anti-hmong
sarNie Hatchling
*one guy just had to ruin it for the rest of us asians...freakin idiot!*
Was fire at Vang's former cabin a message or a mistake?
A St. Paul Asian family asks if the arson that destroyed its rural home was aimed at it or at the previous owner, Chai Vang?
It was their dream home -- a two-story cedar-sided retreat with five bedrooms, three baths, a library for the kids and a wrap-around deck, all set back in the woods of eastern Kanabec County.
But their dream got caught up, apparently, in a year-old nightmare.
Arson caused the fire last week that destroyed a residence formerly owned as a hunting cabin by convicted killer Chai Soua Vang, investigators with the county sheriff's office and state fire marshal said Monday.
Kyle Malle, a St. Paul medical student, had bought the house and 40 acres last year from Vang.
He was told of the property by a friend who had owned it before Vang. "I was going to live there and make it my home for life," Malle said. "But I have no house now. Probably because I'm Asian, too."
A jug with flammable liquid was found at the scene, authorities said.
The container found at the cabin, which is near the small town of Brook Park, was sent to the state's Bureau of Criminal Apprehension for analysis, authorities said.
"As of this time, there are no suspects," according to a statement from the Kanabec County sheriff's office in Mora.
Chai Vang, sentenced this month to life in prison for the Nov. 21, 2004, slayings of six hunters in western Wisconsin, had sold the house last summer to Malle, 42, and his wife, Mao Vang Malle.
They had finished the basement and made other improvements to the house, planning to spend weekends and holidays there. Malle, who hopes to start a small health-related company, and his wife, a medical technician, would continue to live weekdays with their family in a St. Paul apartment, he said.
A two-story playhouse alongside the house also was destroyed in the fire.
"The previous owner [before Chai Vang] had built it for his children, and my children loved it," Malle said. "You could sleep in the playhouse, and there was a deck on it, too. The kids were never inside the house."
Graffiti found, too
The fire was reported about 2 a.m. Wednesday in a 911 call to the sheriff's office.
"The place was pretty well burnt to the ground when we arrived," said Gene Anderson, chief of the Mora Area Fire Department. "The sheriff's office was already on the scene.
"There were piles of rubble. We soaked it down so the embers wouldn't spread in the woods."
In addition to the jug containing an unidentified flammable liquid, investigators found remnants of graffiti on cement blocks from a basement wall. According to Malle, the writing included profanities.
"We're pretty certain it was arson," Anderson said, but it's unclear "whether the graffiti was on there the night it burned or was from before."
Malle said his family had planned to celebrate Thanksgiving with a turkey dinner at the Kanabec County house. But after the fire, "there was no place for us to cook," so they stayed at their two-bedroom apartment and "did nothing."
When he began working on the house, he was encouraged to find the neighbors friendly and welcoming, he said.
"They were nice," Malle said. "I told them I'm the new owner of the property, and I told them, 'You feel free to stop by my house and talk to me anytime.' "
But during deer hunting season this fall, two hunters approached his wife as she walked the long approach to the house, Malle said. "They used bad words against my wife," he said. "They said, 'What the hell are you [expletive] Asians doing here?'
"She was terrified. She came in the house and told me. I was going to go and talk with them but my wife said no, don't go. She would not allow me to. So I went to town and bought some signs to post the land [as private property]."
Rebuild or not?
He likes the area, so rural yet so close to the city, and he'd like to rebuild.
"My wife says, 'No, don't build.' I'd like to rebuild, but she'll have to agree with me."
They don't know whether the arson was directed at them, at Chai Vang or at Asian people generally.
"I'm trying to stay calm," Malle said. "I don't want to anger anyone.
"Before, I feel very comfortable there. [The area] felt really open. But now I cannot feel that way. Someone there has closed his mind. Maybe it's not that diverse yet.
"In the future, I hope, it will change. I keep my fingers crossed. We are all the same people. We are all Americans in a way."
*credit to star tribune*
Was fire at Vang's former cabin a message or a mistake?
A St. Paul Asian family asks if the arson that destroyed its rural home was aimed at it or at the previous owner, Chai Vang?
It was their dream home -- a two-story cedar-sided retreat with five bedrooms, three baths, a library for the kids and a wrap-around deck, all set back in the woods of eastern Kanabec County.
But their dream got caught up, apparently, in a year-old nightmare.
Arson caused the fire last week that destroyed a residence formerly owned as a hunting cabin by convicted killer Chai Soua Vang, investigators with the county sheriff's office and state fire marshal said Monday.
Kyle Malle, a St. Paul medical student, had bought the house and 40 acres last year from Vang.
He was told of the property by a friend who had owned it before Vang. "I was going to live there and make it my home for life," Malle said. "But I have no house now. Probably because I'm Asian, too."
A jug with flammable liquid was found at the scene, authorities said.
The container found at the cabin, which is near the small town of Brook Park, was sent to the state's Bureau of Criminal Apprehension for analysis, authorities said.
"As of this time, there are no suspects," according to a statement from the Kanabec County sheriff's office in Mora.
Chai Vang, sentenced this month to life in prison for the Nov. 21, 2004, slayings of six hunters in western Wisconsin, had sold the house last summer to Malle, 42, and his wife, Mao Vang Malle.
They had finished the basement and made other improvements to the house, planning to spend weekends and holidays there. Malle, who hopes to start a small health-related company, and his wife, a medical technician, would continue to live weekdays with their family in a St. Paul apartment, he said.
A two-story playhouse alongside the house also was destroyed in the fire.
"The previous owner [before Chai Vang] had built it for his children, and my children loved it," Malle said. "You could sleep in the playhouse, and there was a deck on it, too. The kids were never inside the house."
Graffiti found, too
The fire was reported about 2 a.m. Wednesday in a 911 call to the sheriff's office.
"The place was pretty well burnt to the ground when we arrived," said Gene Anderson, chief of the Mora Area Fire Department. "The sheriff's office was already on the scene.
"There were piles of rubble. We soaked it down so the embers wouldn't spread in the woods."
In addition to the jug containing an unidentified flammable liquid, investigators found remnants of graffiti on cement blocks from a basement wall. According to Malle, the writing included profanities.
"We're pretty certain it was arson," Anderson said, but it's unclear "whether the graffiti was on there the night it burned or was from before."
Malle said his family had planned to celebrate Thanksgiving with a turkey dinner at the Kanabec County house. But after the fire, "there was no place for us to cook," so they stayed at their two-bedroom apartment and "did nothing."
When he began working on the house, he was encouraged to find the neighbors friendly and welcoming, he said.
"They were nice," Malle said. "I told them I'm the new owner of the property, and I told them, 'You feel free to stop by my house and talk to me anytime.' "
But during deer hunting season this fall, two hunters approached his wife as she walked the long approach to the house, Malle said. "They used bad words against my wife," he said. "They said, 'What the hell are you [expletive] Asians doing here?'
"She was terrified. She came in the house and told me. I was going to go and talk with them but my wife said no, don't go. She would not allow me to. So I went to town and bought some signs to post the land [as private property]."
Rebuild or not?
He likes the area, so rural yet so close to the city, and he'd like to rebuild.
"My wife says, 'No, don't build.' I'd like to rebuild, but she'll have to agree with me."
They don't know whether the arson was directed at them, at Chai Vang or at Asian people generally.
"I'm trying to stay calm," Malle said. "I don't want to anger anyone.
"Before, I feel very comfortable there. [The area] felt really open. But now I cannot feel that way. Someone there has closed his mind. Maybe it's not that diverse yet.
"In the future, I hope, it will change. I keep my fingers crossed. We are all the same people. We are all Americans in a way."
*credit to star tribune*
