Mental State a Factor in Case Against Fire Suspect

Gary Wayne Parris is described here as a sad figure who wandered the streets carrying a green plastic bucket and offering to wash windows for a few bucks or a free meal.

A gentleman when he was sober and taking his medication, friends said, he could become violently angry or absurdly incoherent whenever he would empty a bottle of cheap wine--which they said was often.

Some who said they know him well are convinced that he is mentally ill; others said he was simply in need of help.

That is the mosaic assembled from people who have hired, drank with and lived with Parris, the 39-year-old homeless man suspected of unwittingly sparking the ‘49er fire that destroyed more than 100 homes and blackened 30,000 acres of Nevada and Yuba counties.

As of Wednesday, fire officials said that the multimillion-dollar blaze was 95% contained.

Parris, who could not be reached for comment, is in custody and scheduled to be arraigned today in Nevada City Justice Court, but only for being drunk in public Tuesday and for ignoring a court date for another drunk charge lodged against him last August.

For allegedly having touched off the fire--authorities say he conceded that he lost control of burning rubbish west of Nevada City near an abandoned cabin in which he was staying--he was cited Sunday for misdemeanor “negligent burning” and immediately released.

However, Nevada County Dist. Atty. John H. Darlington said he will meet with California Department of Forestry officials to hear their plea that a felony “reckless burning” charge be filed against Parris. This would raise his maximum sentence, if he is found guilty, to six years in state prison.

At the same time, the Department of Forestry’s deputy chief of law enforcement, Loren Poore, said his agency has sent a team to investigate a report by an airborne spotter who suggested that the ‘49er fire may have resulted when one or two smaller fires merged with the blaze allegedly caused by Parris.

In any case, Darlington said charges ultimately pressed against Parris will hinge on the suspect’s mental health.

“What we have to determine,” the district attorney said, “is, in spite of any mental problem he had, whether he was able to recognize the potential effects of his actions.”

With a few exceptions, people who said they know Parris believe that he was unable to assess the danger of burning toilet paper and other waste in a dry field on a hot and windy day.

“I can tell you one thing; it was not intentional,” said a bartender at the Gold Exchange Saloon in Grass Valley.

A man who shared a Grass Valley house with Parris from 1984 to 1986 said he did not want to be linked with his former, “crazy” house mate. The man’s mother-in-law, who briefly dated Parris during that time, also asked not to be named, but she did talk about him.

She said they met when he came by to wash the windows of the rented duplex that she shares with her daughter and son-in-law. A while later, she said, he moved in for a short time.

Parris told her he was from a small Mississippi town where he said he had been institutionalized for mental illness before coming to California.

Darlington, the district attorney, said Parris has been cited by police “numerous times” for public drunkenness and one time for battery and petty theft.