Parties In Jewish Times Dispute Scolded By Judge

Trustee could be named to run business

A federal judge on Thursday scolded both parties vying for control of the company that publishes the Baltimore Jewish Times, giving them 30 days to develop a plan to take the company out of bankruptcy — or else a trustee would be appointed to run the business.

After a three-day hearing in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Baltimore, Judge James F. Schneider rejected plans offered by Alter Communications Inc., which runs the Jewish Times and other publications, and by its former printer, H.G. Roebuck & Son, saying neither one was likely to save the weekly magazine. He said he meant to preserve the nearly century-old Jewish Times, which he considered "an institution vital to the community."

Schneider said the bankruptcy case — which emerged in spring 2010 amid a contract dispute between Alter and Roebuck — is "more like a divorce than it is like a bankruptcy, and the parties seem to want to keep on fighting."

More