Newspapers / The Carolina Times (Durham, … / Jan. 13, 1979, edition 1 / Page 1
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Tho Dl?!cfc Press- I ; Words of Vlsdom Our Freedom Depends fflfe" (IfwfeS). wTittTli - 1 9n -- ; u g L VOLUME 57 -NUMBER 2 ' , 14 PAGES DURHAM, NORTH CAROLINA SATURDAY, JANUARY 13, 1979 TELEPHONE (919) 682-2913 S - "L . ' i i ""I tm i T.. i I , v " i -r:- A m ... v. mhJJBfltelaKBlo&Ka ' w -:x , CAROLINA TIME$ PUBLISHER, Mn. Vhrlw A. Edmonch. caifits out on. of J T5?! Tummin. . .. . - ...-.. t COPY AND MAKE-UP ROOM in shambles, beyond which the second and third floors had collapsed on mating and typesetting rooms. oto b KMn 8,11 ' Arson Suspected In Firo Of Remaining Buildings Durham arson in vestigators say theyjiave not . deterajined whether arsonists destroyed Pettigrew Street buildings which housed the three re maining ' black owned , business Hay offic Beck Durham fire and police arson investigators; lack modern arson , detection equipment which is available to State Bureau of Investigation arson teams. However, police in vestigator Wyatt Martin, who heads the arson team said outside help is not needed. Buildings occupied by THE CAROLINA TIMES and E.N. Toole and Sons Electrical Com pany, were gutted by the early Sunday morning fire, while a third business, Service Printing Company suffered .only water and smoke damage. Two owners charged that fremen did firemen did little to extinguish the blaze. Captain Beck indicated that the arson team has narrowed the origin of the ilre to a vacant building formerly occupied by a Elvira's Cafe. The cafe is one of three vacant buildings located between Service Printing Company and The CAROLINA TIMES. The buildings were connected by common walls, and a ten Linch fire retaining theorized fire , which reported at Sunday swept Elvira's to THE ' CARO LINA TIMES and then . xo EJi. Toole's. 'Took discounts f Beck's theory, charging that two or three ;;' separate fires were set in his building. in ; ,pwham's . . : Further ' Toole , -J and brand and octane of gasoline. Captain J.M. Beck said Durham's arson squad does not have the' device but the State Bureau of Investigation does. Wyatt Martin, head of the arson squad, said outside thick Beck the first a.m. wall. that was 4:53 from paw fighters t ? used only one hose in fighting the blaze for some time. Toole said that one fire fighter remarked . "these buildings have to to go", when he questioned about low water pressure used to fight the flames. Assistant Fire Chief SherriH .J. Smith defended the water pressure and the number of fire hoses. According to' Smith and other firefighters, the heat was so intense when firefighters arrived that fire trucks and firefighters could not get close enough fo fight the blaze except to spray water1 from a master stream on a ladder truck. The firefighting strategy was to contain the fire . between two t thirty foot fire . walls separating Service Printing Company and part of E.N. Toole and Sons, Smith said. Modern arson detection devices not available to the Durham arson squad include one device called a "sniffer'. The device, when used at the origin of a fire, many times can detect . flamable substances such as gasoline and kerosene so well at to identify the BUSINESSES I HAYTI The three ; businesses were the last of the once flourishing Hayti business district. More than one hundred business had flourished in the area south of the Southern Railway tracks until the Durham City Council and the Durham Redevelop ment Commission had them demolished. Although federal law required adequate compensation for property bought by the Commission, several of the owners were forced to carry their claims to court, and others were squeezed out. The Commission offered the business less than what it would cost to acquire other buildings. Businesses like Toole & Sons, THE CAROLINA TIMES, and Service Printing Company that resisted urban redevelopment were told they should not waste money to maintain their property, as they Waited for the Commission to acquire their property. Despite maintenance restrictions, at the time of the fire, the buildings were structurally " sound and their owners were negotiating with the Durham Redevelopment Commission to rehabilitate the structures. Acquistion of property in the Hayti areas nearly completed by the Redevel opment Commission, more than half of the black mer chants !.that.C":oncc: a part'' Hayti have been forced out of business. FIRE "CAPSTONE OF ATTEMPTS TO PUT US OUT OF BUSINESS" There are as many motiyes advanced ;to explain the fire as there were opponents to progress of blacks andpoor people in Durham. At the hub of black economic, social, and political progress in the City for more than 57 years and been its communication mechanism, THE CAROLINA TIMES. Founded in 1922 by Publisher Louis Austin, the paper grew with Durham's black community and became known nationally as a champion of civil rights and human rights causes. "The Truth Unbridled " the papers slogan has been retained after Austin's death in 1971, The paper's tradition was continued by Austin's daughter, Mrs. Vivian Edmonds, who has beeiv at the paper's helm as publisher-editor assisted by her son Kenneth, since June, 1975. She described the fire "as probably the capstone of the attempts to really put us out of business." 3. Unfettered by , the town's white or black powerstructure, as editor and publisher, Mrs. Edmonds has directed the paper in exposing the injustices suffered by the WUmington 10, 4 Charlotte Three, workers in Durh,oarBityj racism in government and industry, ' dilapidated housing conditions, as well as a long exhaustive series of investigative news accounts of allegations of polk brutality, and insensitivity of public housing adminis trators. She warns "when a people do not have a voice on the printed page they are voiceless, and THE CAROLINA TIMES has for all of its years been a voice of the voiceless." " v the v.h attacks" W fire upon THE CAROLINA TIMES is not the first of its kind upon black news papers in North Carolina's history. THE WILMING TON RECORD was burned to the ground in 1898 and its publisher Alex Massey fled the town fearful of losing his life, as did many blacks at the hands of white attackers. Then, in 1972, THE WILMING TON JOURNAL, the successor to THE WILM-v INGTON RECORD u was bombed by paramilitary ' whites. Threats of violence have been visited upon other publishers, including THE CAROLINA TIMES. A BIG THANK YOU. . . . to all who are pitching in to help in so many ways during this difficult period. Our spirits are lifted and you are strengthening our determination to not only survive this disaster, but to serve you more effectively with a bigger and better instrument for justice. All Of Us At THE CAROLINA TIMES Temporarily located at 71 9 N. Mangum Street $1,000 REWARD OFFERED The response of North Carolina's black publishers has been to offer a reward of $1000 to anyone pro viding information which feads to the apprehension . of " persona - or - person re sponsible for the fire. "We feel that this is important because, as I see it, all of the news papers in North Carolina are vulnerable to that extent," said Ernie Pitt, co-director of the North Carolina Black Publishers Association. Pitt, who is publisher of the Winston Salem Chronicle, continued saying "we do not want ' to give the impression that a newspaper, a voice in the black community, can be put out by simply burning the building down. We intend to pursue this very vigorously and our $1000 reward is the first step that we are going to take to try to uncover the culprit in the case," NEW SUBSCRIPTION DRIVE LAUNCHED Despite the fire, THE CAROLINA owners and Continued On Page 12 1 I Like Freedom!! I'm Going to Keep "The Troth Unbridled" i with A Subscription to: ' ';"'-v .;'. -',' ' ' ' , ( '' ' & - '-- , ' M & r W ' ' 'i ' " - ''A it i , " 1 i'T f ill ., , ;y j m ''',-" Vt i i X ill I n ; 4 1 Py mrf'i V"L'A' KK ' hi f'4 ) U " 'it! I )l (V I'A'M L , I r. " Ifui 1 . ' h .,LL,, rTT"';, , f Li J'tri AtLXL POST OFFICE BOX 3825 DURHAM, NORTH CAROLINA 27702 PLEASE ESTER MY SUBSCRIPTION FOR . . ) 1 year - $8.84 (Out of State - $8.50) 2 years - $17.68 (Out of State - $17.00) Mr. Mrs., Ms. Address -"$ City State FIREMEN AFTER COAXING - Battle blaze in what is left of publisher's office. (Photo by Kelvin A. Bell) ( ) Check or MoneOrder Enclosed ( ) Bill me within thirty days - V- o. .
The Carolina Times (Durham, N.C.)
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Jan. 13, 1979, edition 1
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