LEONARD GRAY / L’Observateur / January 5, 2000

LAPLACE – A fire Sunday night behind Goodwill Industries’ store and donation center on Airline Highway did little damage to the building and was confined to a group of old sofas.

Kay Jernigan, vice-president of retail operations for Goodwill, said there was no sign of arson. LaPlace manager Kathy Dybendal added there werepeople discharging fireworks behind the building, and she guessed a stray rocket might have set the old sofas on fire.

There was no interior damage reported, but power and telephone was knocked out for much of Monday.

The security alarm sounded at 9:05 p.m., three hours after the store closedfor the day, and the LaPlace Volunteer Fire Department, located less than 200 yards away, brought the blaze under control.

“We have encouraged people not to leave things in back of the store,” Jernigan said. “We were very fortunate, and the fire department waswonderful.”Dybendal added, “I was scared to death, but that cinderblock wall kept it out. I’m so happy there wasn’t more damage done.”The manager added the store has experienced a problem with vagrants behind the building lately.

The store is open 9 a.m. to 9 p.m., Monday through Saturday and noon to 6p.m. on Sunday.

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