Eat in Hyde Park Today to Help Out Mother's

Ok, well when some vagrant goes and intentionally starts a fire on your porch and then "accidentally" burns down your house while you and your family are sleeping inside, I hope everyone has the same reaction!

from the article (which you may not have read in your rush to rabble-rouse in a rather benevolent post):

"He didn't commit a crime," Austin fire investigator Lt. Ron Skolnik said. "There was no intent to damage the building, destroy property or endanger the safety of another. It was an accidental event."

i think its refreshing that cameron and co. were humane and compassionate about the situation, particularly given the litigiousness of our society.

on a strictly crime and punishment front, AFD cleared him of charges based on their assessment.

I didn't know it was a positive thing to refuse to punish arson. Why is ANYONE in prison for such a frivolous "crime"? Shouldn't we all just try and be "stand up" citizens and let them go free? It's no big deal, right?

And when this reckless vagrant kills someone in the next fire, I guess we'll all just say, "Aww shucks, crazy vagrant!"

press charges against whom? themselves?

No wonder Austin is crawling with bums. They can start destructive fires on your property and some daft hippie will let them get away with it. I wonder where "Roadie" will commit arson next.

Their 'food' is godawful. And I'm not really into the getting-served-by-nose-ring-grrrl scene.

i guess someone has got to keep applebee's in business.

personally, i think Mother's serves excellent food (we had our rehearsal dinner in the garden room), and i like the beef n'chicken. furthermore, it's really stand up of their management to not press charges.

i hope they are back to serving soon - they are one of the restaurants that makes Austin unique and wonderful.

good vibes for mothers and their lovely tattooed crew!

Their 'food' is godawful. And I'm not really into the getting-served-by-nose-ring-grrrl scene.

Sorry. Shut it down.

Next.

they should hold this benefit again on a sunny day

Right, okay, but that doesn't have anything to do with this story. It's completely off-topic. You want to post on the subject on SXSW posts or in regards to high-rise condo towers or Mueller or whatever, fine, but that has nothing at all to do with Mother's.

I will stop beating this dead horse once the city quits paying its medical bills to revive it. If I disagree with what I see as unauthorized and/or frivolous spending, I will keep on fightining it. Just because the city has a history of government incentives/abatements/welfare doesn't give it any legitimacy.

Patrick - what if someone had been killed in this fire? What if he had set someone's home on fire instead of a business? Then would find it "reasonable" to press charges?

Well, in the former case, you'd be dealing with manslaughter, which is a whole other can of worms, but...

Obviously, it'd be "reasonable" to press charges in any of those scenarios, and in the case of what happened to Mother's, but in the end it was up to them and they made their own choice. Not saying it was the right one, but I can see where they were coming from.

At any rate, they're a great business and I hope this helps their employees get back on their feet. I'm not exactly swimming in cash but I picked up some stuff at Fresh Plus and Quack's today, and hopefully there was a decent little upsurge in business.

Patrick - what if someone had been killed in this fire? What if he had set someone's home on fire instead of a business? Then would find it "reasonable" to press charges? This man started a fire on someone else's property, after having been warned against doing this and then, when the fire got out of control, instead of alerting someone (maybe the authorities, maybe a neighbor, anyone?), did nothing. Well, almost nothing. He later complained to the police that everything HE owned had been burned in the fire. Yeah, sounds like someone I want roaming the streets free in Austin, TX.

Pardon me poster above but this is for the employees not for the restaurant itself. Mother's has some of the best servers and cooks in Austin so please support the cause!

"I guess you could theoretically put him on some sort of probation of stick him in jail, what good would that do anybody?"

Well, it would make sure that the dude that started the fire wouldn't be able to start any other fires for a while. And it would make sure that people know that we punish crimes, even when the perpetrator is a bum.

Hey Stew, keep on smacking that horse, I'm not convinced it's sufficiently dead yet.

Anyhow, I'll admit that it seems a little weird not to press charges on the guy who burnt the place down, inadvertently or otherwise. I'm sure it was an accident, but Mr. Evans is still responsible.

That said... what can you do, really? It's not like the guy has money to contribute towards fixing the damage, and while I guess you could theoretically put him on some sort of probation of stick him in jail, what good would that do anybody? I suppose some community service would have been reasonable, but outside of that...

Ryan, the article says they are closed to work out reconstruction plans with the insurance companies. The reason the fundraising is being done is to give some money to Mother's employees who are now without jobs.

What, Mother's didn't have insurance for this? That seems kind of weird...

Yeah! The city should be giving hand outs to all Austin businesses and citizens! After all it's those idiots at city hall who invite the homeless here with the hand-outs and fancy new complexes so why aren't they compensating us all for the damage they do and the inconveniences we must endure because of there increased presence?

I want my $500,000 please.

He didn't "inadvertently" start a fire to stay warm. That doesn't even make sense. That's like saying I "inadvertently" smoked some crack to get high.

He started a fire to stay warm and inadvertently burnt the place down. And according to the news he had been warned and ticketed for this kind of activity before. There are shelters for keeping warm. You don't go around burning places down just because you feel it's your prerogative to start fires on other people's property.

And Austinist, stop being illogical and retarded just because you feel the need to take the blame off of the person who burned down Mother's because he happens to be a vagrant.

...or the city could give them the $500,000.