Motive still unclear in arson case

“It’s surprising,” said Harry Sirinakis, owner of Harry’s Main Street Grille, which sustained $10,000 in structural damages in the Aug. 4 fire. “I personally worked and cooked with her.”

Joan Glover Ecker, 35, was arrested Friday on second-degree arson charges, the state fire marshal’s office reported.

Sirinakis said Ecker was employed at Harry’s for almost two years and he enjoyed working with her.

Investigators have not determined a motive for the blaze, which closed the establishment at 65 W. Main St. — well known for its hot dogs and cole slaw — for three days.

“There have been fires that we have investigated years and years ago and never determined a motive,” Deputy State Fire Marshal W. Faron Taylor said.

Ecker told investigators that she discovered the blaze at 6 a.m. in the basement, where catering supplies and paper products are stored.

In an interview with authorities Tuesday, Ecker implicated herself, but then she admitted herself to Carroll Hospital Center for an illness unrelated to the fire, Taylor said.

Authorities arrested Ecker upon her release from the hospital just before noon Friday.

Even in Greece, where he was vacationing when the fire occurred, Sirinakis said the popularity of his restaurant and the fondness its customers felt for it was reaffirmed for him.

“The fire touched a lot of people,” he said. “A woman from Hawaii even text messaged [me] about the fire while I was in Greece.”

The walls of the restaurant have been repainted, extinguishing any trace of the flames.

“As disturbing as it is, business has got a way of getting back to normal,” Sirinakis said.

“Obviously, we’re hiring. We shall go on.”