State Insurance Commissioner John Oxendine (left), standing outside the UGA Main Library, announces the arrest of a man suspected in the fire that damaged the library last week. MORRIS NEWS SERVICE

Arrest made in library arson

ATHENS, Ga. - A 19-year-old man has been charged with the July 23 arson fire that caused more than $1.5 million in damage the University of Georgia's Main Library.

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Jason Allen Nelms, 19, was arrested by UGA police at about 9:30 p.m. Tuesday at a residence in Athens-Clarke County, officials said. He was charged with first-degree arson and was being held at the Clarke County Jail.

He is not a UGA student.

Mr. Nelms' home address is in Lexington, a small town in Oglethorpe County, 15 miles east of Athens.

A bond hearing is scheduled for 10 a.m. today in Clarke County Magistrate Court.

Mr. Nelms' court-appointed co-counsel, Gerald Brown, said he met briefly with his client at the jail Wednesday afternoon, but he would not say whether Mr. Nelms had denied setting the library fire.

"I really cannot comment on what Mr. Nelms said about this, as our conversation is privileged," Mr. Brown said.

However, he said the fire might not have been deliberately set.

At a news conference Wednesday morning outside the library entrance, state Insurance Commissioner John Oxendine said information from a witness who saw Mr. Nelms in the library the afternoon of the fire directly resulted in the arrest.

Mr. Oxendine and UGA Police Chief Chuck Horton would not answer specific questions about Mr. Nelms' arrest.

"This individual was not a student, and as far as we could tell, he had no relationship with the university," Mr. Oxendine said.

Jason Allen Nelms: Man, 19, is charged with arson in connection with a fire at the University of Georgia's Main Library. SPECIAL

Mr. Nelms had been fired recently from his job at a Ryan's Family Restaurant. Restaurant Manager Hal Bernstein said Mr. Nelms had worked there since early May but was let go because of poor job performance.

The fire, reported at 5:52 p.m. July 23, began in a stack of boxed publications that were waiting to be put onto shelves in the second-floor repository. The fire was contained to the second floor, where it destroyed a storage room housing used computer equipment.

Although quickly extinguished, the blaze sent heavy smoke billowing throughout the nine-story building, causing some smoke damage on each floor. Library officials said they hope to reopen the library in time for the fall semester, which begins Aug. 18.

--From the Thursday, July 31, 2003 printed edition of the Augusta Chronicle