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Sanctuary under siege: Bill Bennett
By WAVENEY ANN MOORE
© St. Petersburg Times, published April 22, 2001
Bill Bennett, administrator for the Cathedral Church of St. Peter, sounds frustrated when he talks about the Baptist sanctuary the cathedral bought in 1990.
It has been expensive to keep up. Over the years, the church has stopped maintaining the elevator, and it no longer has regular termite service.
On a recent tour of the Baptist church, he pointed to peeling paint caused by water leaks and to places where asbestos would have to be removed. He urged care in navigating the stairs. The air-conditioning units are ancient. Interior doors would not pass a code inspection, and passages between the theater seats in the balcony are narrow.
The building has little to offer, he says.
But Bennett chuckles when he tells one of his many stories about the old Baptist church.
"One night ... when we first got it, we got an alarm call," he said.
"We came down and there's one of the street people down there cooking bacon."
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