Fatal R.I. Club Fire Trial Set to Open (2003 blaze that killed 100)

[Omaha Steve]

http://apnews.excite.com/article/20060904/D8JU682G1.html

Fatal R.I. Club Fire Trial Set to Open
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Sep 4, 1:36 PM (ET)

By ERIC TUCKER

WEST WARWICK, R.I. (AP) - The man whose fireworks display set off a 2003 blaze that killed 100 concertgoers is sitting in prison, but for many victims' relatives, the first of the two most important trials in the case is only now about to begin.

Jury selection begins Tuesday for Michael Derderian, who with his brother owned The Station, the one-story, wooden nightclub that quickly became a deathtrap when stage pyrotechnics ignited the soundproofing foam that covered its walls and ceiling.

Still fiercely angry more than three and a half years after the fire, victims' relatives see the Derderians as penny-pinchers who created unsafe conditions in the club and have never shown the same remorse as the man whose pyrotechnics started the fire.


The Station nightclub co-owner Michael Derderian is seen during a hearing at the Superior Court in Providence, R.I., in this Oct. 26, 2005, file photo. Three years after a fire sparked by a rock band's pyrotechnics killed 100 people at his club, Michael Derderian, one of the brothers who owned it, is set to go to trial on involuntary manslaughter charges. Jury selection begins Tuesday, Sept. 5, 2006, for a trial that could last several months. (AP Photo/Chitose Suzuki, File)


Daniel Biechele, now serving four years in prison, was tour manager for the band Great White, which was on stage when the fire started and lost guitarist Ty Longley. Biechele pleaded guilty and tearfully apologized in court in May.

FULL story at link above.

[jus_the_facts]

1. Great White ~ Face The Day

....dedicated to the victims who were there to see the band from back in the day. :headbang:

I don't want to face the day the day, today

Long nights leave me stranded
Black visions, danger signs
No love- I need protection
Feels like I'm on a production line
Daggers of dawn, cold hearted day
Why does if have to be morning?
Cover my head, stayin' in bed
Too late the luckless warning

Outside the screaming city
Red lights, hungry eyes
Sucks like a space invader
The vacuum of its lies
Stealin' my strength, stealin' my time
It's raining in a world of traitors

Let me keep on sleeping
Forget that I'm alone
One day of faceless living-
is twenty-four hours too long
I don't want to face the day

Give me the night, it's more forgiving
Hold back the light from my eyes
Please stay invisible darkness
can't see the tears that I cry
I know it's comin', loaded with nothing
Trapped in a tunnel of time

I don't want to face the day
The day, today

[hedgehog]

2. This is why we have those pesky rules, regulations and

building codes. Republicans will be quick to tell you how they intefere with business by makig it tougher to get a building approved and running up costs. The alternative is having people doing stupid things out of ignorance, like building a house on a flood plain or failing to build a roof that'll stay on during a hurricane.

[krispos42]

3. But but but... where's the invisible hand of Adam Smith?

I though he around correcting the excesses of capitalism? Doesn't he have a like a fire hose for this kind of stuff?

[rocktivity]

5. DING DING DING! Hedgehog, you're our grand prize winner!

This is why we have those pesky rules, regulations and building codes...

And it was the responsibility of the club owners to know them, and to ensure that the stage manager and tour managers know them. In Rhose Island, the pesky regulations say that pyrotechnics are allowed ONLY if a FIRE PERMIT is obtained for EACH show, and that a licensed techinican MUST be present. The venue didn't legally require a sprinkler system, that's all the MORE reason why the owners should also have made sure that their furnishings and soundproofing were flame-retardant. Better they should follow in the footsteps of Great White tour manager and plea bargain.

:headbang:
rocknation

[intaglio]

4. If there is enough stink about this I expect ABC

will run a Docudrama showing that Bill Clinton was to blame :tinfoilhat: :sarcasm: