A fire in Hope damaged the first home former President Bill Clinton lived in, and authorities believe that the Friday morning blaze was deliberately set.
Hope Police Chief J.R. Wilson said the fire appeared to originate at the base of an outside wall on the east side of the two-story, white frame home. A motorist spotted the flames while passing by the house, at 117 S. Hervey St., and called 911 at 3:17 a.m. Friday.
Wilson said detectives could smell an accelerant where the fire started and found graffiti spray-painted on a door and wooden walkway leading to the home. Investigators searched the neighborhood for any gasoline containers or spray-paint cans but found none, Wilson said.
Fire Chief Dale Glanton told KSLA-TV in Shreveport that the blaze will be "investigated and handled as a potential arson.
"There's just evidence and signs that we do believe it was intentionally set," Glanton said.
When firefighters arrived, flames were reaching about 8 feet up the side of the wall, Wilson said.
The wall was damaged, and an inside room received minor smoke and water damage, he said.
The President William Jefferson Clinton Birthplace Home, which is a National Historic Site, was closed Friday for Christmas.
Hope Mayor Dennis Ramsey said the house will likely remain closed for a few days while repairs are made. A gift shop and office on the property were not damaged.
"You hate to think that there are those kind of people in our community who would do this," Ramsey said of the fire. "Everyone should have been home at the time of that fire.
"There are not many towns that can claim to be the birthplace of a president."
Clinton was born at the Julia Chester Hospital in Hope in 1946 and lived in the home with his widowed mother and her parents, Eldridge and Edith Grisham Cassidy, for four years after his birth. The home was built in 1917 and Clinton's mother, Virginia Blythe, moved into it with her parents in 1938, according to a National Park Service website that features the home.
The site was acquired in 1994 by the Clinton Birthplace Foundation Inc., which transferred the property to the National Park Service in 2011.
The home is one of several Clinton-related tourist attractions in the state. The William J. Clinton Presidential Center -- which includes the presidential library, museum, the archives and the Clinton School of Public Service -- is in Little Rock; and the Clinton House Museum in Fayetteville is where Bill and Hillary Clinton had their wedding and lived while they taught law at the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville.
Clinton referred to Hope and his Hervey Street home during his 1992 acceptance speech when he was the Democratic nominee for U.S. president.
Wilson said investigators with the FBI plan to travel to Hope today.
He said detectives found the number "55" spray-painted in black on a wooden walkway leading to the home and a crudely drawn face with "Xs" for eyes and a tongue sticking out painted on a door on the north side of the house.
The police chief said he found that "55" is used in texting to indicate laughing. The Thai word for "five" sounds like "ha," and "55" is used by those texting for "haha."
He said the fire is not being investigated as any kind of political statement against Clinton.
"There's no logical credible evidence to suggest there is any hatred at this point," Wilson said.
Detectives plan to check with nearby businesses, including a tobacco store across Hervey Street from the Clinton home, to see if any surveillance cameras recorded the suspects setting the fire.
Police detained a couple of juveniles about 5:30 a.m. Friday in a separate offense several blocks from the Clinton home. Wilson said they were detained because of "criminal mischief," but he would not elaborate.
"We've talked to them and are trying to figure this out," he said.
Ramsey said the Clinton home attracts visitors to the Hempstead County town. In the summer, the height of tourist season, 60-70 people a day visit the home, the National Park Service has said.
"Hope is not a destination, but a stop along the way," the mayor said. "Most people will stop in to see the home. Each day you can go by it and see people there."
A Section on 12/26/2015