FAYETTEVILLE - A fire destroyed the Fayette Daily News building Thursday morning. <br>
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Firefighters found the one-story wooden building in flames shortly before 6 a.m., said Fayetteville fire Sgt. Bill Rieck. They went inside the building, but pulled back because it was too dangerous. <br>
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No injuries were reported, and the cause of the fire is unknown. <br>
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``It's a total loss,'' said Cindy Morley, the newspaper's managing editor. ``Thank goodness nobody was there.'' <br>
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About 30 employees worked in the 7,000-square-foot building, which was built in 1984 in downtown Fayetteville, south of Atlanta. The paper is printed about 10 p.m., and no one was in the building during the fire. <br>
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Firefighters evacuated three families from nearby houses. <br>
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The Fayette Daily News, established 115 years ago, is Fayette County's oldest newspaper and the county's legal organ. It is published five days a week Tuesday through Saturday and has a circulation of about 6,200. <br>
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The newspaper is one of 31 published by Trib Publications and its owner, Bob Tribble of Manchester. Most Trib papers are published weekly and biweekly in Georgia, Alabama, North Carolina and South Carolina. <br>
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After the fire, Fayette Daily News employees went to work Thursday at other Trib Publications offices in Senoia and Peachtree City. Chuck Morley, the newspaper's publisher and general manager, said he hoped to publish Friday's edition. <br>
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``We've got one computer. That's all we need,'' said Chuck Morley, who is married to Cindy Morley. ``We've got several writers, and they will just take turns on the computer.'' <br>
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Morley, who has been publisher for six years, said his first reaction was relief no one was hurt. <br>
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``My second reaction was to tell my people, make sure that they knew their livelihood was not affected by this. We're going to publish a newspaper,'' he said. <br>
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Morley said the fire might be arson because fire officials told him it started in a corner of the women's bathroom. He estimated the damage at more than $1 million.
