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Two California School Library Fires Ruled ArsonInvestigators have ruled that two recent California school library fires were set by arsonists and are looking into whether blazes at five other Bay-area schools are related.An estimated $100,000 in damage was reported in a Thanksgiving Day fire at the 850-student Laurel Creek Elementary School in Fairfield that destroyed 20 computers worth $25,000 and damaged some of the library’s 11,000 books. Authorities said the blaze apparently started at about 11 p.m. when someone set a planter outside the building on fire and the flames crept through a window, according to a November 29 San Francisco Chronicle report. Evidence of someone attempting to set leaves, cardboard, and paper afire was found at two sites outside the school’s multipurpose room. “I truly don’t understand it, because a school is a place for children and learning,” Fairfield Principal Kylene Bailey said in the Chronicle. “I just can’t imagine why somebody would want to do that.” Meanwhile, two boys, ages 13 and 14, who are former students, have been arrested for suspected arson, burglary, and vandalism in a November 22 four-alarm fire that destroyed the Gardner Elementary School’s 25,000-book library in San Jose. The pair allegedly left swastikas and other anti-Semitic markings apparently written in ash on school walls. Police don’t believe that race was a motive in the graffiti. “Sometimes kids write things and they don’t know what it means,” San Jose police spokeswoman Gina Tepoorten said in the December 5 San Jose Mercury News. Indicating that the arrests would bring “a little closure,” Gardner Principal Millie Arellano said the thought that former students were involved was no comfort. Posted December 8, 2003. |
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