Flint Fires: Arson Close to Home

A house fire that threatened Guy Merritt's home on Flint's east side. For more photos go here. (Photo courtesy of Guy Merritt)

Flint resident Guy Merritt describes a harrowing experience on the arson frontlines:

All I can say is "Lemme outta here!" We've got two houses, across the street from each other, on Flint's east side. Two weeks ago three guys pulled up in front of one of our houses (where my wife's kids and grand kids sleep) and shot the hell out of it. It was the top of the news on WJRT. Luckily, no one was injured. (One of the perpetrators was angry with my wife's 22-year-old granddaughter.)

This morning, at about 6 a.m., a homeless guy was beating our door down screaming, "Get out, get out, you gotta get out!" A vacant house next door — about 15 feet away from where we were sleeping — had been set on fire.The fire dept. was screaming at me to move my truck from the driveway and I was terrified — the heat was incredible. I was sure the house would go. Luckily, the fire dept. has some automated sprinkler-type things they threw in our driveway.

I can't take anymore. I'm losing it, here. Here are some pics. This was my morning, and I'm supposed to go to work today — just not up to it.

The Legend of Tommy Bell

Flint Expatriates was created to answer weighty questions about bars and lounge singers. But I don't know the answers in this case. Any readers out there who can help?

Guy Merritt said...

I've got a two-pronged question that, I suppose, isn't really as relevant as it should be in this thread. Nonetheless, I thought I'd ask. A long, long time ago I used to go to a bar up on Pierson Road, with my first wife, and I think - unless it's one of those false memory syndrome things - (1) the the place was called Ali-Babas (or Alladin's, maybe - it was about a block east of The Fireside on Pierson), and, (2) that I caught a singer there by the name of Tommy Bell. The guy fronted his own band and was a great singer. Years later I was working, as a musician, at a casino called the Peppermill in Reno, Nevada. Our band alternated sets with Tommy Bell and, well, it was just a real surprise to run into him out there. Found a page on the net, recently, that referred to him as a "Reno Legend" so, it appears, he really found a home out west. Did anyone ever see Tommy Bell, and, was that place called Ali Baba's or the Alladin...?

— Guy Merritt...Still crazy—and still in Flint—after all these years.