Inola Family Fears Arson Fire Is Racial

Another Green Country fire has a family asking some hard questions. They're scared someone torched their home to send them a message to get out of town. <br><br>The fire arson destroyed the African

Saturday, February 5th 2000, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

Another Green Country fire has a family asking some hard questions. They're scared someone torched their home to send them a message to get out of town.

The fire arson destroyed the African American family's rural Inola home on Martin Luther King's birthday.

The Cotton's dreams can only be seen as pictures now.

"My husband and I were planning on retiring here," says Charlene Cotton. "This was the last house I was going to build."

The Cotton's were just days from moving in from down the road when fire struck. At first Cotton thought he may have left something on, until, a couple days later, he says, a fire marshall suggested, they could be investigating a crime.

"He looked at it and he said, he seemed to think it was arson," says Cotton.

So as the investigation continued, the worst fears came to Cotton's mind, was this a hate crime? They were actually hoping it was an accident. But, the fire was on January 15th, Martin Luther King's birthday. Cotton was born and raised in this rural area outside of Inola and says it's hard to believe someone could be sending his family a message.

"A person would hate to think that, but when you get proof like this, this is an eye opener," says Cotton. "I have an eleven year old, I've had to explain to him what happened here."

State Fire Marshal Spokesperson Shannon Rowland says they have several cases that go unsolved for a long period of time. She says this fire is still under investigation and there are no suspects.

"I don't have a vandetta against anybody, but they violated my home. They violated our property," says Cotton. "I'm not angry to the point to where I want to hurt somebody. I'm angry to the point that someone could come in and do this for no reason, that I know of."

And the Cotton's are hoping it wasn't because of the color of their skin.

If you have any information on this fire you are asked to call the arson hotline at 1-800-522-8666.

The Cottons plan to rebuild. They do have insurance, but say they'll take a $30,000 loss.