Couple questions why they are targets of harrassment
Not far from the big plastic Dalmatian keeping watch over the Napan home of Frank and Geraldine Mullins, there's a patch of molten rubber and charred asphalt where one of their cars used to be.
The family's Honda was torched by unknown arsonists on May 29, and the early morning blaze almost claimed their truck as well.
"I came out, and the flames were higher than the house," said Frank Mullins of the night.
The couple were looking after their son's dog, whose barking woke them. Frank said he had to scramble into his truck's passenger side to move it away from the fire.
"He came back into the bedroom singing out: 'Get me my pants, get me my keys!'" Geraldine recalls. "I didn't even know what was going on. I thought he was going crazy."
It was the latest in a long string of acts of arson and harassment that has left the Mullins bewildered and angry.
The harassment started last summer, and was small at first: Several times, the perpetrator would take the neighbours' child's tricycle and place it behind the family's car, hoping it would be run over. Their neighbours across the road had a bench overturned and several items taken to the Mullinses' property.
Then attention was turned to the furniture on the porch. Chair legs were snapped off and tossed away, screens were ripped off the window and, one night, neighbours caught sight of one individual trying to set fire to the shed at the bottom of the couple's driveway.
Although the RCMP investigated soon after the fire was put out, the Mullinses said several neighbours had been on the site, making it impossible for the Mounties' sniffer dogs to pick up the perpetrator's scent.
In the last incident of 2007, a porch chair had been moved in front of the kitchen door and set alight, as well as a porch umbrella.
The winter was relatively peaceful, but the latest incident dashed the family's hopes that their ordeal was over.
The couple pointed out the scorch mark on the porch, about where a typical welcome mat would be.
"I don't know why they're doing that," said Geraldine of the perpetrators. "We never did anything to them. We don't even know them."
Geraldine suffers from osteoporosis and Addison's disease, and is on medication. While the family is looking into fixing around $2,200 worth of damage to the truck, Geraldine says replacing the eight-year-old car will be difficult, even with the insurance.
"How can I afford it?" she said. "If I had to heat this house myself, I wouldn't be able to pay a light bill. I can't afford it."
The Mullins praised the fire department and District 5 RCMP, whom she said had taken away evidence for fingerprinting after the earlier troubles. The RCMP said an investigation into the car burning incident is ongoing.
"Arson is one of the hardest investigations we have to do," said Sgt. Darrell Marchand. "Fire tends to burn any type of physical evidence."
The Mullinses said that although they are worried, they have no intention of moving.
Frank said he suspected it was all the work of one person, but had no proof. He makes no secret of his anger toward whoever turns out to be responsible.
"If I can get my hands on him before the Mounties do, he'll never see a courtroom, I'll tell you that," he said.
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