מ ל ו מאכט רייאטען KJ קרן חתנים דסאטמער

March 24, 2004

Monroe
Arsonist out to get former Kingdom Hall

Someone appears hellbent on burning a former Jehovah's Witnesses building just outside of Kiryas Joel that's owned by a prominent dissident in the Satmar Hasidic community.
Thus far, no arrests have been made in what fire officials and state police investigators say has been a series of likely arson fires at the large Kingdom Hall, which has been empty for more than two years and has no electricity.
Most recently, Monroe firefighters made two trips to the building on Mountain Road on March 14 to douse suspicious fires that damaged four offices on the second floor, Monroe fire Chief Jeffrey Mahran said.
Days earlier, they put out another fire there. And while inside the building on March 14, they found evidence of a fourth blaze that had gone out on its own, Mahran said. There was yet another suspicious fire in the building in May 2003
Kiryas Joel opposition groups tried unsuccessfully in 2002 to have the Town of Monroe move the village's official voting site to the spacious Jehovah's Witnesses building from the basement of the Ezras Choilim Medical Center, saying it would allow for closer election supervision. Wealthy dissident Zigmond Brach owns the Kingdom Hall and surrounding 25 acres.