Thursday, February 25, 1999
Fire door saved church, marked suspect
BY RICHELLE THOMPSON
The Cincinnati Enquirer
BROOKVILLE, Ohio — Community United Methodist Church members say the series of coincidences that led to the arrest Tuesday of Jay Scott Ballinger are hard to explain without some faith in a higher power.
In the town of 5,000, 10 miles northwest of Dayton, church members lost their church when the boiler caught fire and destroyed all but one stained-glass window.
Framed, the window still hangs as a memorial near the new sanctuary.
When they rebuilt the church, members constructed walls of concrete 2 feet thick. They surrounded the furnace with concrete blocks and a heavy fire door that preschoolers now call “the hero door” because it saved their church from burning twice.
Brookville police think Mr. Ballinger, who has allegedly admitted to setting fires at more than 50 churches in 11 states since 1994, broke a basement window at Community United Methodist on Feb. 6 and poured up to two gallons of gasoline onto the floor.
What the arsonist didn't know is that he had selected a room designed to contain a fire, police and fire officials said. He also didn't think about the furnace's pilot light igniting the gasoline, they said.
“It must have sounded like a jet engine coming out of that window,” Brookville Fire Chief James W. Nickel said.
Thirty feet away, Dottie Watkins was drifting off to sleep when she heard the explosion. She thought it was a car crash. Then, from her kitchen window, Mrs. Watkins saw flames dancing up her driveway. The church window was smoldering.
Mrs. Watkins called 911 and rushed to the alley that separated her historic house, built in 1903, from the church she was married in 39 years ago.
In a town that's never had a homicide and where petty thefts bulk up the crime statistics, Mrs. Watkins and the Rev. Gordon Brown chalked up the fire to teen-age pranksters.
But police and fire officials “felt all along it was a deliberate attempt to burn a church down,” Chief Nickel said. There was too much gasoline used.
They notified hospitals within an hour's drive to watch for a serious burn victim. Then they contacted ATF agents in Cincinnati. Within days, 10 or more local, state and federal law enforcement agencies were working together on the case.
Two days after the fire, Mr. Ballinger called an ambulance, police said. He had second-degree burns over 40 percent of his body, from his knees to his hands. When dispatchers squawked Mr. Ballinger's name over a police scanner, Ball State University Detective Sgt. Steve Hiatt recognized the name.
“All the pieces just started falling together,” Brookville Police Chief A.J. Papanek said. “Lady Luck was sitting on our shoulders this time.”
The Rev. Mr. Brown may have a different explanation for his 130 or so parishioners at this Sunday's 10:30 a.m. service.
Nobody knows why the arsonist, allegedly Mr. Ballinger, chose Brookville. Nobody in Brookville knows yet why Community United Methodist — out of 17 area churches — was struck. Nobody knows why the arsonist picked a window to the one room that was built like a fort.
And nobody knows why Mrs. Watkins and her husband, Wayne, hadn't gone to bed for the night.
Was God watching out for Community United Methodist?
“It seems that way,” the Rev. Mr. Brown said. “We felt very fortunate, very blessed.”
The Rev. Mr. Brown plans to tell his parishioners to pray for Mr. Ballinger and to forgive him.
“There must be a great deal of hatred in his heart,” the Rev. Mr. Brown said. “I don't know how to deal with his being caught because he was severely burned. But I'm glad he's not going to cause other people harm. I don't know how God does things.”
Rename Sabin? His wife hopes no
Dr. Sabin gave his name; he did not sell it
Indiana man arrested in church fires
Fire door saved church, marked suspect
School board vows to fight for Ten Commandments
Youngsters a tad fuzzy on their thou-shalts
Riverfront should be fun, people tell planning group
HAVE AN IDEA?
Convention center expansion has critic
Minister's spouse accuses ex-wife of pushing allegations
Passerby saves sinking motorist
State probe of gas explosion says CG&E violated regulations
Strong-mayor plan still one vote shy of making ballot
Bride, er, moose is wearing white
Bus drivers to return today
Crazy to be Cowboys
Hill gets record haul of Grammys
Grammy winners
Pilarczyk: Faith needs practice to stay vital
Convention center's unsung hero
Abandoned baby's mom faces more mental tests
Berry wrote he found peace
Biblical group shares its plans
Business aims to help schools as area grows
DNA clears dead man in killing
Fire at Scout camp considered suspect
Florence says 'no' to new hotel
Group adopts ship named for MU grad
Husband remains jailed in attack on wife
Lower profile pleases Boehner
Man found with teen faces court
Man who allegedly corrupted girl, 16, in jail
Parents, students back charter school
Portman's red-tape-cutting act OK'd
80-plus railroad track crossers cited
Senator joins push for safety wall
'Thunder' to hit Broadway
TRISTATE DIGEST
Warren reduces welfare cost 87%
West Chester concept OK'd
