Point Reyes Light - December 5, 2002

Vandal closes Valley business

By Ivan Gale

The owners of a video store in Forest Knolls told The Light this week they are offering a $2,000 reward for information regarding vandals who doused the inside of their business last week with gallons of latex paint.

Horrified

Mother and daughter Michele and Kelly Hansen, co-owners of Video West & Pizza Too, were horrified to learn Friday, Nov. 29 that on the previous evening, Thanksgiving, someone shoved a high-powered spray gun through the video return mail-slot and unloaded its contents inside the entire store.

An employee of the Hansens, Lisa Brown, first discovered the crime upon arriving for work that morning and smelled foul, noxious fumes in the parking lot.

Unsure of the smell’s origin Brown unlocked the front door to the store and after a few moments she looked around in shock to discover pink paint sprayed ceiling to floor.

Signs, refrigerators, candy racks, a computer and fax machine, and hundreds of videocassettes and DVDs were covered in paint.

Since an investigation on Friday the Hansens said they still aren’t sure of the exact contents of the sprayed mixture. Though the spray is paint-based, Sheriff’s officials said they believe the foul smell left in the store might have come from a fish emulsion additive.

Owners devistated

Whatever the makeup of the spray, it’s clear the owners, who are celebrating the store’s 14th anniversary this week, are devastated.

"We’ve been such a big part of the community, it really hurts us personally," said Michele Hansen.

An account from a neighboring tenant to the Sheriff said the crime most likely occurred shortly after 11 p.m.

The unnamed source said he heard the familiar sound of the dropslot opening. Instead of hearing the drop slot subsequently shut, the witness recalled a car idling for about five minutes before driving off. Hearing nothing overwhelmingly unusual aside from the idling car, the neighbor did not investigate the scene at that time.

The Hansens are still hoping an eyewitness will step forward with an account of the crime. They said their $2,000 reward is their hope justice will be served.

Deputy Ron Fode said Sheriff’s office detectives are pursuing all possible leads in the case.

Previously, the Hansens have reported to the Sheriff that another family had been harassing them with intimidation and acts of vandalism. Though they can’t say for sure whether this latest act is a related incident, they believe it might be. The Hansen’s have also reported broken windows, tampered telephone wires, vandalized utility boxes, defacing of a dropbox in Woodacre, and the spraying of the store with paintballs.

Michele and Kelly Hansen said they are also aware that they are not the only victims from an increase in hooliganism in the Valley of late.

Other vandalism

In fact, two weeks ago, vandals also struck at Steve Hong’s Little Store market in Forest Knolls, throwing a rock through the front door at 2 a.m., as well as the mass break-in of a row of cars parked on Meadow Way in San Geronimo the first week of November.

The Hansens said community support in the wake of the crime has been wonderful. Some residents have offered to help with the cleanup and restoration of the store, and one customer even offered to help up the ante on the reward.

The video store owners hope insurance will cover most or all expenses in the cleanup. A crew of professional cleaners is already at work at the store. However, the store has been closed since the vandalism, items for the in-store pizzeria have gone bad, and employees have lost six days of wages so far.

Kelly Hansen said she refused to be devastated by the incident. "When I first showed up I said I didn’t want to go in upset," said Hansen. "So I went in, laughed, said ‘oh well,’ and took it from there."

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