Arsonists strike Hatcher home

MAT-SU -- "$1,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and indictment of the persons responsible for the arson fire at the home of Jim and Cheryl Turner."

The words on a sign posted this week in the window of Turner Corner, formerly Hatcher Pass Gateway Center, are a small representation of what some say is a chilling but cowardly attempt on the lives of two prominent Valley business owners.

"Arson is a crime of cowards who think it's a cool way to get back at somebody without getting caught," Jim Turner said Thursday.

Saturday morning at about 5:30, Turner said, his wife Cheryl woke to the smell of smoke. Jim Turner got up and went looking for the source, and found 6- to 8-foot flames leaping up the front wall of their home. By the time he found the fire, he said, it had burned through the T-111, insulation and framing -- but was not yet through the drywall.

"I could see a trail of burnt grass," Turner said, "and smelled a fuel smell in the grass … By the time I saw it in the morning, another half an hour and the whole side of the house would have been on fire."

Turner said the fire may have been set a couple of hours earlier. At about 2:45 that morning, he said, he was awakened by the alarm in the nearby Turner Corner. He checked on the store, about 100 yards away, and found a pane of glass had been shot out by a pellet gun. At that time, he said, he smelled what he thought was a trash fire. He came to believe later the smell was likely the initial smoldering of his house.

Turner was able to put the fire out himself, he said, and he didn't call for assistance. Once it was put out, however, he called Alaska State Troopers to report the incident -- but has not been satisfied with the response. After calling it in at 6 a.m., Turner said he waited two hours and there was no response. He called the Palmer trooper post again, and troopers arrived to inspect the damage that afternoon around 3 p.m.

"They don't seem to be taking it very seriously," Turner said. He said it seems the act is being dealt with as a property crime, when he feels it was a direct threat to the lives of himself and his family. That's partially why he offered a reward, he said -- he's hoping to bring justice to those responsible. And, he said, the reward has been helpful in the past.

About 10 years ago, he said, there was a break-in at the store and a trooper investigator responded. He collected evidence and dusted for fingerprints, and Turner offered the reward to help identify the suspects. The investigator got two phone calls providing information about people connected with that break-in and another that had happened earlier the same year. Unfortunately, he said, although evidence was available linking four people to the incident under investigation, Turner said the suspects were never charged in connection to the crime. This time, he said, he hopes to see an arrest and indictment.

Although rumors have been circulating that the Turners had received threats, Jim Turner said they had no forewarning about the fire, or guesses as to who was responsible.

"We have a very public business," Turner said, "and we serve several hundred people a day. We deal with the public all the time. It could have been one of the clerks [who made someone mad], it could have been me, it could have been random."

Turner said a couple of people have been kicked out of the store recently, and he spoke with some kids about proper behavior around the store, but those acts were not unusual or particularly confrontational.

This is far from the first time the Turners' store has been damaged, however. Turner estimated he's seen close to 100 attempted break-ins and burglaries at the store since it opened in 1983. Lately, he said, the store has been getting three to four attempts each year. A new security system has helped significantly, he said, and burglars have not had any success for the last eight years, although the store has had a few armed robberies in that time. Another sign in the store's window asks customers to ring the buzzer so clerks can unlock the door -- a precaution against nighttime mayhem.

Although Turner was not pleased with the troopers' response to this incident, he applauded their work when it came to dealing with the armed robberies that have taken place at his store.

"They pull out all the stops," Turner said. "They go for it; they work [armed robberies] aggressively and respond aggressively, both the city police and the troopers … I've always been very satisfied with how they respond."

Anyone with information about the alleged arson is welcome to contact Turner at 745-6161 or the Alaska State Troopers at 745-2131.