The Amite Water Tower comes down

For many years now the Amite Town Council has discussed the demolition or possibility of keeping the "Community Center" Water Tower and beautification of it. Well, the council discussed during their regular meeting Tuesday, December 2 that as of Wednesday afternoon the tower would be no more.

Councilman Jonathan Foster stated that a Victor Giles had approached him requesting the very top portion of the tower. His father, Tom Giles, had help construct the tower and when it was finally completed Tom Giles was reported to have climbed the tower and performed a hand stand on the very top cap. The council decided to give Mr. Giles the part of the tower.

The council gave the final go ahead to demolish the tower during last month's meeting. The tower has not worked in many years and only stood as a landmark that many Amite residents know and remember well.

Due to the instability of the tower, the council decided to take bids to demolish the structure. When the lowest bid was excepted the deconstruction of the tower began.

Wednesday morning, at approximately 11:10 a.m. a large boom could be heard as the top portion of the tower, the tank, hit the ground. A crane was brought in to remove the rest of the tower. The crew working on the demolision brought the tank down in much the same way a tree is cut down. Two arch shaped gaps were cut into each side. Placement of these gaps determined where the tank would fall and it fell exactly on mark. A large hole was dug for the tank to "fall into.

As of Wednesday evening, the de-consruction of the tower had gone according to schedule without any injuries or damage to the surrounding area.