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Facts on the Fires
BY DAVE OWENS
Student leaders invited to a
special meeting last Friday
afternoon in Founders were
told that:
• The Greensboro Fire
Department's official position
is that the Mary Hobbs Hall
fire last Monday morning,
Nov. 29, was a case of arson.
• Guilford College has insur
ance on each building on the
campus to cover the cost of
repairing or replacing it and
did not, as a rumor has it,
take out insurance on Mary
Hobbs "just before the fire"
or "double the insurance"
very recently.
• A small fire was discovered
between 10 and 11 a.m. last
Friday in the women's rest
room on the first floor of
Duke Memorial Hall with no
damage done.
• The college has doubled
security and is checking
buildings more often and more
thoroughly than before the
Mary Hobbs fire.
• It would be appreciated
if students hearing detrimental
rumors about the fire would
take them to Jim Newlin,
business manager, or Dean of
Students Ken Schwabb.
• It is hoped that Mary
Hobbs can be cleaned and
repaired sufficiently to allow
the residents to return their
belongings to their rooms
before Christmas break and
live there spring semester.
• Ways should be found,
perhaps through dorm
meetings, to eliminate the
"negative" reactions some
Mary Hobbs residents have
met from residents of some
other dorms, such as "We
don't want you here" and
"Why don't you go back
where you belong?"
• All Mary Hobbs residents
are to be interviewed by police
officers, not as suspects but
as possible sources of inform
ation which might help in
solving the mystery of who set
the fire.
• All students are encour
aged to confide in Ken Schwab
any information which they
feel might throw light on the
case. The same is true in
the case of the Duke blaze.
And since the Friday
meeting true of residents
of Shore Hall, as well.
Around 3 a.m. last Saturday,
a trash fire was discovered on
the second floor. Since then,
a. Fire Watch has been organ
ized in each residence hall for
round-the-clock surveillance.
In disclosing the minor
fire in Duke Memorial, Jim
Newlin said it involved
trash from the waste can "with
matches all around," he
commented that he had no
way of knowing whether that
incident was connected with
Mary Hobbs but, "if some
body's doing things like
that to keep the rumors
flowing, it's a sick way of
doing it."
Fire officials are convinced
that the Mary Hobbs fire was
deliberately set because
there were "several fires set
at the same time many feet
apart, pretty hard evidence to
dispute," Newlin said.
As far as the college
knows, fire officials
have not received an analysis
of charred remains with a
determination of what was
used to make the fires burn
rapidly after they were set.
The City of Greensboro's
chief building inspector was to
be on campus today to deter
mine whether Mary Hobbs'
roof can be repaired and
strengthened a relatively
simple matter or whether
a new roof will be required.
The latter, said Newlin,
would create a serious
problem, requiring the college
to build a temporary roof
under the present one, then
taking off the old roof and
building a permanent one.
That Mary Hobbs is still
standing is probably due to the
fact that all partitions were
removed from the third floor
last summer. (The attic was
converted to living quarters in
the 1940'5, and taken out of
use for residents 12 years ago.)
"If the partitions had been
standing last Monday, there
would have been no way fire
men could have fought the
flames from inside," Newlin
explained.
The charred remains on the
third floor are being removed,
wiring is being repaired, new
smoke detectors will be
installed, the attic will be sealed
off and the stairways blocked.
In shooting down the
rumor of "new" fire insurance
on Mary Hobbs, Newlin
declared: "That's not the way
insurance works; you insure a
building for what it would take
to replace it." He stressed
that the college will not have
to use the money it has raised
for renovating Mary Hobbs for
repairing the fire damage.
Some students were sur
prised that "several" Mary
Hobbs residents had been told
by other to "Go back where
you belong." Schwab said
five women had told him of
their unpleasant experiences
in this respect, and some of
the students present Friday
said there were many more.
"It's incredible that people
can be that mean," offered
Carla McAdams, president of
Mary Hobbs.
Schwab commented that he
has found the attitude of Mary
Hobbs women to be
"amazingly good" and noted
that many faculty and com
munity residents telephoned
him to offer roioims to the
uprooted group.
"We were glad we could
find rooms for them on
campus, however, since it will
be better for maintaining the
spirit of Hobbs by having all
of them here," he said.
NEXT FACULTY MEETING ...
Wednesday, December 8,
1976, at 1:30 p.m. in the Moon
Room of Dana Hall.
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Photo by Cato
Bystanders and residents watch Mary Hobbs fire on November 29.
Senate Minutes
December 1,1976
The meeting opened with a
moment of silence; roll was
called. Sherri Wall, John
Biedler, Warm Kozak, Linda
Paul and Pat Townsend were
absent.
John Janney announced
that the Graduation Planning
Committee needs two
Seniors to be elected by the
Senate. Senators were
concerned that other students
had not had a chance to be
on this committe and requested
that the election be held at
next week's meeting. There
was also concern that the
committee did not have
enough student representation.
John will approach the
Administrative Council with a
request that the committee be
opened to more student
members. Senators are asked
to have their student
nominations in the Senate
Office by Monday afternoon.
Dick Coe has been forced
to resign from Cliffhangers,
as advisor, because of the
potential for accidents in this
organization's activities. He,
as well as the College and
December 6,1976
the Senate, could be sued in
the even of an injury occur
ring during a college
sanctioned activity. For this
reason, the Senate voted to
abolish Cliffhangers as a
recognized organization and
absorb their funds back into
the Senate account. Jim
Newlin plans to discuss
alternatives with the Legal
Council to see if there is any
way the organization can
function independently, while
still using the school's equip
ment.
The constitution for
English Hall was submitted
and approved with minor
phrasing correction.
Hugh Stohle. presented a
request from the Circle K
club of UNC-G that the
Senate consider the possiblity
of forming such an organiz
ation at Guilford. The Circle
K club is associated with the
Kiwanis club, an international
men's service organization.
The Circle K club performs
such activities as sponsoring
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