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Fire Destroys West Virginia LibraryArsonists started an early-morning fire in the War (W. Va.) Public Library March 20 that destroyed the wood-frame building and nearly all of its 40,000 books and videos. Damages were estimated at $500,000. “It’s just such a tragic loss,” librarian Frances Blankenship told the Bluefield Daily Telegraph March 21. “We had just received some new Gates computers [from the Gates Learning Foundation] for public Internet access. We had college students who were completing assignments on them. It’s all just a total waste now.” The library had just completed a $150,000 expansion project last year. Blankenship met with members of the West Virginia Library Commission two days after the fire to look for a temporary location for the library, according to Rebecca Moore, director of McDowell Public Library, of which the War library is an affiliate. Three men from War, ages 20, 19, and 17, have been charged with arson. They allegedly set the fire to cover up breaking into the library to steal televisions and VCRs. Posted March 27, 2000. |
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