By ADAM SCHRADER
Published in The Denton Record-Chronicle on July 6, 2014

SANGER — Barry Durham pulls up to Findings: A Little Bit of Everything in his white pickup to unload some new cargo for the shop he co-owns with his wife, Joanna.

She stands in the children’s section near the register reading some teaching material. He carries the items behind the counter where he’ll price them and figure out where to place each antique and trinket in the store.

Today’s load is light enough that he can carry the garage sale winnings into the store by himself since the shop door is already propped open.

“Antiques give people a sense of history,” Barry Durham said. “You can go back and tell some history about things, and [it] gives people a chance to express themselves with what they collect and what they want to make a collection out of.”

The Durhams’ store really does have a little bit of everything. Barry Durham said you could make a collection out of almost anything. One customer today, Chris Noble, recently started a collection of antique books on hunting and guns. The self-professed antique junkie from Fort Worth has been in the shop before and was stopping by to examine the book collection.

“I’m really not supposed to be here. I’m just traveling down [Interstate] 35 headed back to Fort Worth and thought I could sneak in here without being noticed,” Noble said with a laugh. “So I’ll just find an antique store, and if they have the things I like, I’ll come in and see if I can get something I need.”

Findings has joined a collection of eclectic boutique shops, restaurants and services packed into historical buildings on the square in downtown Sanger.

Durham doesn’t see any of the other businesses as competition but as an extension of what he does.

“One store is not enough draw for people to come to Sanger,” he said. “Five, six stores becomes a bigger draw and people make it a destination to come to Sanger and shop in antiques.”

Barry Durham is also the director of the Sanger Chamber of Commerce and treasurer of the Sanger Downtown Association, which he helped restart several months ago. He said the association has started planning events to draw people to downtown Sanger, starting with its first Trade Day on June 7.

The Durhams, who both grew up in Cooke County, previously owned an antiques and collectibles store in Whitney, where business had been booming but where they were far from their family. Some of their Whitney customers have made it to the Sanger store.

Since the Durhams moved their store and their lives in August, business has increased every month and Barry Durham said he expects it to keep growing.

“As we’re trying to establish a downtown Sanger and let people know all these businesses are here, it continues to grow,” he said. “We now have three restaurants downtown, which brings people in.”

The Durhams opened the Whitney store three years ago after discovering their knack for finding, selling and collecting items.

“It became more of a hobby, then it became a business as the hobby grew and we enjoyed finding things at sales and auctions,” Barry Durham said.

The store is their collection and everything they sell is something they like, he said. They find most of the merchandise at garage sales, estate sales and auctions, but always have their eyes open.

“Sometimes you’ll just find it sitting in someone’s house and ask them, or find it in a trash can,” Barry Durham said. “Friends and family bring things to you, [stuff] that they’re wanting to get rid of.”

Before working in antiques the Durhams were both teachers — Barry for 18 years and Joanna for 22.

“I miss my children, but I don’t miss teaching,” Joanna Durham said. “And I miss the planning, which is why I have my collection of kids’ books and teaching materials and kind of cater to home-school day cares.”

“I don’t miss it,” Barry Durham said.

Their store was the first to occupy the space at 210 Bolivar St. in more than five years.

Despite being vacant for years, the space was in good shape when they purchased it, since it had recently been repaired and upgraded. More aesthetic touches they did themselves with the same thrifty approach they use to fill the store with items, like using old barn wood for the counter.

“We just took what we had from our other store and moved it here, set up shop and just did the best we could,” Barry Durham said.

In addition to collectibles, Joanna maintains a large section where home-school parents can purchase teaching materials and books.

“We try to keep it where [if] someone else walks in, we might have it,” she said.

By THOMAS TRACY, ADAM SCHRADER and LARRY MCSHANE
Published in the New York Daily News on March 24, 2018

A balky basement boiler emerged Saturday as the possible cause for a five-alarm fire that killed an FDNY veteran trapped inside a burning Harlem building.

The boiler was repaired in the days before the blaze that killed Firefighter Michael Davidson, leading investigators to question if there was a link to the inferno, said an FDNY source with knowledge of the case.

City records indicate the building at 773 St. Nicholas Ave. was cited a half-dozen times since 2011 for boiler issues, including a still-active complaint from last year for failure to file an annual inspection report.

But fire marshals remain unable to get into the heavily-damaged basement and determine if the boiler ignited the raging blaze in the 98-year-old building.

Davidson, 37, was posthumously promoted to FDNY lieutenant Saturday, two days after his smoke-inhalation death inside the building.

He was on the department promotion list after passing the lieutenant’s exam in 2015.

“He had all the qualities of an officer and more,” said FDNY Commissioner Daniel Nigro. “Lt. Davidson was a natural-born leader. . . . His promotion is well deserved.”

The fire source indicated there was a possible leak repaired in the boiler, and fire investigators want to insure the repairs stayed up to code with authorized materials rather than substandard products.

The five-story building was cited for failing to file its boiler inspection report in 2011, 2013, 2014, twice in 2015 and again in February 2017.

And between 2001 and 2009, the city flagged the building for failure to keep the boiler at the standard operating pressure.

Despite the records, landlord Vincent Lampkin, 57, defended the state of his building’s heating system.

“It’s winter. It’s cold. We’re always checking to make sure the boiler is serviced,” he said. “We regularly, you know, people want heat. There was a snowstorm. Regularly checking heat, checking hot water. I had a lot people here. I had to keep the heat and everything maintained every day.”

Fire marshals are anxious to get into the lower levels of the damaged five-story rowhouse and examine the boiler.

Geovanny Fernandez, Lampkin’s attorney, said inspectors were able to access a small fraction of the basement level, which used to house the jazz club known as St. Nick’s Pub, on Saturday.

The boiler was housed in a cellar below the shuttered club.

“At this point, we should be trying to secure the building and ensure the safety of the neighbors and residents,” he told the Daily News. “The fire marshal has said he has no idea what the cause is. For us to be speculating is premature.”

Officials have told Lampkin the charred, hulking facade of the building will need to be demolished.

“Financially, I’m in a little bad shape. I don’t even know if I can pay for this demolition. Not nearly,” Larkin said.

“You’re talking to a guy with no stability right now. Somebody who’s worn out,” he added. “My heart goes out to the family.”

Davidson, a married father of four small kids, was the first man into the burning basement after Engine Co. 69 arrived on the scene Thursday evening.

Police in Davidson’s town of Floral Park, L.I., stood watch Saturday outside the home where the firefighter lived with his wife Eileen and their children — a 6-year-old son and three girls, ages 7, 3 and 1.

A neighbor dropped off a package and an envelope in the doorway of the otherwise quiet suburban home.

Davidson disappeared in the dense smoke and heavy flames as he and his colleagues pulled back from the basement, where his body was later discovered by distraught fellow firefighters.

His face mask was disconnected from its air regulator — the first step typically taken by a firefighter no longer getting air into his mask, the FDNY source said.

The other theory under consideration was that falling debris had dislodged the regulator during the chaotic response in the basement.

The firefighters union president, Gerard Fitzgerald, paid homage in advance of Tuesday’s funeral in St. Patrick’s Cathedral for the heroic first responder.

“Firefighter Davidson is a hero, and in his death embodies the title of ‘Bravest,'” said Fitzgerald. “His death is a reminder of the dangerous work New York City firefighters do every day in our city.

“Firefighter Michael R. Davidson’s sacrifice will never be forgotten,” he added.

Davidson was the son of a firefighter who worked in the same Harlem firehouse and the brother of Bronx Firefighter Eric Davidson — an 11-year FDNY veteran.

“Both of them worked at busy houses,” the source said. “They didn’t want to be on a quiet house in Staten Island. You go to these houses because you want to respond to fires.”

Davidson, who joined the FDNY in May 2003, was cited on four different occasions for bravery and life-saving actions on the job.

Before going to work Thursday, the firefighter spent his morning making a snowman with his kids outside their suburban Long Island home.

By ADAM SCHRADER and ELLEN MOYNIHAN
Published in the New York Daily News on Apr. 29, 2018

The grieving mother of a 16-year-old stabbed to death in the Bronx on Saturday said he died defending his 13-year-old brother from bullies.

Patricia Gay, 34, gathered with a dozen family members inside her apartment mourning the loss of Alijay Morgan, who was attacked at a nearby basketball court.

“My big one turned around and saw the little one was being bullied by someone his age . . . . They started tussling playfully. Then it got serious. All I know, the kids said they’re coming back with a gun.

“Before you know it, some grown man came up to another kid holding a knife, said, ‘What are you doing with that?’ and took it from him and stabbed my son in his heart.”

Gay was working at Cipriani’s Catering in Manhattan when she received the tragic news. Her son died at St. Barnabas Hospital before she had a chance to rush to the emergency room.

“I was distraught, traumatized, confused. Hurt. Heartbroken,” she said. “He was gone. I didn’t get to talk to him.”

Gay said her older son wanted to be a tailor and designer of men’s clothing.

“He liked to draw clothes for boys,” she said. “He’d cut up jeans, style them up, color them in. He’s very talented, smart.”

His other activities included boxing, rapping and dancing.

“My little one is traumatized. He witnessed the whole thing,” Gay said. “He was blaming himself. I told him it’s not his fault.”

Jamar, Alijay’s younger brother, described what led to the bloodshed.

“My brother was protecting me from some kid that hit me out of nowhere. He gave me a wedgie at first. I gave him a wedgie back. Then he started punching me. So him and my brother started talking.

“I love my brother and I wish that never happened,” Jamar said, choking up.

No arrests have been made.

Alijay’s murder is the second one reported in the 46th Precinct so far in 2018. At this point last year, there had been one homicide. Ten were reported in 2017.