Fear by Fire

They are called "clients," but that is just a euphemism. They are the handicapped people of Yuba and Sutler counties in California--some mentally retarded, some emotionally disturbed, some former drug addicts--handicapped but not helpless. To assist those who wanted to work, concerned local citizens established in 1969 a federally subsidized training center called Gateway Project. There the clients learn some basic skills. They assemble kits of electric rods for a utility company's field linemen; they reupholster chairs for nearby military bases; they tie together stalks of wheat for a local florist who sells dried flowers by mail. Sometimes they receive the U.S. minimum wage of $2.10 an hour, sometimes as little as 53-c-. Not much, admits a Gateway official, but "it beats sitting in front of the television all day, which is probably what they would be doing."

Gateway Project may seem a quiet, unremarkable little operation. In fact, however, the 60 to 70 clients now live under a reign of fear--four inexplicable cases of arson so far and one of murder.

Arson Mystery. The mystery started last February with what seemed to be an accident. Fire suddenly swept Gateway's $110,000 main building and also wrecked some $60,000 worth of equipment the clients were assembling. Yuba City fire investigators said the blaze was apparently a case of arson, but they could not explain it. Gateway Director Donald Garrett, 43, a jovial, bearded man who weighed a jovial 300 lbs., moved all of Gateway's work to a smaller building that housed the upholstery project.

On March 1, a Molotov cocktail smashed through a window of the upholstery shop and started a new fire. It also set off a fire alarm, however, that kept damage to a minimum. Garrett publicly pleaded with the attacker to leave the clients alone. "If someone is doing this intentionally," he said, "I hope they will try to receive psychiatric help."

There was gossip that the attacks might be connected with Garrett's private life. His 15-year marriage had broken up, and he had moved into an apartment in the Sugarhouse complex just a few days before the first fire; there was talk too that he was involved with another project staffer and that she had a friend who was jealous. Still, Garrett was respected and popular. On April 5, the staffers gave Garrett a birthday party. The next day, a Sunday, Yuba City firemen got another call, went to Garrett's apartment, and found his body, doused with some inflammable liquid, burning on the carpet just inside the door.

Pool Smoke. The killing shook Garrett's colleagues, but it also seemed to confirm the gossip and indicate that the attacks on the project itself were now finished. One of Garrett's friends, Donald Larsen, 37, assistant director of a similar vocational-training project in Eureka, applied to replace him at Gateway. The staffers got together to give the new director a welcoming party. As they were raising their glasses to toast the end of their troubles, smoke drifted over the nearby swimming pool. When they ran out to look, they found two of their cars burning fiercely.

Twice since then, the operator of the Gateway switchboard has been horrified to hear a caller warning that some specific staffer "will be next." "The caller lied," Larsen adds wryly, for, as it turned out, he was next. One night in July the attacker put a fire device under the hood of Larsen's parked Toyota. The car was a total loss.

Yuba City authorities have placed guards on the Gateway center. But Larsen's landlords have issued him a 30-day eviction notice, and he has had difficulty hiring staffers for the center. Says Larsen: "Weirdo the Fireball Freak is trying to dictate to the community 'Stay away from Gateway Center.' And we can't survive if people are afraid." That fear is hard to avoid. One of the clients, Joyce, 27, who is recovering from a breakdown, admits she is "a bit nervous at night when my house squeaks." But then she adds, "As long as Mr. Larsen hangs in there, I sure as hell can."

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