THERE’s only one thing to be done with the old Departments of Administration and Education building in Hagåtña. “They need to tear it down,” said DOA Director Benita Manglona on Wednesday during a media tour. We agree. Crank up the bulldozers.

This old building does have a colorful history, though, for at one time it was the administrative headquarters for the entire government of Guam. The Governor’s Office was located there, and some think the Organic Act of Guam specifies that the center of Guam’s civilian government should still be in Hagåtña, not Adelup.

A popular story from the early '60s relates how Bill Daniel, who was appointed governor of Guam by President John F. Kennedy, had some Texas longhorn cattle shipped to the island. They came from his ranch in Texas, and Gov. Daniel reportedly had one brought up to his office on the second floor of the administration building for a photo.

Daniel, who was a flamboyant character, was hoping to stimulate interest in cattle ranching on Guam. The photographers got their pictures of the steer with the big horns, which handlers had no trouble coaxing up the single flight of stairs. But when it came time to leave, it was a different story. The animal wouldn’t go back down the stairs. According to some who recall this event, the longhorn finally had to be lifted off the second floor in a sling.

In recent years, the old building has fallen on hard times. No longer the seat of government, the building has housed the offices of the director of Administration, the director of Education, and some others. Some parts of the building are just used for storage now, some of the bathrooms are unusable, and the roof leaks in many places.

On Monday, Manglona says a pipe burst flooding several second floor offices, and even leaking down to the first floor Treasurer of Guam cashier’s office, damaging files. A 20-year-old carpet was soaked, creating such a stench that several employees went home. Electric wiring and panels are in poor condition, and the building was recently found not to be compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act after an inspection.

Basically, if the DOA building were a school, it would have been shut down by Public Health a long time ago. It’s a mess. The property belongs to the Legislature, we were told, but that’s probably just a technicality. It’s an old GovGuam building that needs to be torn down.

Manglona would like to relocate to Tiyan, where some buildings already being leased by the government are empty. But the lease says they must be used for educational purposes, so she is asking the Legislature to change that stipulation.

Here’s another photo op, for the governor. Don a hard hat, climb up into a dozer, and take the first cut at this decaying derelict of a building. It needs to go.