Judge tours Dayton building where he halts order to vacate, declares it habitable

Montgomery County Common Pleas Judge Richard Skelton declared the Newcom building habitable on Tuesday night, hours after issuing a TRO blocking a city of Dayton emergency order to vacate because of carbon monoxide coming from the building's boiler.

Skelton toured the building, 255 N. Main St., for a third time since Friday. In his courtroom earlier this afternoon, he said he planned to inspect the building Tuesday night.

"It my opinion, there is sufficient heat here. They now have portable infared heaters. I don't feel there is any danger," he told News Center 7's Caroline Reinwald following his inspection tour.

RELATED: Residents get to stay in Newcom building on judge's order

He said the addition of the heaters now gives the landlord time to correct the boiler, time for the court and the city and the landlord to stop gap the problem "with us monitoring it."

There are 18 residents remaining in the building. There were 50 when the order to vacate was issued.

The city housing inspection department and the fire department were just doing their jobs in issuing the order to vacate on Jan. 11, he said, calling their actions since then a good community response to a situation.

When asked why he personally wanted to inspect the old building, Judge Skelton said it's his duty because the tenants are county residents.

"Sometimes coming someplace and seeing what you have really gives me more information than any lawyer standing in a courtroom can tell me," he said.

One of the tenants, Gerbase Walker, said he had been without heat in his apartment for a month or two.

"It's crazy," he said. "I have no where to go. I have no family here."

Walker said "they would have had to lock me up" had the judge not issued the stay order.

"As long as I'm out of the cold...it's better than being in the street," Walker said.

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