By Owen Boss and Dan Crowley
Staff Writers
NORTHAMPTON - As word of an arrest in connection with a deadly arson spree last week spread through the city Tuesday, residents of Ward 3, the area hardest hit, expressed relief and hope the development will bring closure to their family.
Late Monday night police arrested Anthony P. Baye, 25, of 85 Hawley St., on charges of two counts of murder and one each of arson and armed burglary resulting from the fatal fire at 17 Fair St. that took the lives of Paul W. Yeskie Sr. and his son, Paul W. Yeskie Jr.
The Yeskies' neighbor, Shaun Powers, 44, of 15 Fair St., said he learned of the arrest from workers demolishing the burned-out remains of the Yeskie home, just a few feet from his front door.
"It is a huge relief that they have someone in custody and everyone around here will be watching with intense interest every bit of news that they have on this guy," Powers said. "But what we are really looking for is evidence."
Powers said he is optimistic that the police wouldn't have made the arrest without being sure they had the right person, but he is going to wait until he has more information before he lowers his guard.
"He lived right on Hawley Street, so he was in the epicenter of all of this and you think that someone in that position would consider themselves a suspect and therefore would behave appropriately and not give themselves away," Powers said. "It just makes you wonder if they have the right guy."
Others who live in the neighborhood and have been terrorized by a string of unexplained fires in recent years expressed a combination of relief and puzzlement after Baye's arrest.
"I can't even express the words, because we have so many emotions about it," said Page Brody, 33, of Williams Street as she walked her dog past Baye's home the morning after his arrest. "It's quite a relief. It's been a scary time to live here."
Knowing whether Baye is responsible for past fires in the neighborhood "will really feel that it puts everything to bed for us," she added.
Even with the news of Baye's arrest, some neighborhood residents still had all kinds of questions.
"What if there were other people?" asked Sonja Sweeney, of 73 Hawley St., just a few doors down from Baye's home. "I'm just trying to figure out what is going through his head."
The home to the right of Sweeney's at 67 Hawley St. burned down under suspicious circumstances in January 2007 and the home to her right was nearly set ablaze when a trash bag was found burning next to a wooden staircase three days later.
"There's been fires everywhere, all up and down the streets," said Roger Salloom, who lives nearby at 83 Pomeroy Terrace.
"It's a sad day for his parents today, that's for sure," Salloom said. "I feel sorry for them."
The Gazette attempted to talk with Baye's family Tuesday. A woman who answered the door at 85 Hawley St. declined to comment.
"I was definitely feeling like it was somebody close to us," said Simone Rainaud, who can see Baye's home from her front door on Hancock Street.
Four years ago, a six-unit apartment building at 25 Hancock St. and kitty corner to Rainaud's home, burned to the ground in what authorities deemed arson.
Hrvoje Cvijanovic, of 79 Hawley St. and Baye's neighbor, had a car set ablaze in the driveway outside his bedroom window last August and said police had been outside Baye's home throughout Monday night and Tuesday morning.
He said he saw flashes of light within Baye's house at around 4 a.m. Tuesday, which "looked liked someone taking pictures," said Cvijanovic, a graduate student from Croatia studying political science at the University of Massachusetts.
Fair Street residents react
Another neighbor glad to hear of the arrest was Leon Jasinski, of 11 Fair St., who said he hopes the arrest will mark the end of an investigation that has left him and his wife living in fear for their lives.
"This is a huge sigh of relief for me and my wife," Jasinski said. "I'm glad not only for myself but for the people who perished, because it will bring a little closure to their family and the loss of those individuals."
And, Jasinski said, "I feel sorry for his parents because they are going to have to live with this."
Sharing Powers' concern that the police have their man was Melvin Burgess, whose home on Bridge Street sits just 100 yards from the Yeskie's former home.
"I'm just hoping it is the right person," Burgess said. "The first thing that came to my mind when the fires hit was that it might be the same person that set the fires on Hawley Street, and now we find out they arrested someone on Hawley Street."
News of the arrest offered a break in the action for Ward 3 Neighborhood Association President Gerald Budgar, 127 Bridge St., who has been coordinating a neighborhood effort to help victims get back on their feet ever since the night the fires hit.
"I take it personally that so many elderly and handicapped residents of this ward had to take that kind of miserable abuse, that they had to be fearful in their homes - and I never want that to happen again," said Budgar.
Of the Yeskie family, he said, "I hope this arrest brings them some degree of solace."
He said the neighborhood reaction seems palpable.
"I've had several calls this morning, and you can almost hear the sense of relief in people's voices," he said. "I don't know whether this is the end of the investigation or if there is more to be done, but I just hope this brings this very sad chapter of our city's history to an end."
Although the fires shattered a sense of security for many of those living in the ward, Budgar said the way the community pulled together after the fires was a testament to the resilience of city residents.
"Aside from the arsons themselves, the real story here is that the character of Northampton was clearly demonstrated," Budgar said. "That when things get really tough, the people of Northampton get going."
Owen Boss can be reached at oboss@gazettenet.com.
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