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Actor Russell Crowe Pledges Aid to Firebombed School LibrarySome three weeks after the April 5 destruction by firebombing of the United Talmud Torahs elementary school in the Montreal, Quebec, suburb of St. Laurent, actor Russell Crowe has joined dozens of people from all over Canada pledging to help finance the rebuilding of its 10,000-volume library.Crowe, who heard about the arson while in Toronto to film The Cinderella Man, phoned school director Sidney Benudiz to say he was very upset “that a place of learning should be attacked that way” and that he “wanted to make sure that our students knew that he was thinking about them,” school spokesperson Shelley Paris said, according to an April 27 Reuters report. The amount of Crowe’s pledge was not made public. Paris also told the press that the school had also received pledges and donations from overseas, including schoolchildren who have sent in their allowances. Officials estimate that rebuilding the library and its collection will cost $300,000 Canadian ($225,000 U.S.). There had been no arrests as of late April, although the Montreal police department has established a hate-crimes unit in response to concerns from the Jewish community, according to the April 29 Canadian Jewish News. Montreal public security official Peter Yeomans told the newspaper the ongoing investigation was “privileged and confidential.” Posted April 30, 2004. |
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