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Help offered to repair house

Offers such as money, furniture and rebuilding came in the day after reports of a home vandalized and defaced.

By REBECCA CATALANELLO
Published December 1, 2005

	[Times photo: Brian Cassella]
	A sofa rendered useless by vandals sits in the living room of the houe that was attacked sometime between Nov. 23 and 27. Other furniture throughout the house was damaged as well. Visible in the background on a living room wall are spray-painted racial epithets.

TAMPA - A real estate agent is so outraged over the race-related vandalism of a Hillsborough County home that he is calling on area businesses to raise a $25,000 reward for information leading to an arrest and conviction.

"Acts like this are unacceptable," said 55-year-old Bill Allard of St. Petersburg, who has contributed $1,000 himself.

The Tampa Bay area on Wednesday rallied around the 36-year-old black mother of one who discovered two days earlier that her new Riverview home had been ransacked by knife-wielding vandals who left spray-painted messages of racial hate.

The homeowner said her cell phone rang all day with messages from people offering help.

Allard, who owns Allard Investment Reality Inc., said the story struck a chord with him, partly because his son and grandchildren live in Riverview.

"It sickens me that they live near someone who did this," he said.

KB Home and Maronda Homes both want to help repair the damage, perhaps patching the dozens of holes in the walls, replacing the bleached and soaked carpeting, fixing the electrical wiring or reinstalling the destroyed cabinetry.

Tracey and Cliff Keim of Keim Drywall in St. Petersburg want to hang drywall. Janet Cheverton of north Pinellas has a couple of bedroom sets she'd like to donate to replace the ones now carved with the letters "KKK."

"It almost made me sick, too," said Teddi McCune, 63, of Clearwater Beach, who called the St. Petersburg Times looking for a way to offer money, furniture or anything that might help.

The victim said she is thankful for the offers of material goods and construction services, but nothing will ease her mind like an arrest.

She called Allard's effort to collect a reward incredible. CrimeStoppers is already offering a $1,000 reward, said a sheriff's spokeswoman.

"We need to find the person or persons responsible for this heinous act and deal with them accordingly," said the homeowner, who asked that her name and exact address be withheld for fear of further retaliation.

The FBI is assisting Hillsborough sheriff's investigators as they canvass the neighborhood and research leads. On Tuesday, doors, cabinets and other surfaces in the house bore the black stains of fingerprint dust.

Sheriff's spokesman J.D. Callaway said Wednesday that word of a reward was encouraging. "Sometimes money speaks volumes, and all we need is a phone call," he said.

The victim recently closed on the 1,875-square-foot home in the quiet, mixed-race neighborhood of Covewood, where she was moving from St. Petersburg. On Nov. 23, she moved a load of furniture into the three-bedroom, two-bath house on Tribute Drive.

She said she'd fallen in love with the home, her first, a safe place for her 12-year-old daughter in what seemed to her a family-oriented neighborhood. She hadn't yet moved in.

The incident is the second reported vandalism at the home since the owner began negotiations to buy.

On Oct. 21, while the home was under construction, the site manager discovered walls kicked in, racial epithets spray painted inside and bleach poured on the inside carpet.

But the homeowner said she feels now like she's living in a fog. She'd expected to move in permanently Tuesday. Instead, she spent the day talking to investigators, news reporters and neighbors: "Right now, its just all a blur," she said Wednesday.

Anyone with information about the crime, which appears to have happened between Nov. 23 and Nov. 27, should call the sheriff's office at (813) 247-8200.

Allard said any businesses - he's looking for 24 - interested in matching his reward can contact him at (727) 894-5002 or send a fax to (727) 894-5303.

Staff writer Rebecca Catalanello can be reached at 813 226-3383 or rcatalanello@sptimes.com

[Last modified December 1, 2005, 01:07:16]