|
By Michael Pearson
CENTREVILLE, IL-The buildings began to burn two-and-a-half years
ago. Usually ramshackle and unoccupied, a house or shack burned
every few weeks. Sometimes volunteers from the Fire Department
came to douse the flames, sometimes they didn't. The house at
3937 Tudor Ave. was just another broken-down hut, but when it
burned April 1, its embers ignited the house next door. That
left a family homeless, and a volunteer firefighter nearly smothered
from smoke inhalation.
It also cinched an investigation that Police Chief Curtis McCall
says exposed the biggest open secret in town: Firefighters
have been burning the city down. Two volunteer firefighters
were charged with arson April 11 and remain in jail. McCall said
officials are closely watching several other volunteers still
on the job. "They liked showing up to put out fires. Hero
mentality," McCall said.
"It's a symptom of sin, that's what it is," said Mary
Cook, whose home burned in the April 1 fire - one of nearly 50
since 1996. Officials on the board and with the fire district
refused to comment Tuesday (4/21). Fire protection in Centreville,
a threadbare town of 8,000 on the edge of East St. Louis, and
in surrounding communities, has been the subject of acrimonious
fights for nearly three years. Arguments between the fire board
and former Fire Chief Mark Jackson turned into shooting matches.
The board accused him of stealing its financial books, then dismissed
him in November 1996. More than half of the then-27 member volunteer
department left with him.
A department-owned car that had been assigned to Jackson burned
in a suspicious fire a few days after he was dismissed. As the
controversy continued, many firefighters refused to respond to
fire calls. The home belonging to McCall's parents burned to
the ground in January 1997, when only one firefighter - from
another department - answered the call. He couldn't get the
water pump going. No one was hurt.
McCall isn't blaming the fires on the dispute between the board
and the former chief. He said the arrests so far account for
at least 16 fires. "We know that there are still firemen
out there that need to be brought to justice," McCall said.
Prosecutors said more arrests were possible. Last month, the
state fire marshal's renewed its investigation when Mayor Riley
Owens contacted the office about a recent fire. The first part
of the puzzle fell into place when, according to police reports,
officers responding to the Tudor Ave. fire found volunteer firefighter
Charlie Carter parked in front of the house - the blue light on
his Buick flashing before the fire call had gone out. Then McCall got a call from an informant who provided information leading to the arrests of Carter and Curtis Davis, both volunteers with less than a year of experience. McCall wouldn't say what the information was. Carter, 27, who worked in a hardware store, faces 11 counts of arson. Davis, 32, a former towtruck driver who worked in the firehouse in exchange for room and board, is charged with five counts. Owens says the fault lies with the fire board. He said new volunteers aren't screened or trained well enough. SOURCE: Reprinted from the 26 April, 1998, issue of the Los Angeles Times, Orange County Edition. Reprinted in the public service of the national interest of the American people.(WFI EDITOR: County and City governments are generally staffed by people who think that it is somehow their "right" to commit vigilante acts that carry out their personal agendas, which they usually have used their influence to incorporate into the local land-use zoning codes. In a particularly mysterious case in Santa Rosa, California, two brothers attempting to make a living renovating old homes found themselves in the sights of the local planning department. Their plans were never approved, no matter how many hoops they jumped through, and one time, to prove out their suspicion that they were being targeted, they had another person put his name on a project, and it got approval throughout the whole process until it came to light that the real principals were the two brothers; then, without explanation, the project was rejected. They finally determined that part of the reason their projects were being rejected was that their projects interfered with FEMA plans, and it was their work trying to understand what kind of agency FEMA is, that unearthed incredible information that would make the average citizen's skin crawl.
The principal project of the brothers suddenly, in the middle
of the night, burned to the ground; and when the two brothers
arrived at the scene, oddly enough, the firefighters had been
called only after the structure had completely burned. Later,
anonymous individuals came forward who were connected with the
fire department - which was angry for the risk their men faced
due to some kind of political intrigue - who confessed out of
remorse, that underhanded criminal activity on the part of the
County government had taken place to deprive the brothers of their
constitutional rights to due process.
It is important, however, not to paint all public servants
with the same brush. There are millions of dedicated, honest
public servants who fulfill their duties, and who make every attempt
to follow the law. What causes corruption, and therefore what
is in essence a kind of treason to the national interest, is the
structure of the republic. Because the republic lacks any real
constitutional institutions, it is unable to define or protect
the public interest, separate and distinct from the commercial
interests of the multi-national corporations that claim the United
States as their place of incorporation, but which know no loyalty
to any nation.)
|
|