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

DATE: TUESDAY, December 14, 1993                   TAG: 9312140080
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: C-1   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: LESLIE TAYLOR STAFF WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

SALON BURNS FOR 2ND TIME IN 3 WEEKS

Roanoke fire officials suspect that a fire early Monday at a Northwest Roanoke hair salon was arson - the second suspected incident of arson at the salon in three weeks.

Hair Is, the salon on Melrose Avenue, was gutted by fire Nov. 25, Thanksgiving day. Eddie Fielder, assistant fire marshal, said that fire is suspected to be arson and is under investigation by Roanoke police.

Salon owner Lisa Preston said repair work was to begin today. Burned remnants had been shoveled out. Walls had been primed to diminish the smell of smoke.

Preston said she thought she was dreaming when a call came early Monday that her the salon was on fire - again.

"I told them `It can't be. There's nothing in it,' " she said.

Assistant Fire Marshal J.W. Percell said Monday's fire appeared to have been set in the rear portion of the salon. A wall between the salon and a beauty supply shop next door was burned through, he said. The supply shop was heavily damaged by smoke and heat, he said.

Percell hesitated to link the two suspected arsons.

"I don't know, really, if they are," he said. "It's just conjecture. I really couldn't say at this time."

Preston, too, is not sure the two fires are connected.

She suspects that the first was set by someone or some individuals who objected to her making condoms available to her customers on behalf of a civic action group that has waged a war against teen pregnancy and the spread of HIV/AIDS and sexually transmitted diseases.

After an article published Nov. 8 in the Roanoke Times & World-News that described her efforts as well as those of a group called CO-HORT - Caring Organization of Humans Offering Real Truth - Preston started receiving threatening letters and phone calls at the salon. One morning, she found condoms scattered across the front yard of her home.

But Preston could not speculate as to who started Monday's fire or why.

"Somebody took the wood down that boarded up the front and started the fire with that," she said. "It burned just enough to get through to the shop next door."

Preston is planning to resume her eight-year-old business in a temporary location this week. She intends to move back into her salon once repairs have been completed.

"We will be back - no matter what they do," she said.

by CNB