--

- „
---

.-- .••••-• -• r-,-7 7:77-----
,77: 7 • •

.•

•

Clockwise
from top left:

Boxes await
fire-damaged
contents outside
the Jewish News
offices the morning
. after the fire.

•

Story by HARRY KIRSBAUM

Photography by BILL HANSEN & KRISTA HUSA

he Jewish communi-
ty breathed a collec-
tive sigh of relief
when fire officials
determined the
Sunday evening fire
that severely dam-
aged the Detroit
Jewish News was
accidental in nature

and not a hate crime.
"That was the first thing on my mind, said
David Gad-Harf, the Jewish Community
Council of Metropolitan Detroit's executive
director. "And that was the first thing that
people asked me: 'What do you know about
the cause of it?' I'm sure what was behind that
question was the possibility of arson. ,,
Jonathan Brateman, a Southfield City
Council member, was on his way back from
out of town when he heard the news on the
radio.
"My first thought -was that it was a terrorist
act, but I'm very happy it wasn't," he said.
At a brit Monday morning, Brateman said
everyone talked about the fire and how horri-
ble it was — but they were happy it was an
accident.
Southfield City Council members he talked
with said they were proud to have the Jewish
News in the city and were pleased to know a
fire wouldn't stop it from publishing.
The Southfield Fire Department arrived

Y44144o.,,,4

three minutes after a smoke detector went off
shortly after 7. p.m. on Sunday, Jan. 27,
according to Battalion Chief Denny
McGuire. Fire trucks from West Bloomfield
joined trucks from all five Southfield fire sta-
tions, while the Royal Oak fire department
stood stand by to cover the rest of the city.
No one was hurt in the blaze.
Flame damage was concentrated in the
•
main wing of the Jewish News office at 27676
Franklin Road in the Regency Office Centre,
FROM THE ASHES on page 18

Still The Guardian

5
7
14
16
17
18
19
30
31
86

The Passion To Publish
Warming To A New Beginning
From The Ashes
From Flames To Newsstands
Reaction
Preserving Valuables
Starting Over
Mit If, But How
It's Just What We Do
Salvaging A Dream

Charred wood
. and fallen beams
are all that remain .
of this Jewish
News office.

Southfield Fire
Chief Robert
Ozias, center,
chats with Jewish
Renaissance Media
representative
Don Lift-on and
President Arthur
•M- Horwitz,
second from right,
publisher of the
Jewish News.

Ramsey Nassar of
. ARS, a Madison
Heights computer
reconditioning
company, assesses
the damage.

Editor Robert
Sklar, outside
the burned-out
Jewish News on
Franklin Road in
Southfield.

Opposite page: -
Broken windows
and fallen beams.
Monday were eerie
reminders of the
re's _fitry.

Our temporary location: Detroit Jewish News
30301 Northwestern Highway, Suite 200
Farmington Hills, MI 48334
South side of Northwestern Highway,
west of Inkster Road. (248) 354-6060
Hours: 8:30 a.m. - 5 p.m. weekdays

■