Homan: Lips zip when arson is discussed in our communities

Every once in a while, a journalist will hit a wall when attempting to secure information for a news story. This week, I met that impenetrable wall when attempting to update the general public regarding alleged arson cases in the region.

Last fall, you'll recall, there were multiple fires that occurred Nov. 15 and 16 in Marion - five fire calls on Nov. 15 between 7:50 and 10:32 p.m. In a town Marion's size, that is most certainly suspicious.

On Nov. 16, a suspicious fire was reported at 12:47 a.m. And then on Dec. 21, there were three early-morning fires reported from 1:13 a.m. to 3:02 a.m.

"We had three fires last night that are all suspicious in nature," Marion Fire Chief Jerry Odom said at the time. "They are under investigation."

With an investigation ongoing, Odom would not elaborate. He later told the Marion Republican that all fires are treated as suspicious, at first. Half are explainable, he said. The other half are not. He added that it sometimes takes months to complete an arson investigation.

Well, it's now been more than seven months since the initial string of fires and six months since the second string of suspicious fires in Marion.

Have the suspicious fires been ruled arson? Have they not? Can we - the public - at least be told that much?

When I contacted Odom this week, he told me the investigations were still ongoing and that I would have to contact the state fire marshal's office in Springfield for information. Odom did say that the local representative for the fire marshal's office, Kenny Arnold, worked out of Marion.

The chief, however, refused to provide contact information or failing that, ask Arnold to call me. He made it clear I should call Springfield to get my Marion phone number.

I called Springfield, and Arnold called me back. But I was surprised to learn from Arnold that he was only "assisting" the Marion Police Department in the arson investigation, and therefore I needed to talk to police.

I contacted the Marion P.D. and one of its detectives working some of the arson cases. I got a call back a short time later from the detective. To say he was uncooperative would be a gross understatement.

There is apparently some sort of mass hysteria that seems to envelop our police and fire officials when it comes to the subject of arson.

I didn't set these fires - I am an advocate for the citizens of Marion, and, I thought, a friend to our police and firefighters. No journalist wants to handicap an active investigation, even one that has lapsed into six and seven months, but nobody involved seems to know who is actually running the investigation, which makes us wonder how active it really is.

The citizens of Marion are looking for answers. We deserve at least some basic explanation of where the cases stand after all this time, do we not?

I appealed for help to Mayor Bob Butler, who was perplexed to learn that his police department is investigating alleged arsons. With me sitting nearby he called Marion Police Chief Dawn Tondini for an explanation, and then handed the phone to me.

Tondini said she would look into it, and that hopefully, some accord can be reached soon. Stay tuned.

<h3 class="breakHead">Suspicious Harrisburg fire</h3>

Arnold, of the state fire marshal's office, was also the lead investigator of the suspicious Dec. 8 fire at the Saline County Pioneer Village and Museum at 1600 S. Feazel St. in Harrisburg.

He said the case is closed and a minor has been arrested. He was not at liberty to discuss his arson findings because someone, somewhere might file a suit against his office.

People, this is not how it works.

I was told to call the Saline state's attorney's office. They initially said I would need to provide the name of the juvenile to locate the case findings ... even though there are no other known arson cases being prosecuted. On Thursday, assistant state's attorney Joseph Cervantez called and said he could not confirm if the juvenile is male or female, but did say the case is active, and that a variety of charges are pending against the individual in question.

Ultimately, this is not about me. It's about the citizens' right to know - even a necessity to know - what is happening in their community so they can be adequately alerted and prepared.

When authorities refuse to work with the newspaper, they are not just thumbing their noses at us but telling every citizen it's none of their business either.

There's something very wrong with this picture.