Home News Local news Vehicle Fire Heightens St. John Racial Tension

Vehicle Fire Heightens St. John Racial Tension

0

Sept. 1, 2005 – A new chapter in the story of St. John's escalating racial tensions unfolded early Thursday morning when someone set fire to Bob Sells' Jeep parked in front of his Close Reach Imports store at Meada's Mall in Cruz Bay.
Sells, who is white, said he had been arrested on assault charges June 3 after he and Meada's Mall upstairs tenant, House of Dolls, got into a confrontation. House of Dolls is owned by Esther Frett, who on June 20 woke up with her husband, Jerry Frett, to find their car and the fence at their East End home covered with racial epithets. Frett is black.
Sells said Thursday that his assault case is still pending.
House of Dolls has since closed because the landlord evicted the business, Frett said in a June 20 interview.
Deputy Fire Chief Brian Chapman said Thursday that the fire was set in the front seat of Sells' vehicle. He said the vehicle is a total loss because wires and other internal parts burned. Fire Services was called around 2 a.m.
He said there were no suspects. The cause of the fire has not been determined, and the case is still under investigation.
At a meeting Wednesday called to discuss an alleged rape of a St. John woman Tuesday, Police Commissioner Elton Lewis would only say that the woman was a crime victim. He stopped short of saying it was a rape, but named Frett as crime victim. However, the crime was reported on the St. John police blotter as a first-degree rape.
Many in the St. John community are calling both incidents involving the Fretts hate crimes.
Sells, reached Thursday at his store, said the car fire "was definitely about the Fretts, but I don't think the Fretts had anything to do with it."
"It's just a bunch of punks," he said.
When asked if he thought the torching was a hate crime, Sells said: "Who knows?" He said he has contacted the FBI.
Sells is known on St. John as Bali Bob because he imports goods from Bali. His Jeep license plates say Bali Bob.
Local and federal law enforcement officials refused at the Wednesday meeting to provide any information about the alleged rape case.
Deputy Police Chief Angelo Hill on Thursday called it a "complicated case."
The meeting, which moved from the Legislature building to Cruz Bay Park after an estimated 300 people overflowed the building, got unruly several times as people expressed frustration with the lack of information.
"It was a couple of guys venting," Hill said.
He said the Police Department had officers scattered throughout the crowd Wednesday night to protect those at the meeting.
Lt. Gov. Vargrave Richards, on St. John for a V.I. Territorial Emergency Management Agency meeting, said the apparent hate crimes run counter to what Virgin Islands people believe.
"This community was bred on racial harmony," he said.
Chapman also said that the Westin Resort and Villas had a bomb scare Wednesday night. He said no bomb was found.
No one could be reached at the Westin for further comment.

Back Talk

Share your reaction to this news with other Source readers. Please include headline, your name and city and state/country or island where you reside.

LEAVE A REPLY

Please enter your comment!
Please enter your name here