Owners upset by demolishing of building near burned church

PORTSMOUTH

Joe Elder was angry early Saturday morning as he watched a demolition crew tear into the remnants of his business, Skipjack Nautical Wares & Marine Gallery, a casualty of the fire that destroyed Zion Baptist Church last week.

Elder said his building was basically intact after the fire, and he didn't understand why artwork and other items couldn't be removed.

"We could have gotten 80 to 90 percent of the artwork out of there," Elder said. "Now, all I can do is watch hundreds of thousands of dollars of art get destroyed."

Elder said a fire official told him Thursday that every effort would be made to retrieve the items. Later that day, he said, another official said the building had to be demolished with the items inside.

Portsmouth Fire, Rescue and Emergency Services Chief Newell Whitehead said Saturday that the City Building Official had declared the structure unsafe. Whitehead said the property "basically belongs to the contractor now."

During the past few days, Elder and his wife, Alison, co-owner of Skipjack, said they've heard conflicting accounts from officials.

Saturday morning, City Councilwoman Elizabeth Psimas was heading out to meet Deputy City Manager John L. Rowe Jr., the Elders and the fire marshal to discuss how to open lines of communication between the Elders and the city. When Psimas heard that demolition had restarted on the building, however, she headed straight to the site, she said.

When Psimas arrived, she said, she saw the Elders screaming at the bulldozer. Psimas called Rowe and other officials. Soon, Rowe said, he was at the scene, and he spoke with Paull Dunn, owner of Dunn Demolition, the company handling the site, about turning the demolition into a recovery mission.

Dunn agreed to help, Rowe said. City fire personnel were brought in with recovery equipment. "He stopped his work to allow us to go in and salvage some property," Whitehead said.

The fire crew and Dunn's company worked on recovering items. Faye Bailey Timm marveled after crews unearthed the mid-19th century glass jug her husband had intended to give her for Christmas. He had left it at the gallery so it would be a surprise.

The gallery, her husband David Timm said, "was the only safe place I knew, and that turned out to be true."

By early Saturday afternoon, Elder said about 1 percent of the items that were in his building had been recovered. He said he was appreciative.

"At least something has come out of it, and that's better than nothing," he said.

Alison Elder said recovery and demolition efforts continued simultaneously until about 4 p.m. Saturday. She said the demolition would continue today and that she, her husband and others would be there, ready to retrieve anything else crews find at the site.

Staff writer Matthew Roy contributed to this report.

Cheryl Ross, (757) 446-2443, cheryl.ross@pilotonline.com