Tag: downtown bellingham
By Caleb Hutton
BELLINGHAM — Downtown thrift shop Wise Buys will be closed for several weeks because of sprinkler damage from an upstairs apartment fire, the store’s operators announced Thursday, Dec. 20.
Firefighters and police are investigating how the apartment caught fire Saturday. The flames were contained to a single unit, but the water caused a lot more damage than the fire or heat, said Roger Christensen, acting chief of the Bellingham Fire Department.
He wouldn’t say if investigators suspect arson.
“Arson is a finding,” not a label that can be put on an active investigation, he said. Christensen declined to release much information this week. I’ll be checking back soon.
Here’s most of the press release from Wise Buys.
The water damage occurred Saturday, Dec. 15 in response to a fire in an apartment above Wise Buys, located at 1224 N. State St.
Wise Buys is operated by volunteers from Lydia Place, a nonprofit, community-based serving homeless people since 1989. Since Wise Buys is completely run by volunteers, all of its proceeds go to Lydia Place.
“The repairs will be covered by insurance,” said Emily O’Connor, executive director of Lydia Place. “However, much of our merchandise was either damaged or related to the holidays, so we could use donations of gently used clothing and household items when Wise Buys reopens in January.”
Updates about Wise Buys will be available on Lydia Place’s Facebook page and by calling Lydia Place at (360) 671-7663. The public is asked to withhold donations of clothing and household items until the store reopens.
Wise Buys originally was launched in 1974 as Y’s Buys and run by the Bellingham YWCA until Lydia Place assumed operations in the early 1990s.
Lydia Place provides a six-month, multifaceted residential program that supports women and children in their transition from homelessness to independence. Lydia Place also offers support and services for local residents in subsidized housing.
For more information about Lydia Place, call (360) 671-7663 or visit www.lydiaplace.org.
By Caleb Hutton
BELLINGHAM — Nobody was hurt when a Honda Civic clipped the back of a parked car on Flora Street, smashed into the side of a pickup and landed on its roof Tuesday afternoon, Nov. 20.
Police suspect the driver, Billy Joe Pinnell, 23, was under the influence of heroin. He was driving a dark green Honda west at 3:15 p.m. in the 200 block of Flora Street when its front right wheel hit the rear left wheel of a parked, older model Mercedes E-500.
Somehow, the Honda flipped over.
The back of the Honda pinballed into an oncoming Ford F-150, causing minor damage to both vehicles and stripping off the driver’s side mirror of the truck. Police were confounded by how the car flipped so quickly, when the evidence suggested it was going the speed limit.
“You tell me,” said Sgt. Mark Stokes. “I have no idea how a vehicle in that short a space can tip like that.”
Another officer chimed in that the rubber-on-rubber of the Honda’s wheel hitting the Mercedes’ wheel might have caused enough friction for the car to flip.
Danna Bowers, who witnessed the crash, was just as confounded as the cops.
“It happened so fast and I’m still trying to figure out how it’s even possible,” she said.
Pinnell was led from the scene wrapped in a blue blanket and smoking a cigarette.
Here are the photos. The flipped Honda hit the grayish Mercedes in the background.
By Caleb Hutton
A 22-year-old Bellingham man was accused of leaving Left Right Left, 113 W. Holly St., wearing a $170 pair of shoes he didn’t pay for.
The man, Nathaniel Jacob London, was tracked down quickly by officers on Wednesday afternoon, June 13, with help from a unique suspect description, said Bellingham police spokesman Mark Young.
London was carrying a guitar, had a cross shaved into the back of his head and was wearing a brand new pair of green shoes.
He was cited and released for theft.
Young wasn’t sure what model of shoes the suspect took; the owner of the shoe store declined to comment when reached by phone Thursday afternoon.
In 2008, London was sentenced to four months in jail and ordered to pay more than $13,500 in restitution for a theft scheme. Here are the charges and sentencing documents in that case.
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