Itt-Ott, 1982 (15. évfolyam, 1-4. szám)

1982 / 1. szám

-THE BLADE: TOLEDO, OHIO.THE BLADE; TOLEDO, OHIO, THURSDAY, JUNE 18, 1981

Archbishop Orders Site Vacated

Priest Gives Up Fight To Halt Razing Of Poletown Church

WEDNESDAY, JUNE 17, 1981

50 Start Sit-In At Church In Poletown

Want To Save Building From Being Torn Down To Make Way For GM Plant

DETROIT (AP) — About 50 persons trying to save a Roman Catholic church on part of the land for a proposed General Motors Corp. assembly plant conducted an overnight prayer vigil in the church and vowed not to leave today.

The Immaculate Conception Church, in Detroit’s Poletown neighborhood, was supposed to be vacated Tuesday and turned over to the city today for demolition.

GM intends to build a $500 million Cadillac assembly plant once the church and hundreds of businesses and homes on the 465-acre site are razed.

DETROIT (AP) — The pastor of a Roman Catholic church in Detroit’s Poletown neighborhood has given up in his fight to save the church from being razed to make way for a General Motors Corp. assembly plant.

The Rev. Joseph Karasiewicz told parishoners gathered at the Immaculate Conception Church Wednesday night that Archbishop Edmund Szoka ordered him to vacate the building so it can be turned over to the city of Detroit.

On Wednesday afternoon, Father Karasiewicz gave the church records to Archbishop Szoka and moved out of the rectory.

Like scores of homes and businesses in the Poletown area of Detroit and the enclave of Hamtramck, the church faces demolition so that the $500 million Cadillac plant can be built. Detroit bought the church property earlier this year for a reported $1.3 million as part of the land acquisition for the 465-acre project.

Parishoners occupied the church Tuesday and Wednesday, saying they would stay there until they received word from the city on their offer to buy

the building.

“People here don’t want a confrontation. They just want to have their church,” Gene Stilp, a spokesman for the Poletown Support Team, said early today. “They’re just going to continue to have their prayer vigil in the church ... and not leave.”

“Who knows what to expect from the city?” Mr. Stilp said when asked if he thought the group might be ejected from the church, which was sold to the city by the Archdiocese of Detroit.

The archdiocese is to turn over an empty building to us Wednesday,” Emmet Moten said. He is director of the Detroit community and economic development department, which is preparing the land for use by GM. “If it’s not empty, we won’t accept the keys.”

Mr. Stilp said church supporters are waiting for a response to a June 13 letter to Mr. Moten in which they offer to purchase the church. Mr. Moten said he has not received the letter.

THE BLADE: TOLEDO, OHIO, WEDNESDAY, JULY 1, 1981-Poletown Hit By Rash Of Fires As GM Prepares To Move In

DETROIT (AP) — Fire fighters say 30 fires in 3 days, most of them apparently set, have hit homes and a school in the Detroit neighborhood where General Motors Corp. plans an assembly plant.

“We expected this to happen,” Thomas Trueman, chief of the Detroit fire department’s arson division, said. “Whenever you have people moving out this happens.” He said most of the fires in the Poletown section appear to be the work of arsonists.

Hundreds of homes and businesses face demolition before construction of GM’s 465-acre Cadillac assembly plant, Mr. Trueman said. “They’ve been pretty steady, three or four a night. But then, you get a night like last night,” Mr. Trueman said. “We’ve had an inordinate amount.”

Earl Berry, president of Detroit Fire Fighters’ Local 344, urged the city to speed the demolition of remaining

homes in the Poletown area “before someone is killed.”

“Since Sunday, we have had 26 fires and 4 more today in that area of Detroit and Hamtramck ... all because of suspected arson,” he said. The homes are mostly wood, built close together, and house 100 families.

The worst of the fires, a three-alarm blaze which fire officials believe was set by arsonists, destroyed a vacant school Monday night. It took about 60 fire fighters more than 4 hours to extinguish the flames, a fire department dispatcher said.

Hundreds of residents of Poletown have fought to keep their homes and businesses from being displaced by the $500 million plant. An estimated 1,500 homes and business buildings are being demolished and about 3,000 people are being moved out to make way for the plant.

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