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23.07.09

      To outsiders, last Friday’s shoot in the Towne Center was nothing more than a fire in a strip mall. To many Canyon Lake residents and Towne Center workers, however, it was an beyond belief tragedy to watch property, businesses and jobs go up in smoke – either their own or that of someone they be familiar with. Volunteer photographer Bert Barbay referred to the inferno as “The Monster.”
      Prematurely Friday morning, July 17, as scores of people looked on from the outskirts of the parking lot, some fought back tears, a few watched in unconnected disbelief, many chatted in small groups and others paced and talked on their stall phones.
      For John and Wendy Rodriguez, owners of VIP Events, a dinner party planning and DJ business that opened last December, the nightmare began at 6 a.m. when a neighbor knocked on their door to advise them the Towne Center was on fire. As they surveyed the still smoldering building, they tried

Source: Friday Flyer