HAMLET — Employees at Birmingham Drug Company got an early morning shakeup after a driver rammed the front of the building Tuesday, allegedly after stopping in front of a Daily Journal newspaper box.

Pharmacist Bill Horne, company president, said he had the newspaper box removed.

“Because that was the only reason she stopped, to get a paper,” he explained. “She hit the gas instead of the brake.”

According to Horne, the building was erected in 1901. He gestured to the visible damage to one of the structure’s supporting beams.

“This is cast iron supports, and it’s severed here,” he noted. “That’s impressive by itself. And it’s also severed up here, and it actually knocked out part of the cast iron. It was huge. It further went and hit that second pillar, and I now have a situation where my window has separated. And with these kind of panes, oh my God, they’re irreplaceable.”

Horn said a lot of the stores along Main Street have similar windows, but that his were the best preserved.

“They were covered up until I had this building renovated on the exterior,” he explained. “And I said, ‘We’re going to uncover those.’ And that’s something to be seen. My father was talking this morning about putting up concrete stobs, or whatever those things are. And I’m like, ‘Nah, I’m not feeling that.’ I feel like it would denigrate Main Street.”

Since beginning work in the drug store in 1984, Horne said he’s never seen anything like it.

“I have seen a car hit that corner post into the alcove, but the building didn’t move,” he continued. “Everybody that was here this morning said it shook the whole building.”

Asked whether he believes the store to be structurally sound, Horne said he thinks so.

“That main beam is safe,” he said. “If that main beam had been struck, I’d be closed now. This is more decorative, so to speak. But you can see even at the top, that plate. I’m very, very disappointed, ‘cause I grew up here. I mean, this is like my house. It’s even caused separation in the window here, where she hit the second one.”

Horne said he has not ventured to the second floor out of safety concerns.

“But if this column keeps on with the weight it’s bearing, it will fall out, and the window will fall out behind it,” he said, indicating a place where the beam was compromised. “And that is a nightmare, ‘cause you know what will happen then.”

The weight of the second floor, Horne speculated, is probably all that’s holding the damaged post in place.

“Physics is really amazing,” he said. “I’m trying to get an adjuster here now, but it’s going to be minimally tens of thousands. I mean, you can’t replace that. It was built in 1901.”

Details from the police report were not available in time for publication.

Reach reporter Melonie McLaurin at 910-817-2673.

Melonie McLaurin | Daily Journal Bill Horne, president of Birmingham Drug Company, surveys damage to the pharmacy’s exterior Tuesday morning.
https://www.yourdailyjournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/web1_BillHorne.jpgMelonie McLaurin | Daily Journal Bill Horne, president of Birmingham Drug Company, surveys damage to the pharmacy’s exterior Tuesday morning.

By Melonie McLaurin

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