ENTERPRISE (AP) — Wallowa County’s sturdy-looking stone courthouse has dominated the town square for almost 100 years. But county courthouses across Oregon are beginning to crumble, and the one in Enterprise needs $11 million worth of work.

A state study completed last year puts the total amount needed for repairs and additions across Oregon at more than $820 million.

“We have 48 courthouses in the state of Oregon, and only a handful can meet the requirements of a 21st-century judicial system,” said Eric Schmidt, spokesman for the Association of Oregon Counties in Salem.

One issue is security. Many Oregon courthouses would benefit from designated corridors, elevators and parking lots to separate defendants from plaintiffs, judges, attorneys, prosecutors and the public.

At the Multnomah County Courthouse in downtown Portland, prisoners are transported “above street level, making it a very dangerous situation,” said Lisa Naito, a former prosecutor wrapping up 10 years on the county Board of Commissioners.

Oregon Chief Justice Paul J. De Muniz knows of at least one courthouse where the door to a judge’s chambers opens into a corridor used to move prisoners. De Muniz is preparing a list of proposed statewide minimum-security standards for courthouses.

“This is hugely important,” he said, adding that he has written to Gov. Ted Kulongoski and others about the problem.

Courthouses, particularly rural courthouses, stand as emblems of American values. A gazebo decorates the north lawn of the Wallowa County Courthouse, and a Model 91 Japanese field howitzer guards the west entrance.

Courthouses also symbolize that American justice is available to everyone, De Muniz said. But they sometimes are tattered symbols.

The two-story Grant County Courthouse in Canyon City has no elevator. People with physical disabilities must make do with a chain-driven platform that moves along a stairwell from the basement to the second floor.

“If you are looking for a little independence, it’s not very user-friendly,” said Grant County Sheriff Glenn Palmer. “You almost need to have somebody help you.”

Union County’s courtrooms are in the former Joseph Hospital in La Grande, and one occupies a former hospital operating theater.

“The poor judge has to bend his head around the pillars to see who is in the courtroom,” said Union County Commissioner Steve McClure, who was born in the building in 1946.

Of the 48 courthouses assessed, Union County’s ranks dead last. Schmidt, the Association of Oregon Counties spokesman, calls it “a poster child for everything that is wrong with court facilities.”

The old hospital was never formally commissioned as a courthouse, making Union County one of the few counties across the nation without a designated courthouse, said County Commissioner Nellie Hibbert.

It had a courthouse until the early 1990s, but the 1903 brick structure began disintegrating and had to be torn down.

Counties are under a statutory mandate to provide courtroom facilities. Multnomah County can’t afford the $209 million it would cost to repair or replace its eight-story, 95-year-old downtown courthouse, with its ornamental oak doors, brass handrails and wooden telephone booth in the law library.

A strong earthquake might leave the building standing, but “things would fall down on people,” said Naito.

About 5,000 people a day pass through the courthouse, and that worries her.

“I’ve got to tell you, I lose sleep at night,” she said. “We subpoena jurors. They are mandated to go in there. And schoolchildren take tours.”

By Multnomah County standards, the $11 million needed in Wallowa County Courthouse might seem like pocket change, but not in Wallowa County, said Commissioner Dan DeBoie of Enterprise.

“You run into the issue with a historic building like this; nobody wants to see it go away, but they are expensive to fix,” he said.

“There is no urban-rural divide on this,” Naito said. She added that counties neglect courthouses at their peril. “People are going to resolve their disputes one way or the other,” she said. “If it’s not in the courtroom, it’s going to be out on the street.”

De Muniz hopes to see priorities set by an independent commission appointed by the Legislature, “to remove any political issues from who should go first and who should get what.”

Suggestions for raising money have included county fees on court filings of deeds, mortgages and other records, and fees for civil cases, Hibbert said.