Graduate wanted to create local museum; offers on structure well below asking price

ALSEA - The Alsea School Board has taken no action on two bids to purchase the old library building, essentially rejecting the offers.

Both bids were $10,000, well below the minimum bid of $22,550 that the district had requested.

The board took its action last week.

Board members "feel that holding onto it right now is more profitable than accepting the offers, because they are too low," Superintendent Jason Larson said.

If there aren't new or adjusted offers, the matter probably won't be before the board again soon, he said.

One of the bidders, local graduate Jasper Titman, said he wanted to buy the structure and create an Alsea-area museum there.

"I'm disappointed, but who knows. We'll see what happens. I want a vehicle to preserve the town's history. I might try and move ahead, building or no building," said Titman, 32, a Los Angeles film composer.

In an interview before the decision, Titman said he learned about the sale of the building while back in Alsea for Christmas.

"Every time I come home, it seems a little bit has changed," he said. Some buildings have been torn down. The church he went to as a child is now a private residence.

"It just kind of dawned on me. … What if I was not only to preserve it? What if it could be an asset to the community?" Titman said.

The other offer on the old library, one made previous to Titman's, was from Scott Parker of Alsea, according to Larson.

The structure was created as a bank in 1920 and has only about 500 square feet. It has been vacant since books were moved to the new library, just northeast of Alsea School, in March 2005.