Celtics championship trophy on display

NORTH PROVIDENCE — The Boston Celtics’ 2008 World Championship Trophy will be on display at the North Providence High School gymnasium from 2:30 to 4 p.m. tomorrow, in what has been billed as its first and only display in Rhode Island since the Celtics captured their 17th National Basketball Association title last year.

The decision by the Celtics to bring the trophy to North Providence came in response to a congratulatory letter that Mayor Charles Lombardi sent to the team when it captured the title.

Among those on hand to pose for pictures and sign autographs will be Celtics legend Jo-Jo White, members of the Celtics Dancers, team mascot Lucky the Leprechaun, and former Celtics Ernie DiGregorio, a native of North Providence, and Marvin Barnes. The event is free and open to the public.

— Richard C. Dujardin

Age of church ceiling faulted in collapse

PAWTUCKET — Age was the most likely reason for the ceiling collapse in a congregational church basement that left five people hurt Tuesday night, the city’s building inspector said Friday.

“As far as the city was concerned, it was age,” Building Inspector John Hanley said. An inspection of the rest of the Park Place Congregational Church showed no problems, he said.

The ceiling of a meeting room in the basement of the church fell at about 8:30 p.m. Tuesday while nine people were meeting there. Five were injured seriously enough to be taken to either Rhode Island or Memorial hospitals, fire officials said. None of the injuries appeared to be life-threatening, Battalion Chief Tim Mercer said.

Hanley said the basement ceiling was installed in an old style, with two coats of plaster laid over a wire mesh. He said he decided age was the reason for the collapse because of the absence of any other factor that might have caused it. There was no water leak, either from a pipe or the roof; no outside force that had struck the building; and no force from inside, such as a large number of people dancing on the floor above, he said.

If plaster had been used elsewhere in the basement, it must have been removed in the past, he said, because the ceiling over the rest of the basement was Sheetrock.

According to the city tax assessor’s online database, the brick and wood structure was built in 1900; a cornerstone at the front of the church had the years 1884-1935 carved into it.

— John Hill