Mobile Coffee Shop Burnt ... Twice
Illawarra Mercury
Monday September 6, 1999
Vandals have struck at a church group at Yallah by destroying its mobile coffee shop.
The double-decker bus owned by the Seventh Day Adventist Church was torched twice on Friday night.
Pastor Ross Chadwick said the fire was a blow to the church because it had just started a small congregation at Yallah.
``We have only been going for 12 months and it's disappointing when we get setbacks like this," he said.
``It was a bus with a lot of character ... it was converted into a loungeroom and coffee shop which came in useful at youth camps and rallies."
The bus was parked on the corner of the Princes Hwy and Yallah Rd as a promotion for the church.
Vandals first struck about 1am and returned three hours later to finish the job.
``It was supposed to be garaged in our warehouse over the weekend but a break and enter on the bus a few weeks ago made that impossible," Pastor Chadwick said.
``The intruders on that occasion left the lights on and flattened the batteries ... I paid nearly $500 for new batteries but I was busy on Friday and didn't get around to putting them in."
He said the bus, which was insured, was worth about $30,000 and it would be up to church headquarters to decide whether or not it would be replaced.
© 1999 Illawarra Mercury
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