Kaiser Replacement Worker Finds His Home Vandalized Damage To House Bought In April Done While He Was Gone For An Hour

A Kaiser replacement worker’s Spokane Valley house was vandalized, ransacked and burglarized Friday afternoon.

Allan Gemmrig, who lives in the 13000 block of East Rich, said he came home Friday afternoon to find his house totally trashed.

“Hope it was worth it scab” was spray-painted in black on his living room wall and the interior front door, along with a vulgar epithet.

The spray paint came from his garage, Gemmrig said.

The 25-year-old said he has held various casting jobs at the Trentwood plant since Steelworkers went on strike on Sept. 30, 1998. He lives at the house with his wife, Diana, and his two boys, 8 and 10 years old. He bought the house in April.

Gemmrig said he went for a bike ride on the Centennial Trail at 2:30 Friday afternoon. When he returned at 3:30, he said he noticed a side garage door and the back door to the house open. He said both doors had been locked. There were no signs of forced entry.

When he went inside, he found drawers and cabinets in the kitchen had been opened and dumped. Lamps were overturned in the living room. Belongings were scattered everywhere and a bookcase was pushed over. The bedrooms were similarly ransacked.

Gemmrig called the Spokane County Sheriff’s Office and Kaiser, which also sent an investigator to the house.

No one in the quiet, rural neighborhood saw anything unusual between 2:30 and 3:30 p.m., Sheriff’s spokesman Cpl. Dave Reagan said. An investigation is under way.

Gemmrig’s Kaiser ID badge and his entry card were clipped onto broken wallboard near the graffiti.

“I was supposed to work tonight,” Gemmrig said. “I’m done with Kaiser. It’s not worth it, putting my family in jeopardy.”

When Gemmrig’s sons arrived home from school, he had them taken to a friend’s house so they wouldn’t see inside the house.

Many items were taken from the house, including four portable radios, two mobile radios valued between $1,500 and $2,000 each, a bulletproof vest, five ornamental swords and a knife, according to the sheriff’s office.

Gemmrig said he has insurance.

Before joining Kaiser, Gemmrig had been a police officer in the Air Force. He is trying to start his own security business and said all of his personal and professional files were ransacked.

This was not the first time he has been targeted, Gemmrig said. Months ago, his customized truck, which was parked at his father’s shop off Park Road, was vandalized and the interior gutted. The vandals did at least $5,000 worth of damage, he said, and he hasn’t been able to afford to fix it. He and his wife share a car now.

“I can understand messing with my truck - they see it every day. But messing with my house, that hurts.

“This is the other side,” he said. “It’s not just `Oh, the poor union.’ This is almost like a hate crime.”

Gemmrig said the people who broke into the house must have been watching him, since they had such a small window of opportunity.

“It shocks me they were able to do it.

“I never thought it would get this bad so close to the end. It doesn’t make sense,” Gemmrig said. “I don’t know why they would choose me.”

Throughout the strike and subsequent lockout, several replacement workers have reported acts of vandalism - from eggs thrown at houses to a car filled with manure.

In 1999, Kaiser spokeswoman Susan Ashe said the vandalism “runs the gamut from nails in tires, paint and other liquids thrown at homes and windows being shot out. We document and we work with the employees as far as providing them with counsel on how to preserve their person and premises.”

Steelworkers also have reported harassment during the 23 months they have been off the job, including obscenities shouted at them on the picket line, and aggressive and threatening drivers on the road reacting to support signs in their windows.

In June, a replacement worker who had just quit his job tossed two vials of unidentified liquid at Steelworkers.

Kaiser and the union agreed to arbitration in August to end the lockout. Chief arbitrator Seymour Strongin will issue a binding contract ruling by Sept. 15. Steelworkers will return to their jobs by late September.