Funeral held for Detroit children killed in Bangor Street fire

[Hannah Bell]

Here are the kids who died:



Hundreds of people attended a funeral on Saturday in Detroit for three small children who were killed in a March 2 house fire on Bangor Street on the city’s west side. The fire—believed to have been caused by a space heater—started shortly after the local utility company DTE Energy shut off gas and electrical service to their home.

In addition to family and friends, teachers and many others came to the service express their sympathy and solidarity with the Young family. A large delegation of Detroit firefighters attended, with several acting as pallbearers.

The funeral was a significant display of support for 30-year-old Sylvia Young, who has been maligned by the news media, state officials and the utility company. The first media accounts of the fire claimed Young had been at a “party store” at the time it occurred, a clear suggestion that she was out buying liquor and had abandoned her children. In fact, Young was at a local discount store buying additional space heaters and had them in her hand when she returned to see her home engulfed by flames.

During the period for tributes to the children at the funeral, a spokesperson for the firefighters said they shared in the family’s loss and the “blood, sweat and tears” of city residents. The night before, the Phoenix organization, a group of African-American firefighters, had hosted a dinner for the Young family at a local fire station.

A representative from the Sherrill Elementary School, which five-year-old Trávion attended, read condolences from the child’s kindergarten teachers and classmates...

...Fred Durhal, a Democratic state representative from the Sixth District in Detroit... vice chair of Michigan legislative Black Caucus, said he had met with DTE officials for three hours on Friday.

Durhal claimed, that “DTE knows it is difficult times and people are forced to do things they wouldn’t normally do,” in a reference to unauthorized hook-ups. “Sometimes,” he added, “it takes this kind of tragedy to get attention.” He claimed the entire state legislature was working hard to “resolve this.”

In fact, the main legislative action being prepared in the Michigan state legislature is a plan to impose even more punitive measures for so-called “energy theft.” The Detroit News reported last week that the utility company is “working with State Sen. Bruce Patterson, R-Canton Township, to beef up laws so there are stiffer penalties for those caught hooking up shut-off utilities for a fee, land owners who are repeatedly cited or whose tenants are repeatedly cited for energy theft, and those who attack shutoff workers. A package of bills has been crafted but not voted on.”

DTE, which made $546 million in profits last year and paid its CEO, Anthony F. Earley Jr., $7 million in 2008, has complained that it is losing millions due to “illegal” energy hook-ups.


http://www.wsws.org/articles/2010/mar2010/fune-m15.shtml

[Hannah Bell]

1. k

[Liberal_in_LA]

2. K&R.. RIP