From: Jeff4Echo@aol.com
Date: Fri, 28 Jul 1995 13:40:16 -0400
Subject: Echo Magazine fire update

Help!
We are in desperate need of a Macintosh Zip Drive. We cannot restart
production til we get one. They are on backorder for four weeks all over the
country. Can you please help get the word out. If someone has one we can
borrow temporarily or buy, it would be greatly appreciated.

Enclosed is media update.


July 28, 1995
Update on Echo Magazine fire
For Immediate Release
Please help get the word out as quickly as possible

Phoenix (7/28/95)-Investigators said late July 27 they believe they have
enough evidence to declare the fire which destroyed the office building which
housed Echo Magazine a deliberately-set arson. The fire apparently was set on
the South side of the building which was the location for the gay
publication. Four other businesses were destroyed by the fire which burned
for more than 11 hours. No one was injured.

At this time, no one or group has come forward to claim responsibility for
the arson. Investigators said they have not ruled out the fact this could
have been a "hate crime," but no evidence exists to support this claim. An
investigator for the Maricopa County Attorney's office is looking into a
"suspicious" phone message left on the Echo's voice mail system shortly after
the fire was set. The phone message, though garbled and barely audible, is
indicative of "skin head" terminology.

Since the fire, the Echo staff has been scrambling to set up a temporary
office and get back into production. Echo publisher Bill Orovan said the
magazine will be back out on the streets with no interrupted service.

At this time, however, the company is in dire need of a Zip Drive for a
Macintosh system. Every computer supplier around the country has said the
drives are on back order for at least four weeks and none are available.
Without this system, the magazine cannot begin production work. Orovan said
he hopes someone may come forward to either loan or sell the Echo a Zip Drive
until the company can get a new one.

"The response to this tragedy has been overwhelming," said Echo Magazine's
general manager Jeff Ofstedahl. "We've been getting 40-50 calls an hour from
people who 'just want to help.' The calls have been coming in from all over
the country and as far away as Toronto, Canada." The Phoenix gay community
has been both "outraged and heartbroken" at the loss of the Echo.

"It's unbelievable," Ofstedahl said. "This truly is what defines the word
'community' in the gay and lesbian community."

Calls are being forwarded to a temporary phone until a new office can be
established. To contact the Echo staff, call (602) 266-0550 or fax (602)
266-0773.