Eagles set up new nest

<p>Democrat photo/Liz Morales</p><p>The interior of the Eagles Club at 314 North High Street is coming together nicely. Shown is the wedding/event hall that will be sectioned off by a kitchen and bar area. To the left is where the restrooms and storage will be placed.</p>

Democrat photo/Liz Morales

The interior of the Eagles Club at 314 North High Street is coming together nicely. Shown is the wedding/event hall that will be sectioned off by a kitchen and bar area. To the left is where the restrooms and storage will be placed.

The motto of the Eagles Club is "people helping people." Members of the Eagles Fraternal Order of 4027 have been bringing this notion to fruition for the better part of four months as they have worked together to build a new club site.

The club's new president, Steve Liebi, said progress on the new building is moving right along.

"It's going quite well," Liebi said. "The framing on the inside is about a days worth of work from being completed. We just have to put some insulation in around the bathrooms and offices for privacy."

Last June, a fire devastated the original site, which stood at 314 North High Street. In April, construction on the new club began at the same location.

With progress being made each day, the following days will see plumbing, insulation and framing work being tied together to fit the interior of the building.

"We have AC units above the kitchen, and there will be storage above the restrooms where we'll have our bicycle program," Liebi said. "There's going to be a 25 foot bi-fold door separating one half of the building. One side will be no smoking for weddings and other things people may want to do in here."

Liebi said most of the smoking will be permitted outside in a designated area. Fifty-seven feet of space will be partitioned off for a bar area along with gaming machines and a pool table for members to enjoy.

"We're also talking about putting up electronic videos for youth in the hall," he said. "But that'll be addressed later."

As far as space goes, Liebi said the new site does not quite compare to the original site.

"The square footage isn't as big," he said. "The old building had three stories with a basement, but this new building has more useable space for us."

This space will be used to continue familiar traditions the Eagles Club has practiced in previous years.

"Over the years, we've raised a lot of people up in times when they were down," Liebi said. "That could have been with medical bills, burnouts, that type of thing. We hope to continue to do that. To help people out."

The goal for construction is to have the new site ready for curious California area residents to at least walk through the interior at the Ham and Turkey Festival.

"I think this is a good thing," Liebi said. "The budget is running fairly well along with this, and we've had some local people and contractors that have all done us a great job of keeping the prices down for us.

"Hopefully this will inspire people who want to become an Eagle," he said. "But I really just want to thank the community for their patience as we've been getting this new building up."