South Bay : Arson Damage Puts Program at Risk
Officials in Inglewood are doubling up youngsters with adults in an attempt to keep a popular after-school program going after arson gutted the recreation center at the city’s Harry A. Mier Center for the disabled.
“This is the most catastrophic problem we’ve ever had,” said Michael Reid, director of the center, which is operated by the nonprofit Crippled Children’s Society of Southern California.
The Aug. 28 fire and accompanying break-in cost the agency more than $100,000 in damage and stolen telephones and appliances.
Despite the blaze, agency officials decided to open their after-school program on schedule Monday. Twenty-five 7- to 17-year-olds who would normally have used the recreation center on weekday afternoons have joined about 15 older participants in the agency’s main building.
The center is short on elbow room--and short on time. State law requires service agencies for the disabled to provide separate activity programs for adults and minors. The Mier center received a 30-day reprieve on that rule from the state, but Reid said it might need an additional 30 days. “If they don’t give it to us, the kids might have to find another place to go,” he said
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