Opinion: Ticket Replay: Gov. Sarah Palin’s home church torched

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This weekend The Ticket is republishing some items from recent months. This one originally appeared here on Dec. 14, 2008:

Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, her husband Todd and up to 1,000 fellow parishioners will worship in a local school this morning after a suspicious fire virtually destroyed the Wasilla Bible Church early Saturday. Some women and children in a crafts group were inside at the time.

The Rev. Larry Kroon said some parishioners were in the church on Nicola Avenue at the time the fire was noticed but no one was injured. Firefighters battled for about eight hours in minus-20 degree temperatures to completely extinguish the blaze that began at the front door.

The former Republican vice presidential candidate went to the church Saturday to apologize to pastors in case the estimated $1 million fire damages, suspected as arson, were ‘in any way connected to the undeserved negative attention the church has received’ since the governor’s involvement with John McCain’s presidential campaign.

The 30-year-old congregation in Wasilla, about 40 miles north of Anchorage, had moved into its new church just 30 months ago. Church officials said they expect to hold services at the Wasilla Middle School for the foreseeable future during repairs.

(UPDATE: In the ensuing weeks since the fire, there doesn’t seem to have been much media attention or outcry against the anonymous attack on a house of worship. Probably just because Wasilla is so far away. Yes, that’s probably the reason.)

— Andrew Malcolm

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