By Momba
Here's a breaking story from the Standard-Examiner Live website which ought to be of great interest to Weber County Forum readers:
• Police arrest woman in connection with Ogden fires:
Tuesday, October 21, 2008Comments?
OGDEN — Police have arrested a woman suspected of setting four fires in downtown houses.
At a joint police/fire department news conference Tuesday morning, police said Marianne Mancuso, 47, was arrested at about 9:30 p.m. Monday.
Police say Mancuso confessed to starting four fires of 10 that have occurred in the area of the Ogden River Project in an attempt to get the project moving faster.
A vacant home at 1823 Kiesel burned three times, and police say Mancuso confessed to starting those three fires. They could not confirm the location of other fire she admitted to starting.
Police said witnesses had seen her at several of the earlier fires.
Mancuso is being held at Weber County Jail on four counts of arson.
Update 10/22/08 8:48 a.m. MT: Std-Ex reporter Kristine Shawkey provides more information on the arson suspect now in custody, in this morning's Std-Ex story.
13 comments:
One more from the mid-day Standard
Another abandoned home burns
Tuesday, October 21, 2008
OGDEN — Police and fire officials are investigating another suspicious fire at an abandoned Ogden home.
Fire crews responded to a report of smoke in the area of the 300 block of 18th Street around 3:45 a.m., said Deputy Fire Chief Chad Tucker.
Firefighters traced the smoke to an abandoned home and found a fire had caused significant damage to the basement, he said.
Firefighters were able to quickly extinguish the blaze, and police and fire marshals are now on the scene investigating, Tucker said.
No one was injured in the fire.
Just another example on how allowing the Private Sector "to take care of things" just doesn't work.
Good for this lady and whoever it is that is helping her and God Forbid that someone get hurt by the fires.
The homes being vacant for this long is a larger risk factor than dealing with them. Here's to citizens taking action!
Taking action, I’m not sure I agree with you condoning this type of vigilante behavior. Marianne Mancuso herself says on KSL that a cat was killed in one of the fires (she would know since she was there). What if it where a homeless person or even worse some kids or teenagers wandered into one of the homes she just happened to set on fire. An arsonist is an arsonist regardless if she uses the River Project to condone her actions. Even worse she is now a serial arsonist. What if you or someone in your life was to lose life or property to her when she gets out and needs her next fix? Just something to ponder…
Think about it:
I respect your position and thought about it some more. I agree the loss of the cat and the chance that there could be a human in there is terrible.
I still have to put myself in her shoes and imagine what it would be like living next to a slum. I feel that the local people had given the developer more than enough time to handle the situation properly. It became obvious that he was not as responsible as everyone had hoped.
Granted I have not researched this character "the arsonist" but as far as I know she's never burned down a house that was not scheduled to be demolished anyway. So I don't consider her a serial arsonist.
Lets just throw it all in the river and maybe we could get Kennedy to come back and show how wonderful this all is.
Taking action:
I feel for the residents that live in that area and I also feel for the people that have to drive by and see that every day. I just can’t justify vigilantly behavior.
If you read the article and watch the video clip at http://www.ksl.com/?nid=148&sid=4582059
You will see that after one of the fires Mancuso is quoted as saying "I think it's an arsonist." Another quote that maybe she herself should have listened to was "Yeah, stop it. Let it go. Let Ogden City take care of it, demolish these houses."
In this quote Mancuso makes a lot of sense when she says "We live here. It could catch fire. It could kill us. They could burn all our houses down,"
So from what I have read/seen she is the one who pegged herself an “arsonist”. If you really put yourself in her shoes I think you would smell propellant. She confessed to burning four of the ten houses. Serial arson describes the intentional setting of fires in a repetitive manner. Whether or not those houses were slated to be demolished, what is to stop her at burning just those?
Last but not least in the article it says “The Ogden Fire Department estimates it has spent nearly $100,000 fighting the fires set on Kiesel Avenue by Mancuso”. I’m not sure if you are a resident of Ogden, but it seems that residents will be paying enough to have the water infrastructure redone to have to pay for someone to TRY and burn houses down. I say try because before you had boarded up houses and now you have burnt houses. The situation didn’t change because she set fire to them. They will sit all the same until something is done by Ogden City.
I went to meet the candidates at the Weber Chamber of Commerce to night. All the republicans were pumping their chest like peacocks and blowing their horns on how wonder the economy is in Utah. And it’s all because of them.
We’ll their just not living in reality. Utah is among the highest gas prices in the nation. Utah is among the highest bankruptcies in the nation. Utah is among the most expensive health care in the nation. Utah is among the highest foreclosures in the nation. Utah is the highest taxed in the nation. Utah has one of the biggest gang problems in the nation per capital.
Republicans wake up. Or stop lying to yourselves.
Comment promoted to main article
I wish I could still see the world in all the pretty colors that Repubs do. It must be nice not having to deal with reality.
Think about it;
If you really put yourself in her shoes I think you would smell propellant.
I'm still laughing about that.
I think she's hot ... she has such a burning passion ...
We'd probably be a good match ...
And please, don't give me heat for saying so ...
As you can see, I'm extremeley busy ... have a great day fOrumTOWN ...
Sorry Rudi ... I meant "extremely" ...
I met her during one of the neighborhood's impromptu pyromaniac block parties. She actually seemed quite nice, albeit a bit of a startling extrovert. Ironically, I spoke to more neighbors that night than I have in the six years I've lived here. I feel bad she won't be able to enjoy the vacant field we'll have someday across the street. In addition, as much as I hate to say it, it did seem to finally get the wrecking ball rolling a little..
On the other hand, it was very dangerous. Our firefighters risked safety to put the fires out; and I'm appalled that any creatures - particularly animals that don't have as much escape capabilities as we would - might have died in the fire. Our little critters are our children, and had anything happened to them I would have been apopleptic at our midget mayor and his pork-chop-challenged friend for allowing this to happen.
Yes.. I'm blaming them. Why? Because there wouldn't have been any abandoned buildings to burn if they had done their fucking job over a year ago.
So yes, what she did was bad.. but as a proud, granola-hugging, bunny-munching, bleeding-heart, wacko liberal, I realize things are not always black and white.
Sometimes they're balding with a long nose and an enormous forehead.
Things aren't often what they seem.
From last night's Ch 2 news:
Neighbors definitely saw a young man setting fires. Another house burned after Ms Mancuso was in custody. Another neighbor described her as someone who seeks attention and thought that she might not understand what she had confessed to. I suspect that there are at least some other arsonists working here.
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