South Whidbey has been plagued by a rash of arson fires. Our house was built in 1930 and we were renovating it back to its original architecture. We had invested approximately $100,000 to date into the renovations.

On May 30, our house was set a blaze by the arsonist and it burned to the ground with everything inside it. While we were renovating, we were storing inventory from The Tartan Thistle and from the Whidbey Island Highland Games.

We lost approximately 25% of the inventory for The Tartan Thistle and inventory belonging to the Whidbey Island Highland Games as well our house. The Tartan Thistle is a retail Scottish import shop and our sole source of income. The Whidbey Island Highland Games is a non profit group that is putting on its 9th annual highland games on August 11, 2007 at the Greenbank Farm on Whidbey Island. The Tartan Thistle is the largest supporter of these games.

Also, right after the fire was over and while the walls were still cooling down, the house and yard were looted. Anything of value that was saved by the firemen during the fire, was stolen.

This has been so traumatic there aren't words for this senseless act of violence. To top off a perfectly horrific event, our insurance company has denied our claim against this arson attack.

We are looking for and hoping that we can get some assistance to try to rebuild some of what we have lost. We need to rebuild our house, our business and the highland games. Without the support of the public, this can't even begin to happen.

Donations can be made online by clicking on a "Make a Donation" button. You will be able to make a donation securely using PayPal, which accepts all major credit cards. A donation account has also been set up at any U.S. Bank under the name Angus MacDonald.

The Island County Sheriff's Department has now posted a $10,000 reward for information leading to the arrest of the serial arsonist responsible for this devastating and life-altering crime.

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