NEW YEAR'S EVE FRUITVALE BLAZE LOOKS LIKE ARSON

Fire Gutted Needle-Exchange Office

Oakland -- A New Year's Eve blaze that destroyed the offices of a
needle-exchange program in Oakland's Fruitvale district appears to be
arson, a fire official said yesterday as the program's director pledged to
continue helping those infected with HIV.

The three-alarm fire that gutted part of a building at 3229 San Leandro St.
at 8:11 p.m. on Dec. 31 was apparently sparked by some type of accelerant
in the kitchen of Casa Segura, said Capt. Vicky Evans-Robinson of the
Oakland Fire Department. The blaze, which was confined mostly to the
needle-exchange program's offices, caused an estimated $250,000 in damage,
but no one was hurt.

"They have ruled it an arson, pending tests from the lab where samples have
been taken," Evans-Robinson said.

Chris Catchpool, 39, Casa Segura's executive director, decried the fire
yesterday but noted that the center's 13 paid staff and 20 volunteers
planned to continue distributing sterile needles in the parking lot and
offering medical services to those infected with the virus that causes AIDS.

"It's frightening," Catchpool said of the arson attack. "I think it
reflects a level of extremism that is a threat to all programs that provide
the kind of services we provide."

However, he said, "We're not going to shut down. These terrorist tactics
will not stop us from providing what we deem to be essential HIV-prevention
services."

Catchpool said he did not know who would want to target the building but
acknowledged that Casa Segura, in its nine years of operation, had drawn
controversy by some members of the community who were leery that an
needle-exchange program was operating in Fruitvale.

The center, which serves 400 people and exchanges 17,000 needles each week,
has successfully battled several court challenges to the program, Catchpool
said.

The Alameda County Board of Supervisors unanimously declared a public
health emergency for AIDS and hepatitis C in 1999, opening the door to
public funding of a volunteer needle-exchange program.

"There's been no threats to our physical safety or the integrity of the
building, but there has been a bitter debate about the services we
provide," Catchpool said.

Casa Segura, which also offers AIDS and hepatitis C testing, is financed by
state and county AIDS offices and private foundations. Advocates of
needle-exchange programs say distributing sterile needles curbs the spread
of AIDS among injection drug users.