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DISTRICT BRIEFING
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NW CHURCH ARSON
Room Where Homeless Are Fed Is Damaged
An arson in the basement of a Northwest Washington church early yesterday caused minor damage to a room where volunteers serve breakfast to about 250 homeless people a day, authorities and the church's pastor said.
The fire, which caused $10,000 to $20,000 in damage to the multipurpose room of Western Presbyterian Church, was extinguished by sprinklers before it could spread, said the Rev. John W. Wimberly Jr., the church's pastor.
"The arson investigators said that without the sprinklers, the building would have been toast," said Wimberly, who runs Miriam's Kitchen at the church, in the 2400 block of Virginia Avenue NW. "It's a very weird feeling to know someone out there wanted to burn down the church and we don't know who it is."
He said someone broke a heavy plexiglass window, poured gasoline in the room and ignited the fuel with a match. Alan Etter, a spokesman for D.C. Fire and Emergency Medical Services, said the fire, which set off an alarm at 3:10 a.m., had been mostly extinguished by the sprinklers by the time firefighters arrived.
Wimberly said homeless people who came for food yesterday morning cleared water and debris from the room and were served breakfasts as usual.
-- Paul Duggan
PROGRAM FOR RELEASED PRISONERS
Improved Ties Between Fathers, Kids Sought
D.C. officials announced a new initiative yesterday to foster better relations between fathers leaving prison and their children.
Fathers Court, as the project is known, will target 45 newly released fathers, arranging counseling, jobs and drug treatment.
D.C. Superior Court is partnering with federal and local agencies, many of which work with the 2,000 people who return to the city from prison each year. D.C. inmates are housed in distant federal prisons, and many parents never see their children during incarceration.
Judges and caseworkers will also work closely with the returning fathers who volunteer, helping to reduce their debt and setting up a child support payment schedule so they don't fall behind and are returned to prison.
Often, fathers don't pay "because they don't have the resources they need or the help to turn themselves around. We are going to give them some help," D.C. Attorney General Linda Singer said.
-- Robert Pierre
