Shelby County Maintenance Supervisor Chris Roediger, of Sidney, talks about the wear and tear a Blind Justice statue has taken over the years while on top of the Shelby County Courthouse. The statue was taken down several months ago so that Detailed Machining, Inc., Owner John Bertsch could inspect it. Bertsch is looking at how best to restore the four Blind Justice statues. The statues are made from a very thin layer of zinc sheet metal. Bertsch is looking at using a new laser cleaning technique to remove the thick layers of paint on the statues. His biggest concern is that the thick paint could be the only thing holding large amounts of the statues together. If only little pieces need to be replaced Bertsch is confident the statues can be repaired. To evaluate the integrity of the statue Bertsch hopes to run a small camera into the mostly hollow statue. The statues’ original scales were removed some time ago and replaced with much heavier ones that caused damage to the statues’ hands. The heavier scales were then removed when the damage was detected.
