Posted on 06/08/2008 6:36:51 PM PDT by ricks_place
AUSTIN — An early morning fire at the Governor's Mansion today was intentionally set, a state fire investigator said.
State Fire Marshal Paul Maldonado declined to discuss further details but said there was no indication the fire was intended as a direct threat to Gov. Rick Perry.
No one was in the building, which has been closed several months for renovation, when the fire broke out. The governor has been living in a rented house in suburban Austin since last fall.
He and his wife, Anita, are in Stockholm, Sweden, finishing up a weeklong, trade-related trip to Europe.
The fire, discovered by security officers about 1:45 a.m., was under control by 6:30 a.m., but there were still hot spots in the building. Flames broke through a portion of the roof about 9:30 a.m. but were quickly extinguished.
The federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms was assisting the state Fire Marshal's office in the investigation. Maldonado indicated security cameras posted around the building were helpful to investigators.
But officials declined to discuss more details, including how an arsonist might have gone undetected by Department of Public Safety troopers assigned to secure the building and its grounds.
Damage to the 152-year-old historic structure is "extraordinary, bordering on catastrophic,'' including a partially collapsed roof, said Perry spokesman Robert Black.
(Excerpt) Read more at chron.com ...
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2028035/posts
Arson suspected in Texas governor’s mansion fire
The Los Angeles Times ^ | June 8, 2008
Posted on Sunday, June 08, 2008 3:50:44 PM by 2ndDivisionVet
Scroll down for before and after pictures..Very sad.
Indeed. A great, wonderful Texas treasure is gone.
My initial thought was a careless accident connected to the renovation. Now that they believe it was deliberate, I doubt it was aimed at Rick Perry. My suspicion is that it could’ve been done by a Bush hater.
What do you think?
It’s a symbol that maybe such a person could “get at”, when he couldn’t get to his actual target...
I just heard this on the local news
Bush has been gone a long time..It was a hateful crime against Texas..and all Texans who love our history.
Probably done by one of those liberal weenies who believe in declaring “I’m getting death threats!” every time he gets in political trouble.
Darn, don’t like redundant posts. Did a search using the same title but no hit showed.
Don’t worry..I just put in the link for the pictures.
When Bush came on the national scene it was as Governor of Texas.
He and Laura were deemed a success in both their respective rolls. They loved the mansion and I have pics of them and the girls there. Then the Bushes say all they want to do is return to Texas and there is no place better that they would want to live in.
I guess we see it differently.
I don’t doubt whoever did it hates Texas and Texans, but what it represents to me is Texas Governors and the most famous Texas Governor is President George W Bush.
And hated with a purple rage by many...
If not for the security at Prairie Chapel Ranch, I think by now it would have been burned to the ground by a Cindy Sheehan type.
I worry about him and his family and now, about associated treasures...
There are just mean, nasty, hateful people out there and that’s the real truth.
The new search function was a step backward into the Stone Age.
It is the kind of thing that a ‘Bush hater’ would do. The lowest level of reason-impaired thinking required here. IT IS the typical ‘Leftist’ profile. . .the ugliest of people and ugliest of MO’s that so define them.
My first thought was..BDS!
Sad.
Probably a UT Austin birkenstock hippie wannabe liberal student.
I share your concerns..
I have no idea who did this or why but I feel violated.
Does anyone recall the incident in which two men poured weed killer on a very old tree at the Alamo? I believe all the best of efforts could not save the historic tree. Where are those characters today?
I remember the incident..I have no idea what happened to the perps....Perhaps they’ve learned to do arson? How I despise these creeps.
http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9C0CE7DF103EF932A25756C0A966958260
Man Gets 9 Years in Poisoning of Historic Tree
I found this..He’s out.
Not the first time we’ve heard of “flaming” and “Texas governor” in the same sentence...
That was not at the Alamo.
The Treaty Oak- The 500-year-old famed live oak is the last surviving tree of a grove that once sheltered Comanches and Tonkawas. The tree made international news in 1989 when it was poisoned. Fifth and Baylor streets. (Austin)
The Treaty Oak as it appeared in January 2002.
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