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Same bat time, same bat guano ! (01 / 10/98 , CHN) Page 1 of 2 Al t ' N News Home Classifieds ( News ( Sports Opinion 14 Around Town Arts I Calendar Chapel Hill News Real Estate Section Search Contact Us Same bat time , same bat guano ! Some worry that the condition of a historic clock may be imperiled by waste from flying mammal. By David Schulman, Staff Writer HILLSBOROUGH on When dusk falls in Hillsborough, the evidence is plain to judges , jurors and convicts alike : The Old County Courthouse has bats in the belfry . And, some say, the hour has struck to do something about it . The habits of the roosting bats , it seems , have fouled the mechanism of the rare 18th- century clock that crowns the historic courthouse and threaten to make the cupola treacherous for non-winged creatures . " There ' s concern among some folks in Hillsborough that, with the bats and the guano and everything, it could affect the structure of the cupola, " said Orange County preservation planner Don Belk , Lawyer Cy Hogue III, who has taken over many of the clock-keeper' s duties performed since the early 1960s by Allen Lloyd, said he has nothing against the bats themselves . You d do the sam t e hing if you were a bat, Hogue saki . But he said it would be better for the old clock if the bats ' easy access to the clock mechanism were restricted, to prevent their guano from gumming up the old gears and shafts . " The place, " Hogue said, " could use some sealing . " The county' s Historic Preservation Commission took up the issue late last year, but decided that bat-proofing the clock and cupola would be more appropriately undertaken by other county departments . " We 're going to ask the county to look at that through their normal maintenance procedure , " Belk said . http : //www. chapelhillnews . com/Issues/ 1999/01 / 10/ 1 / 13 /99