By Bill Grubb

SURGOINSVILLE - While school officials are preparing to re-open the facility in July, the Hawkins County Sheriff's Office is trying to find the culprit or culprits who vandalized the  Tennessee Technology Center at the Phipps Bend Industrial District.
    "Right now we are still looking for leads and suspects," Sheriff Roger Christian said. "When you look at the extent of the damage it almost seems like this was something personal against the school."
    According to a sheriff's office offense report, Henry Cook arrived at the school at approximately 7:05 a.m. Tuesday and discovered a broken window in a door on the back of the building. Once inside the building Cook noticed several computers had been turned over and damaged and called 911.
    Cook told authorities he was walking toward the front of the building and began to smell, then see smoke.
    The Church Hill Fire Department, which serves the industrial park under a contractual agreement, responded to the scene and extinguished the fire.    
    Authorities said the vandals apparently started the fire by lighting folders and papers from the filing cabinets, destroying the paper records.  Backup copies of the records are, however, kept in another location.
    The fire damage was contained to the main office, although there was smoke damage in most areas of the building.  The report describes the office "as a complete loss."
     According to the offense report, several computers throughout the building were damaged.  In a break-room, two vending machines and a gum machine had been damaged, with candy stolen from the vending machines and money taken from the gum machine.
    In the back parking lot a van had been vandalized and sprayed with a fire extinguisher.
    The offense report estimated the value of the damage at $500,000.  There are no security surveillance cameras or any type of alarm system at the building.
    The school has been on a break, with classes scheduled to resume July 6. Anyone with information about the incident is asked to call the HCSO at 272-4848.