Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, May 25, 1994 TAG: 9405250156
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: By KATHY LOAN STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: BLACKSBURG LENGTH: Medium
An arson charge against Dean, the country club's general manager, was sent on to a Montgomery County grand jury to consider for indictment after a preliminary hearing Tuesday in General District Court.
Authorities say that besides Dean's blurted-out confession when they found her hours after the fire was started, they also found in her Bronco letters and notes in which she admitted to setting the fire.
Investigators said it was a misguided effort at helping the financially troubled country club - located in the Ellett Valley community near Blacksburg - get back on its feet by claiming the insurance from the fire. Dean, 48, had been club manager for about three years.
Country club members said in February that while the club hadn't had great financial success, the problems weren't serious. The club had gone through a lean period during the golfing off-season this past winter.
Dean, as overseer of the budget, felt the pressure and was "blaming herself for some of our financial problems," then-President Chuck Hartman said.
Deputy Norman Croy, who also is a Blacksburg volunteer fireman, testified that the fire burned extremely quickly because gasoline had been poured throughout most of the building.
"It was still burning the next day," Croy said. The fire was reported just after 10 p.m. on Feb. 27.
About two-thirds of the clubhouse was destroyed, with only a locker room area left standing.
"Just inside the door ... was a red fuel container with a spout," Croy testified. There was a strong odor of gasoline, and Croy found liquid he identified as gasoline poured over the floor.
Sgt. W.E. Wiatt, another county deputy, testified he was the second officer to arrive at the fire. He watched as the building was engulfed in about 10 minutes, he said.
Wiatt testified that a search was being conducted for Dean after deputies learned that her Bronco was parked at the clubhouse lot. Some country club members found her later sitting on a tractor outside a maintenance shed.
Wiatt told Judge Robert P. Doherty Jr. that Dean was sitting on a couch inside the shed when he walked in.
"She looked up at me and stated, `I did it, I did it,''' Wiatt said.
Dean, who apparently had been outside in the cold winter air for several hours, was taken to Montgomery Regional Hospital for treatment of possible hypothermia.
There, Wiatt testified, Dean again admitted starting the fire, saying "that they had a hefty insurance policy that would cover the loss. That was why she started the fire."
Wiatt testified Dean told him she bought the gas can at Wal-Mart in Christiansburg and got gas at a convenience store. She then drank some liquor and ate nachos at Pargo's restaurant before going to the club to set the fire, Wiatt said.
In February, investigators said they found a half-empty bottle of liquor in the maintenance shed and that Dean told them she drank some of it and took two different kinds of nerve pills.
"She stated that she poured gas everywhere, that she wanted to do it right," and make sure the damage couldn't be repaired, Wiatt testified Tuesday.
Dick Davis of Radford, Dean's attorney, cross-examined the two deputies but offered no defense evidence.
The grand jury next meets in July.
The Country Club has received a special use permit and rezoning approval from the Board of Supervisors that will allow it to rebuild. The rezoning was necessary because the original clubhouse predated the county's zoning ordinance. To rebuild, the club had to conform with the county's community business zoning rules.
by CNB