Chance to blow up Carbide building now part of raffle

Mar 23, 2009 (The Charleston Gazette - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) -- UK | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating -- CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- The chance to push the button that will implode the former Union Carbide headquarters, known as Building 82, in South Charleston on Saturday is still up for grabs.

Chris Belcher, president and owner of Cincinnati-based Pinnacle Environmental, won the eBay auction run by the University of Charleston to blow up the building after placing a winning bid of $5,207 last weekend.

Belcher, who is a 1987 graduate of UC and a former player on the baseball team, has decided to donate the ticket to the university and the baseball team, which will sell raffle tickets at $10 a piece to the community.

"I won the auction and I paid for it. And instead of being the one to push the button, I decided to donate the ticket to the baseball program at UC," Belcher said.

The winner of the raffle, who will be announced in a drawing at UC on Friday, will get to hit the button on Saturday at 8:56 a.m.

Belcher donated the ticket to the baseball team with hopes that the money raised during the raffle will go to a fund to help students get baseball scholarships at UC.

"Every amount of money that the team raises will go to create scholarships for baseball members," he said.

Belcher and his brother played baseball at UC and saw the auction as a great way to give money back to the university.

"We both received baseball scholarships, and it was the only way we could go to school there. It's a good situation to help raise money to help people in need, like we were."

Belcher didn't make the decision to donate the ticket back to the University of Charleston until he was watching the finale minutes of bidding on Saturday.

"I actually thought the auction would end much higher than $5,000. When I was watching the auction on Saturday, I saw where it was going and I said 'if I win, this is what I am going to do with it,'" he said. "The University of Charleston had no idea I was going to do this."

Belcher wanted to give back to the baseball program at UC for affording his brother and himself the opportunity to play for the school.

"Coach [Tom] Nozica is a class act and UC is a great school," he said. "He teaches you how to better your game on a college level, but also gives lives lessons about how life isn't always a game.

"I'm thankful for opportunity that he gave me, my brother and my family. This was the perfect opportunity to help other students in need."

Pinnacle Environmental is the environmental consulting firm for Building 82 and worked to make sure that the building was environmentally sound before it was scheduled for demolition.

"We identify what the hazard is, write out our inspection, get bids and provide oversight for the owner," he said. "We're required by law to have all asbestos removed from a building before it gets torn down."

Belcher said companies that are having a building torn down normally like to be a part of it and push the button, but "it says volumes about UC that they aren't."

The raffle will allow an average person the chance to push the button, he said.

Belcher said UC has complied with all of the state rules on selling raffle tickets. The baseball team will be selling a limited amount of tickets with a maximum profit of $14,990.

"I hope is we get close to $15,000. I hope we can raise enough money for a kid who wants to go to UC and play baseball. That's the whole hope for this thing," he said.

The $5,207 that Belcher paid to win the eBay auction will go into UC's general fund. UC is paying about $1.6 million to demolish the 106,000-square-foot building.

University officials initially planned to convert the building into classrooms, faculty office space and living quarters for pharmacy students. That plan was dropped when UC determined that it would cost up to $10 million to bring the building up to Americans with Disabilities Act standards.

Raffle tickets will be on sale for $10 each today through Friday at the Athletics Office in the Eddie King Gym at UC.

The raffle-winner will be drawn at 5 p.m. on Friday at home plate of Triana Field.

Additionally, people can also buy tickets at the local Pinnacle Environmental Office at 200 Prestige Park in Hurricane, W.Va., or at 304-757-5204.

Reach Kathryn Gregory at kathryng@wvgazette.com or 304-348-5119.

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