Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: MONDAY, January 9, 1995                   TAG: 9501090050
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: 3   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

& NOW THIS

Insurance investigators have given up trying to determine what caused the explosion that ripped apart a Smith Mountain Lake house last October.

Phyllis De Sart said her insurance company has settled her claim and agreed to replace her house.

Private fire investigators and engineers were at a loss to explain what caused the fire. They could find no traces of abnormal chemicals or explosive substances in the wreckage, she said.

Now, De Sart and her husband, Dean, have the task of cataloging all the possessions they lost in the explosion and fire - virtually everything they owned, including one of their two cars.

"I guess you'd call it a happy ending," she said. "There's a lot of work ahead of us but we're up to it." She said they will rebuild their home on the same location.

The De Sarts escaped with minor injuries Oct. 9 after they were awakened about 6:30 a.m. by an explosion in the basement. They fled with only the nightclothes they were wearing.

Friends and neighbors, including the local volunteer fire company's women's auxiliary - of which Phyllis De Sart is a founding member - pitched in to provide clothes, money and provisions. One neighbor even lent them a furnished apartment.

"The community - our family, our friends, our church - have been just wonderful," Phyllis De Sart said. "We just could not have made it without everybody's support."

Playhouses pay off

The Child Abuse Prevention Council launched a new fund-raising endeavor this year - raffling off child-sized playhouses. Three area contracters - Lionberger Construction, G.J. Hopkins Inc. and Martin Bros. Contractors - built and donated the playhouses, which were on display at Tanglewood Mall last month. Raffle tickets went for $2 each; $5 for three.

The council raised $3,000, which will be used for the council's community-education efforts. The lucky raffle winners? Roanoke residents Wil Anderson, Claire Dickey and Betty Price.