TOLEDO, Ohio -- An arson fire damaged an abortion clinic early Tuesday, a day after two clinics in Cincinnati were set afire and 12 hours after a bomb threat emptied another Toledo clinic, authorities said.
Tuesday's fire, which caused about $20,000 damage, occurred at Toledo Medical Services Inc., site of an arson fire Aug. 10 that remains unsolved.
Robert Stellingworth, director of the Toledo office of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, said his agency was helping local officials investigate the attacks.
'The fire is of suspicious origin,' he said.
Stellingworth said there was no indication today's fire and the ones that hit two Cincinnati clinics about 2:30 a.m. Monday were related.
The Toledo blaze broke out shortly before 2 a.m. in a crawl space but was quickly extinguished after firefighters arrived. One firefighter was injured slightly when he slipped on ice.
Joyce Arend, president of the Toledo chapter of the National Organization for Women, said a bomb threat was made about 2 p.m. Monday at the Center for Choice, another abortion clinic, forcing police to evacuate the building.
She said it was just the latest of many such threats, although it was the first time the building was evacated.
'It (didn't) disrupt the procedures, but the building is full of other offices and agencies,' Arend said. 'Other times, they call and infer there's a bomb, or they place death threats on the door.'
Cincinnati police reported no progress in the investigation into the fires at the Margaret Sanger Center of Ohio and the Women's Health Care Center, which suffered about $75,000 in damage each.
Capt. Peter Sabino, director of the arson squad, said it was likely more than one person was involved because the fires started nearly simultaneously several blocks apart.
'One person could have done them both, but he would have had to move really quickly to get them both going that close together,' Sabino said.
Officials of the two centers say they have received several bomb threats this year, including one 10 days ago that warned the Sanger center would be destroyed.
But Ann Mitchell, director of the Cincinnati chapter of Planned Parenthood, which operates the Sanger facility, said the agency often receives threats 'and it has gotten to the point where you just don't pay much attention to the specifics.'
Mitchell said pickets appeared briefly Monday afternoon at the facility.
'They were there for a little while, screaming how happy they were about what happened,' she said.
Melody Green, national director of Americans Against Abortion, which demonstrated in front of Sanger Saturday, denied responsibility and criticized the attack.
'We had nothing to do with it, nor do we encourage that kind of action,' said Green, describing her group as a 'convenient scapegoat.'
