CNB