By Terry Karkos,Staff Writer

MEXICO – Selectmen trying to condemn the old Waleik Store on Roxbury Road have given the building’s elderly owner two weeks to flatten the structure.

At Wednesday’s board meeting, Wenceslao Perez, who owns the gutted store and an adjacent old house at 171 Roxbury Road, said he saw no reason to rush the work.

But Town Manager John Madigan said the decrepit store’s walls are hazardous and could fall on someone or into the road, which Route 17.

“All the rafters are caved in, the floor is caved in and the four walls are buckling,” Madigan said. “It’s definitely a hazard.”

Perez said he believes the walls would fall inward into the hole in the floor rather than outward onto the street, but selectmen followed Madigan’s lead.

Acting Chairman George Byam told Perez that either he should take the walls down or the town would knock them down with a bucket loader.

Byam explained that if the town does the work, it will bill Perez. After Byam issued the ultimatum, Perez said he would try to get the work done within two weeks.

Fire Chief Gary Wentzell said he would help Perez do the work.

In mid-July, selectmen voted unanimously to start the process to condemn the building, which has been deteriorating for about 20 years.