DARTMOUTH STOREOWNER PUZZLED BY FIREBOMBING

With soot making a black mark on his cheek, the owner of a hip-hop
clothing business that had two stores firebombed early Sunday said
he's doesn't know why someone would target his stores.

"I don't really know much about it -- why it happened," Steven Douglas
Skinner, the owner of Underground Jungle at 169 Main St., said outside
his Dartmouth shop.

"If they (police) figure that out, they'll probably warn
me."

He said he doesn't feel personally threatened or concerned for his
safety.

At 4:45 a.m. Sunday, Halifax Regional Police and Halifax firefighters
rushed to the burning Dartmouth store where they found an incendiary
device. Just under an hour later, word of another fire drew
firefighters and police to another Underground Jungle location at 8
Oland Cres. in Bayers Lake Business Park. No one was hurt but both
fires are considered arson.

Mr. Skinner, 33, was charged with weapons and drug offences in 2003,
but they were thrown out of court after a Nova Scotia Supreme Court
judge questioned a regional police officer's testimony and said cops
unlawfully searched Mr. Skinner's home.

On Monday, Mr. Skinner denied having any involvement in the drug trade
and said he doubts the fires are connected to the 2003 charges.

"I was charged with drugs and weapons charges, which I was found not
guilty of for a reason, because I was not guilty. It (the fires)
doesn't have anything to do with that in any way."

Asked if a marijuana-leaf poster in his storefront window might make
people think otherwise, he laughed about the dubious possibility
anti-marijuana terrorists were responsible and said, "We don't sell
marijuana here; we sell papers for tobacco use only."

In addition to clothes and rolling papers, Mr. Skinner's shop
advertised phone cards, a cash mart and mixed CDs.

There were two cleanup company vans parked outside the store Monday
morning, as well as an insurance company investigator.

Mr. Skinner praised the police and fire service response, but said he
doesn't know anything about their investigation.

He also doesn't know if he'll be able to reopen his
business.

"There's so much smoke damage. Any (remaining) clothes are going to be
destroyed, just from the smoke damage. We're going to see how bad it
is and how the insurance comes through."

Regional police spokesman Const. Jeff Carr said police are still in
the early stages of their work. "Investigators have spoken with the
owner of the business."

He said at this time police are not looking for any suspects or
suspect vehicles.

He said police are still working on another suspicious fire, at 37
Everette St. in Woodside, early Saturday morning that seriously
injured two women.

"There's no evidence to indicate that the two (fire investigations)
are associated at this point, but we won't ignore that possibility,"
Const. Carr said.

The victims in that fire, women aged 45 and 50, had their conditions
upgraded to good and serious Monday.

That fire started when someone tossed a Molotov cocktail through an
apartment window. Like the other fires, police don't think the house
was chosen at random.