Unfortunately the story about the dumping of handwritten records from the
courthouses and other public facilities is NOT something new -- as a matter
of fact when I started asking the question about charging different prices
and not being allowed to see the documents in a courthouse I had several of
these "horror" stories told to me about counties right in the state of
Indiana who did the very same thing!!!
Now sometimes it is true that fire and water damage destroys much, but even
someone with half a brain would know you don't destroy them BEFORE
microfilming or at least making xeroxes or photocopying these documents --
even if 1/8 of the writing was legibile it should be preserved (my opinion).
Just my comments to let you know this is occurring closer to your home than
you thought by the WVA article.
Judy M.