The weekend after Tuan Pham’s application for a variance for his statue of Jesus was rejected by the city, vandals build and light a big fire around of his statues:
A 7-foot Jesus statue in Tuan Pham’s back yard and at the heart of a zoning dispute was damaged by fire Sunday morning.
Pham and his wife, Mai, awoke for an early church service to see a blaze enveloping the marble statue Pham had imported and erected in his prayer garden beside the Mississippi River bluff. A pile of nail-studded wood had been stacked around the statue’s base and lit on fire.
Welcome to America…
Pham, 75, put on a coat, ran outside and tried to move the burning 2-by-4s away from his beloved statue. A daughter called police, comforted her mother and began snapping photos.
The incident has left the family distraught but more determined to keep the statue in its current spot — one that the St. Paul City Council says is closer to the edge of the bluff than city rules permit.
“God never gave up,” Pham said. “So I follow him.”
“It’s a sign,” said Pham’s daughter, Sylvie Phan. “God wants his name to be known.”
It’s a sign, all right – of lots of things.
On top of what the Phams have seen, it’s a sign of what life is like for anyone who bucks the status quo in Saint Paul. From a St. Paul community forum:
The fire that was set was quite large, but could not destroy his statue, so the arsonists decided to trash some of the other statuary in the yard.
The police were called, of course, but refused to investigate. Tuan was told to come to the station on Monday and fill out a report…arson and hate crime, not a big deal in St. Paul, I guess.
The statue is 3′ INSIDE the yard fence, but evidently Bucky Thune (who was named by Mr. Pham as a lead antagonist) found an ordinance that would force the Phams to move the statue 2’…two fucking feet.
That means the entire grotto would have to be dismantled, which of course is the goal.
Looking up and down the bluff, one can see sheds, swing sets and all manner of constructions closer to the bluff than Tuan’s statue. But Christ has gotta go.
Look – we don’t know who set the fire.
But I would feel comfortable betting money it’ll end up being some hanger-on from the Twin Cities left.
I’m not sure if a post at a community forum has the same credibility as a radio talk show caller or a commenter at a blog, but
this is the first I’ve heard that 1. The police refused to investigate this arson/vandalism and 2. That there are other properties along the bluff that have structures built in the excluded zone. (This would also be a criticism of the inability of local media to offer any perspective beyond repeating what authorities tell them to repeat.)
It would be nice if our law/building code enforcement types actually enforced the law. Perhaps Mr Pham should visit with his city’s large human rights enforcement staff or his states human rights bureau. These are essential personnel, we are told. They should be available unless they are too busy investigating one middle schooler calling another middle schooler ‘fag’.
Yes, only tolerance for Mooslims and athiests. Obviously, the miscreant(s) that committed this criminal act, couldn’t wait for the crooked and biased city council to take action, so they took their own. If they catch the piece(s) of crap that perpetrated this KKK like act, at the very least, they should be charged with arson.
This proves, once again, that the government of the City of St. Paul is nothing but a cesspool!
“this is the first I’ve heard that 1. The police refused to investigate this arson/vandalism”
The only way to get a Saint Paul cop to take ANY report seriously is if anothe Saint Pau cop is in trouble. And not just “hurt”, if you know what I mean. Or maybe tell them the donut shop is being robbed, or maybe one of the places they get off-duty money is having trouble. They”ll take THAT seriously.
The Phams live in my neighborhood, and I went over there yesterday. The information is direct quotes and my direct observations.
The cops told them to come to the station today and file a report, however, evidently the news coverage did prompt the fire department to show up (after I had left) and have a look.
BTW. Once the statue is either moved, or Tuan gets a variance (he’s planning to take it to court), the plan is to install spotlights so it can be enjoyed at night…It’ll be a wonderful sight from across the river!
Did you read the comments on the Mpls paper when this story came out? The anti-Christian left in the Twin Cities is very large and very nasty.
What I meant by “this story” was the initial story on him trying to get a variance.
Hmm, expecting marble to burn? That’s a Tea Partier.
“You expect me to believe that steel can burn?” – Rosie O’Donnell, liberal moron.
For our lawyer friends out there, this seems to clearly be Criminal Damage to Property under 609.595/Subd. 1a.- Criminal damage to property in the second degree. Why would the police tell Tuan Pham to go down and file his own report?
Timmy, based upon all your comments one thing stands clear, you are an empty shell, pity your wretched existence.
Don’t be too hard on Dim in StP, Kermit and Scott. He just had his little dimwitted heart broken when President Won agreed to cuts that – up until Obama agreed to and broke his arm patting himself on the back for pushing through – would lead to the deaths of free speech, old people, women, children, puppies and day baseball. He is in the denial stage of loss. As (If?) he evolves, he’ll be back here to self-identify as one of the many rubes who got taken by David Plouffe’s marketing campaign.