The Daily Oklahoman caught up with Laddie Williams, who’s cycling east across the country to raise money for the families of nine firefighters who died in a furniture store fire in Charleston, S.C. He was in Oklahoma City on Monday, and had raised $6,000 to $7,000 so far.

Williams’ site is here; information on how to donate is here.

Longtime readers Dan and Cyndy Imming, who are relocating from Las Vegas to Route 66 in Galena, Kan., have informed me that the Green Parrot Tavern in Galena will be torn down Thursday.

The building, which is more than 100 years old, became structurally unsafe when a sinkhole unexpectedly opened up behind the property in August 2006, causing part of the building to fall into the hole. The sinkhole was caused by a collapsing underground mine that was abandoned many years ago. The town is peppered with such mines.

The Immings sent me these photos of the demolition preparations around the building on Tuesday:

You can see in the second photo how badly damaged the building is, even before it was torn down.

The Immings said this about the razing operation:

The plan is to drill holes through the masonry walls, marked by the little white crosses on the side of the building, run a cable through the holes and connect the cable loop to the giant backhoe pictured. As you might guess, the backhoe will then begin pulling the cable tighter and tighter until the first floor wall is pulled out far enough for the second floor walls to collapse inward. At least that is the plan.

In the photo above, the Immings say it is the first of more than 300 test holes that are being drilled. The idea is to find the most dangerous undermined spots and fill them with coal ash and water. It’s estimated it will take up to $60 million to rectify Galena’s problem mines.

It’s a shame the Green Parrot is coming down. But the residents of Galena may look back in future years and say that the historic tavern’s demise provided the impetus to do something about the long-ignored mines. Galena didn’t want to become another Picher, Okla., that is being abandoned because of undermining.