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Seasoned Vet
 
Group: Past PNET Supporter
Last Login: 10/22/2008 8:18 PM
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On February 29th 2004, in the Olney section of Philadelphia, an arsonist set fire to the home of disabled SF Vietnam Vet, Sam Thach. The exact cause is still unknown, as is the identity of the murderer. Killed in the fire was Sam's 10 yr old daughter Tiana.
His wife Kim, got out ok, Sam needed to be rescused because he was trapped on the porch roof and unable to get himself down. If any of you happen to know this man, please e-mail Kitty Caparella with inquireries of how to get ahold of him, he'll need all the emotional support he can get. CW. caparek@phillynews.com
Evil Unchecked Grows, and Evil Tolerated Poisens The Entire System. Jahwal Nehru ------------------------------------------------------------- In the beginning of a change the patriot is a scarce man, and brave, and hated and scorned. When his cause succeeds, the timid join him, for then it costs nothing to be a patriot.
Mark Twain.
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Seasoned Vet
Group: Past PNET Supporter
Last Login: 10/22/2008 8:18 PM
Posts: 2,826,
Visits: 546
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bump.
Evil Unchecked Grows, and Evil Tolerated Poisens The Entire System. Jahwal Nehru ------------------------------------------------------------- In the beginning of a change the patriot is a scarce man, and brave, and hated and scorned. When his cause succeeds, the timid join him, for then it costs nothing to be a patriot.
Mark Twain.
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Seasoned Vet
Group: Past PNET Supporter
Last Login: 10/22/2008 8:18 PM
Posts: 2,826,
Visits: 546
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Set fire kills 10-year-old, injures father
One legged ex-Green Beret rescued from porch roof
By KITTY CAPARELLA
Kim Thach kept screaming, alternately in Cambodian and English early yesterday morning. Flames were shooting out the windows and door of her three story twin house on B Street near Somerville in Olney.
Her husband, Sam, climbed out the second floor window. His Green Beret Special Forces training kicked in, and despite the loss of a leg, he rolled across the slanted porch roof, with a cellphone in his hand, calling 911 at 1:20 a.m. yesterday.
Her next-door neighbor heard Thach scream her name, "Clara, Clara, Clara," waking up Clara Ramirez and her husband, Fernando. They saw Sam on the roof from their bedroom window and ran for their daughter, Carolina, 13.
The fire marshal's office ruled that the intense one-alarm fire, which killed a 10-year-old girl and injured her father, was arson. Investigators were trying to determine the accelerant and why the family was targeted.
The Ramirezes said the air was so thick with smoke, they couldn't see their way down the stairs. They opened the first thing they came to, a front window in the living room, and climbed out.
While firefighters put a ladder up to the porch roof to bring Sam down, another neighbor, Nary Manisa, 24, saw flashing lights, turned her TV down and ran outside into the intense heat.
Thach was screaming inconsolably.
"It was a natural reaction to run to her, even though I had my [two year-old] son in my arms, just to calm her down," said Manisa. "It was hard because she was speaking in Cambodian."
The 52-year-old Thach finally screamed in English, "Help, my daughter's in the house." And Minisa told firefighters. Thach tried to run back to get her daughter.
"She wasn't calming down. Your daughter is trapped in a house and you go crazy, too," Manisa said.
But Manisa and others grabbed her, holding her back from the flames and smoke pouring from the blazing home, across the street from Engine No. 61. The fire was declared under control at 1:44 a.m.
A firefighter carried out Tiana, covered in soot. Firefighters sprayed the 10-year-old with water before handing her to paramedics who rushed her and her father to Temple University Hospital. Tiana was pronounced dead at 2:16 a.m. Her father was treated for minor injuries.
The Thach family had lived in Silver Spring, Md., and in Philadelphia before buying their semi-detached brick home, with white vinyl siding in 1996, a year after the Ramirez family.
Three cars were parked in the driveway, including a white Mercedes, with stickers on the rear window, reading "Special Forces Airborne" and "I-Corps" with a tiger insignia.
In the backyard was a barbecue, swingset, utility shed and poles ready for a canopy to be erected during warm weather.
By the backdoor steps were the charred remains of Tiana's dog, still in its cage. Neighbors didn't know its name.
"She loved that dog," said Clara Ramirez. "They lived together and died together."
"Everybody has kids in the neighborhood," said Minisa. "Everyone is terrified because we don't know if it's going to happen to us."
Minisa's husband, Sone, said an arsonist set a fire in the corner house, where a fireman lived several years ago.
"We are so lucky," said Clara Ramirez. "I was so scared. When you see a house burn in seconds. The girl died and Mr. Sam is sick, your very good neighbor...
"It was terrible," she added. "I feel so sorry for that family. I cry for a day. I'm very, very sorry."
Evil Unchecked Grows, and Evil Tolerated Poisens The Entire System. Jahwal Nehru ------------------------------------------------------------- In the beginning of a change the patriot is a scarce man, and brave, and hated and scorned. When his cause succeeds, the timid join him, for then it costs nothing to be a patriot.
Mark Twain.
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Resident Lurker
Group: Community Supporter
Last Login: 11/16/2008 10:11 PM
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What a F'ing shame! The responsible party needs to be executed.
"Democracy is two wolves and a lamb voting on what to have for lunch.
Liberty is a well-armed lamb contesting the vote." - Benjamin Franklin, 1759 "Only two defining forces have ever offered to die for you,
Jesus Christ and the American Soldier.
One died for your soul; the other for your freedom."
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