An act of vengeance
By Joel Mills /, Lewiston Tribune, Idaho | |
McClatchy-Tribune Information Services |
"It was really hot and charred there," Tweedy said of the brick around her father's office window in the remains of the
Tweedy's hunch was right. According to
About a year after the fire, Sgt.
"I think the intention was to cause problems for the hearing aid office, and things got out of hand," said Johnson, who is now the city's code enforcement officer. "Once (the fire) got going into the structure, it was pretty much over with."
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The teens who may have set the fire succeeded mightily if they wanted to exact some form of twisted retribution against Smith. He was already heartbroken over the loss of his wife, Andree, to cancer in 1990, and Tweedy said the loss of his business stole his remaining will to live. He died six months later.
But the arsonists also succeeded at something equally tragic. The Weisgerber and the adjoining
"It was just a good, old place," said
Owen, who turns 63 today, said the fire was devastating. In addition to losing her place of business, she lost her collection of autographs from celebrities like
"I'd just put up all my
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Twenty years later,
"You wake up one morning to the radio, and it's saying Fifth and Main is on fire, and the building is falling into itself," said Jabbora, who lived on
Jabbora has his own theories about why police never filed charges in the arson, claiming that the suspects were the children of "prominent figures" in town.
"They were hauled out of town right away and they couldn't get touched," he said. "It all got shoved under the table. How do you think this valley runs? It's still a good-old-boys club, and will be for a very long time."
In 1995, Johnson said the tip about the teens starting the fire came from a young man in an
Jabbora, 51, wasn't able to restart CLW, and ended up working for another computer retailer for five years. He moved on to
"I was done with retail after (the fire)."
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It was designed by famed Spokane architect
Finally, in 2006, Spokane developer ConoverBond built the
But ConoverBond was never able to find tenants for the development's ground-floor retail space, and became disillusioned with its foray into
Now
"I'm very confident that the project will be approved and will move forward," Herbst said. It's budgeted at
The spaces could be used for operations like the
"We're delighted about the usage rate, which significantly exceeds our minimum revenue estimates back when we purchased the property," Herbst said. "It's definitely carrying its weight financially."
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It came as a shock to Tweedy that someone would so maliciously attack her 78-year-old father's place of business. But after pondering the scenario for a few minutes, she said it all made sense.
"Even when mom was alive, she'd say, 'Oh, they're such a nuisance,' " referring to the aimless youths who would kill time in the Weisgerber, riding the elevators, running the halls and raising hell. "They'd just be very disrespectful to people in business up there. Maybe my dad got tired of having these thugs coming and going, and maybe he said something. You know how older people can get fed up."
And any confrontation could have been more volatile because of Smith's own near-deafness. Tweedy said he lived with the disability his whole life, but never took assistance and lived a proud yet modest life of love and happiness with his family in a small Clarkston home.
"It makes me really sad, because of how hard he worked his whole life," she said. "And they wanted to ruin his world."
Tweedy, 54, attributed the whole, tragic mess to the disintegration of the family unit and a focus on things that don't really matter, like material goods.
"Kids don't have the resources and direction of having two people guide them," she said plaintively. "It doesn't take a lot of money. It just takes a lot of love and a lot of caring about what they're doing in life. They have so much potential."
And whatever might be the opposite of potential was painfully illustrated the day the Weisgerber burned, allegedly at the hands of wayward youths.
Mills may be contacted at [email protected] or (208) 848-2266.
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(c)2014 the Lewiston Tribune (Lewiston, Idaho)
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