Small Town Misfit

Tracy, CA
3:44 a.m.: A caller from a town home on the 300 block of Mt. Oso Avenue reported that a man lit the caller’s roommate’s car on fire. A tow truck took away a Ford Explorer.

Found in the Tracy Press

Angleton, TX
Constant ammunition fire kept Angleton firefighters away for more than an hour Friday night as they watched a trailer home burn to the ground.

Firefighters responded to the fire in the 3700 block of CR 34 at about 7:30 p.m. Friday. As they pulled up, the heat was setting off ammunition inside the trailer, preventing them from getting near it, Angleton Assistant Fire Chief Hardwick Bieri said.

“I was told there were guns and ammunition all throughout the house,” Bieri said. “We backed away because it got too dangerous.”

Standing a few feet away was Ben Salazar, 52, who lived at the home with his son, Adrian Salazar, 16.

When asked where he would stay Friday night, Ben Salazar said solemnly, “I don’t know what I’m going to do.”

Adrian Salazar told firefighters he was smoking a cigarette in his bedroom and went to the bathroom. When he came out, he noticed his room on fire, Bieri said.

“Next thing I know, there’s a flame by my door,” Adrian Salazar told firefighters.

Ben Salazar had lived in the trailer home since 1990.

“I was outside mowing,” he said. “He came running out of the house and it was on fire.”

Bieri said it was not known exactly what kinds of ammunition were in the trailer, but shotgun shells and small arms rounds were among them.

“We weren’t going to take a chance,” he said. “There were some high-powered shells.”

While firefighters monitored the blaze, insulation melted off an electrical wire, causing a transformer across the road to catch fire, Bieri said.

“There has not been a quiet moment,” he said as rounds of ammunition continued to fire.

Three Angleton fire engines and two Rosharon engines responded to the fire, and most of them had left by 9 p.m. Ammunition continued going off intermittently, and Bieri said firefighters stayed on the scene to monitor it late Friday.

No nearby structures caught fire and there were no injuries.

Found in The Facts

Thanks Kathy!

Grass Valley, CA
8:42 a.m. - A caller from the 22000 block of East Hacienda Drive reported stuffed bears were burned and gas cans were nearby.

Found in the Union

Newport, KY
The man police accuse of trying to kill his wife with an SKS assault rifle at a coin-operated laundry in Fort Thomas last June is considering withdrawing a motion to present evidence he is mentally ill, his attorney said in court on Friday.

Mark Padgett’s attorney, Jim Norris, said his client doesn’t want to get mentally evaluated by the state.
“He wasn’t happy about going down there,” Norris said in the courtroom of Julie Reinhardt-Ward.

Padgett is currently on a waiting list to be analyzed by the state. Norris wouldn’t comment further outside of court on Padgett’s mental state.

Padgett is charged with attempted murder, second degree assault and violation of an emergency protective order from a June 29 incident at the Wash Tub Laundromat on Alexandria Pike. Fort Thomas Police said Padgett beat his wife, Susan Padgett, in the head and tried to fire the assault rifle at her, but it malfunctioned.

Susan Padgett, who had a domestic violence protection order against her ex-husband issued May 28, was treated at St. Luke Hospital.

While the incident was going on inside the coin laundry, Southgate police found Padgett’s truck ablaze with fireworks inside it parked nearby, just one block away from a church festival. Southgate and Fort Thomas police chased Padgett and arrested him in the stairwell of a Custis Avenue apartment. Officers found that he had a bag filled with fireworks when they took him into custody.

Padgett had appeared previously in court via a video camera last September wearing what appeared to be cardboard eyeglasses that obscured his eyes.

Found in the Cincinnati Enquirer

Thanks Luann!

Atlanta, GA
A man said his girlfriend came over to his apartment on Harwell Road, where his family was sitting on the front porch. He said she asked family members for some change so she could fill her gas can and burn down the apartment. They refused to give her money, so she left … and then returned with a one-gallon can about half-filled and threatened to burn down the house, the man said. The woman admitted that she returned with a gas can — she said she was upset about getting slapped in the face. She said the man slapped her and pushed her into a door frame. He denied this. The officer noted that the woman, age 33, smelled of alcohol. Both the man and woman were charged with simple battery and taken to jail.

Found in Creative Loafing

Annapolis, MD
A man tried to set two women’s clothes on fire Monday night on West Street, police said.

At 9:09 p.m., officers responded to the intersection of West Street and Madison Place for a report of an assault. The women told the police an unknown male had approached them while they were walking down West Street and began yelling at them. He then attempted to set their clothes on fire with a cigarette lighter.

The suspect fled the scene before police arrived and officers were unable to find him. Neither of the women were injured during the incident.

Found in Hometown Annapolis

Grass Valley, CA
A 5:24 p.m. a caller from the 900 block of Sutton Way advised that radiation was burning her alive.

Found in the Union

Royal Palm Beach, FL
A man in the 200 block of Southwest Third Street was drying a towel in the oven when it caught fire. The man was not aware the towel was on fire. He laid it on the bed, which caught fire. There were no smoke detectors or fire extinguishers in the apartment. The fire was determined to be accidental.

Found in the Palm Beach Post

Grass Valley, CA
At 2:03 p.m., a caller from the 16000 block of Duggans Road reported that a neighbor threatened to turn him in for having horses running loose on his property and threatened to drive her car into a horse and kill it if she saw one on the road. Before leaving, she threw rocks at the caller and swerved her car toward some horses.

And…

At 8:38 p.m., a caller from Robin Avenue reported that a man stood outside of his parked truck urinating and exposing himself to the public. Deputies advised the man to use a bathroom.

And…
At 8:58 p.m., a caller from a business on the 100 block of Neal Street reported that a man asked for a free sandwich and made a scene when he was denied.

And…

At 9:13 p.m., a caller from Nevada Street reported that a man driving a dark Honda sedan stopped his car in the middle of the street, got out and lit something on fire.

Found in the Union

Chadron, NE
9:30 p.m. Caller from Regency Court advised there was a tree hitting power lines in the lot behind hers and there were sparks flying everywhere and you could actually see current traveling from the line to the tree.

Found in the Chadron Record

At 9:16 p.m., a caller from the 600 block of West Broad Street reported a neighbor had a scented candle burning in his vehicle, but he was inside his home, possibly in bed. An officer responded and blew out the candle.

Found in The Union

Cincinnati, OH
When Gary Spoonemore Jr. ran short of cash, prosecutors say, he would set his apartment on fire and live on handouts from the Red Cross.

He admitted to burning a motel room and mobile home and is suspected in four more blazes in Northern Kentucky and Southwest Ohio, Kenton Commonwealth’s Attorney Rob Sanders said.

“It appears the defendant learned he could get money from the Red Cross if he was displaced by a fire,” Sanders said in a written statement. “After that, his homes, all of which were rented, mysteriously started catching on fire whenever he ran short of cash.”

Found in the Cincinnati Enquirer

Thanks Luann!