CMKM Diamonds Inc. (fka CMKX)

[nufced]

Fairness in reporting. Fire in Tyler - Feb 2009..see the link

http://spotted.tylerpaper.com/galleries/index.php?id=319388

Fire Damages Five Buildings in Tyler, Texas
By Margaret Foster | Online Only | Feb. 9, 2009


A fire last week damaged five turn-of-the-century buildings in downtown Tyler, Tex., located 90 miles southeast of Dallas. One firefighter was injured in the blaze, which was investigated by a team from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (ATF), and Tyler's fire department.

"The location, consisting of law offices, an architectural business, and other occupants, suffered damages estimated at over $1 million," Michael A. Golson Sr., acting special agent in charge of ATF Dallas Field Division, said in a Feb. 4 statement.

During its investigation, the ATF partially demolished one of the burned buildings but managed to protect its facade. "The back side of the building has been torn out some, but that was for investigative purposes," says Capt. Jeff Akin of the city fire department. "They'd like to see it saved, but ultimately it'll be up to the property owner and whatever their structural engineer says."

Fire Chief Neal Franklin consulted with members of the historic preservation community before the backhoe started its work. "They all agreed that this needed to happen, and we proceeded," he wrote in an e-mail.

"Kudos go to the fire chief, who immediately thought of this as being a historic property," says Linda Ridder, executive director of Historic Tyler, Inc. "We're just really happy the city wants to save it."

Last night, the Tyler Fire Department announced that the fire, whose cause is still undetermined, started in the basement of 113 N. Spring Street. The Genecove Group owned all of the five buildings. One was vacant, and the others were offices: The J. Pabst building was occupied by the Sinclair-Wright architectural firm, according to Tyler's Main Street program.

Attorney Dan Hurst has not been allowed back into the first-floor office of 113 N. Spring Street, where he worked for 25 years.

"I'd like to see if there's a diploma left on the wall," Hurst says. In the meantime, "other attorneys have really stepped up and offered whatever assistance they can to me. I'm putting it back together."