Paulatuk (Oct 09/06) - "I'm glad it's gone. It was an old eyesore. Whoever did it, good for them."

That is what's being said in Paulatuk, three months after an abandoned grocery store was burned to the ground.

While RCMP said they are still investigating the case, it seems a lot of people don't really care about the fire. They say the old store was abandoned, ugly, and the lot's owner -- an absent developer from Alberta -- hasn't even complained yet.

In the three months since the fire, the town has also renovated the lot, making it nicer and removing debris.

The Iqalukpik Jamboree was held there in August, and it now provides a nice view of the waterfront.

Some people like Stan Ruben say authorities should just thank whoever burned the place and move on.

"It was an old eyesore, right in the middle of town," he said. "it didn't belong to anybody and they should have taken it down a long time ago."

Cpl. Joe Collett of the Paulatuk RCMP said police don't have a choice in the matter.

While there is no physical evidence tying anyone to the crime, he said, police have to keep looking.

"It's still a matter before the courts," he said, adding that youth were suspected of having lit the fires at around 3 a.m. on June 29.

And while it's important to prosecute arson, Collett said, he perhaps has some sympathy for people asking for the RCMP to stop looking, and put the case on the back burner. "Even the owner wasn't too upset," he said.

Hamlet S.A.O Tom Caines said the town will perhaps use the terrain for more jamborees, though it's still technically private property.

"It has a nice view of the waterfront," Caines added. "But conceivably, if the owner ever came back and told us not to use it, we would have to stop.