INC NEWS - Crosses burned in Durham (Herald-Sun)

[John Schelp]

Talking with folks about vigils against these hate
crimes. More information to follow...

Crosses burned in Durham
Herald-Sun, 26 May 2005   

Three large crosses were burned in separate incidents
across Durham Wednesday night, the first time in
recent memory that one of the South's most notorious
symbols of racial hatred has been seen in the city.

Yellow fliers with Ku Klux Klan sayings were found at
one of the cross burnings.

The Durham Police Department is investigating the
burnings. After the third one was reported, the
department ordered that any suspicious cargo truck or
large pickup truck be stopped.

"At this day and time, I thought we'd be beyond that,"
said Mayor Bill Bell. "People do things for different
reasons, and I don't have the slightest idea why
anyone would do this."

Bell, who said he couldn't recall a cross burning in
Durham since he arrived here in 1968, said he hadn't
received any calls, letters or e-mails that would
"remotely" suggest someone would target the city with
cross burnings.

The first burning was reported at 9:19 p.m. outside
St. Luke's Episcopal Church on Hillandale Road at
Interstate 85.

As police and firefighters were finishing their work
there, a second cross burning was reported at 9:54
p.m. along South Roxboro Street, about a quarter-mile
south of Martin Luther King Jr. Parkway. Someone had
positioned the cross atop a large pile of dirt near an
apartment complex construction site to the west of
South Roxboro Street.

"This is ridiculous," Durham police Sgt. A.M. Batte
said as she stood over the smoldering cross around
10:20 p.m.

Then the third burning was reported at 10:28 p.m. at
Peachtree Place and Holloway Street downtown.

The crosses were about 7 feet tall and 4 feet wide,
police said. They were wrapped in burlap and doused in
a liquid that smelled like kerosene.

The crosses were made of four 2-by-4s. They were
screwed flat together with grooves cut at the
intersections of the beams.

Batte said it would not have been difficult to place
the cross atop the mound because streetlights in the
area were out and large construction equipment
shielded the view of passing traffic on South Roxboro
Street.

Burning a cross without the permission of the property
owner is a misdemeanor in North Carolina. However, the
U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 2003 that, under the First
Amendment, cross burning could be barred only when
done with the intent to intimidate.

Cross burnings have been associated with the Ku Klux
Klan since the early 20th century, and the first known
cross burning in the country occurred as a Georgia mob
celebrated a lynching, the Supreme Court noted in its
decision. The Klan often burned crosses in the yard of
people who supported the civil rights movement.

Batte said police were trying to determine if May 25
held any significance to white supremacist or other
radical groups, and fire investigators also are
looking into the cross burnings.

"I cannot think of any reason that any insider or
anyone outside would be angry with us," said Bill
Gutknecht, senior warden at St. Luke's. "I don't know
what kind of point they're trying to make. ... I
certainly hope and pray it had nothing to do directly
with our church."

Gutknecht noted that on May 9, members of Westboro
Baptist Church of Topeka, Kan., picketed outside St.
Luke's, among other churches, as part of a protest
against the performance of "The Laramie Project" at
Durham School of the Arts. The play is about the
murder of a gay man, and the Westboro protesters
carried anti-gay signs with slogans including "God
Hates Fags" and "Thank God for 9/11."

"That's the only thing of any kind of conflict, and it
wasn't really a conflict," Gutknecht said, explaining
that church members ignored the protesters.

Anyone with information is asked to call CrimeStoppers
at 683-1200. CrimeStoppers pays cash rewards for
information leading to arrests in felony cases and
callers never have to identify themselves.