By Mickey Friedman
June 24, 2011
I’m not really a news man. I’ve written a non-fiction book, am writing a mystery novel, and have made films. And I write a quirky column every other week for The Berkshire Record about my own slightly eccentric take on life. But Thursday morning, June 23, I found myself in the midst of news. It seems to me that news is different in a small town; it swirls around us and sometimes lands at our feet. It is most often not the anonymous story of strangers, but the story of someone we know, someone we’ve seen around town.
Outside Fuel Coffee Shop in Great Barrington.
So this is a story about an alleged arsonist and a few of those who have crossed paths with him recently.
Like many, I’m often to be found at the Fuel Coffee Shop. My mornings begin there, and my afternoons end there. David Pixley, our alleged arsonist, was one of those who spent hours at Fuel.
By now most Great Barrington folks know about the arson attempt of early Wednesday morning. Using a tire and gasoline, someone set a fire in the parking lot behind Barrington Outfitters. A storage area behind the store was soon in flames, and an another fire was set behind the Lee Bank Branch. Luckily a fire alarm went off at 1:38 a.m.
Red Crow’s David Scribner, still at work writing in his office overlooking Main Street, heard an alarm. He quickly went downstairs and across the street where he saw flames through the window of the still empty Cyril & Dayne store. He flagged down a police patrol. Firefighters made a quick investigation and found that flammable material had been gathered at the rear of several other stores in the area, including Kwik-Print, Foster’s Hardware, Toole Insurance and the Gypsy Joynt. In addition, three vehicles had been doused with gasoline. Later, expanding their search, firefighters found flammable liquids by Tune Street.
Early Thursday morning we heard at Fuel that the arsonist had been caught in the act in the early hours returning to the scene of the crime with another tire and gasoline. And as news travels in a small town: mouth by mouth, we soon heard from Will Curletti, the owner of Fuel, that Richard Drucker of Barrington Outfitters had been told by the Great Barrington Police that they had David Pixley in custody.
It made perfect small town sense that Richard was telling Will Curletti. He, like almost every other customer of Fuel was used to seeing David Pixley. He often sat in the window seat; sometimes when the weather was good, David could be found sitting beside Bruce Castino and Bruce’s two dogs. Lately David took a shine to my favorite seat at the first table to the right in the back, getting to Fuel minutes before me when I stayed up too late watching the NBA Playoffs.
There’s a certain pattern to life at Fuel. Anthony likes the second table to the left. Shimi takes the table in front of Anthony. Jon is very flexible and joins whoever has a free seat. That David Pixley all of a sudden wanted my seat might have meant something but I couldn’t say what. He was most interested in reading the horoscope. We all pretty much split up the Eagle, first come first serve, and only Robin, Cassie, Allyson and recently David cared that much about the stars.
And then as quickly as it began David decided to move back to the window or outdoors.
So here are some non-newsy non-objective reactions that people shared with David Scribner and I as the rumors about David Pixley’s arrest swept through Fuel:
According to Will Curletti: “David would have the same thing every morning: a morning glory muffin and a cup of coffee. He recently brought in pictures of all of his art to show me. He’s a really good guy. He would often sit and talk with Bruce Castino, another one of our regulars. They were just the kind of guys who would sit together.”
Bruce Castino told Red Crow: “Well there were a lot of personal issues going on for him …
“His art was his outlet but he had that disability — he was recently spending a lot of time talking with a retired teacher who would come to Fuel, and Dave borrowed his camera to document something and never gave it back so I thought something was off — and he wasn’t really talking with me recently …
“We never talked about any downtown-related problems — I think it had to be a hidden thing …
“As someone who knows him, I think he’s a really good guy. His artwork is really good … He has some issues and I am really distraught and upset and shocked — I’m sorry he didn’t talk about what was going on for him. It never came out with us. I wish he would have talked about it with me.”
David Pixley in Southern Berkshire District Court. (Photo: David Scribner)
David Scribner attended Pixley’s arraignment before Judge Michael Mulcahy in Southern Berkshire District Court, where he had a chance to talk to David Pixley’s son. He informed us that his father had recently had his medication for bipolar disorder changed to an experimental medicine. This change was prescribed at the Jones III mental-health facility in Pittsfield, where the younger Pixley had picked up his father on June 16.
Red Crow caught up with Bob Berkel, the retired high school teacher who taught English and history to troubled kids in Burlington, Vermont and who would often sit with Pixley at Fuel. “I saw David Pixley just yesterday. I hadn’t seen him for a while. He hadn’t returned my camera because he told me he had been away in Florida to help his daughter. Yesterday he paid me thirty dollars for the camera and seemed like he always did. I’ve just known him a few months. But I’m blown away by the news. He seems like a shy, gentle guy. He certainly doesn’t display any anger. He obviously needs help.”
As for me, I’ve many times heard myself say: “Nothing surprises me.” But yesterday morning I found myself very surprised. And I too hope David gets all the help he can.