Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, November 6, 1993 TAG: 9311060073
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: ALLISON BLAKE STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LEXINGTON LENGTH: Medium
Its announcement came a week after the FBI and Virginia State Police reached the same dead end.
"They could not determine who actually sent the notes, but they believe that the notes were a hoax," Maj. Gen. John W. Knapp, VMI superintendent, said in a statement.
The cadet who received the notes, First Classman Phillip Watson, said Friday: "It was always a possibility of it being a joke or a threat. Nobody knows. I still don't know."
Earlier this week, Watson made a statement to the full 1,300-member Corps of Cadets saying that he did not know who wrote the letters and that he did not write them himself. Friday, Knapp said the action "puts to rest any question of him bearing guilt."
Watson issued his statement in the wake of last weekend's news reports of the state police probe, which raised confusion over whether Watson knew about a hoax.
The state police's public statement read, "Following an extensive interview with state police special agents, the complainant stated the notes were a hoax and that he never intended for the investigation to go this far."
Watson, 22, of Greenwood, S.C., said Friday that he felt the state police statement "left the reader hanging."
"I don't think they tried to imply anything; I think they left it up to the reader to think whatever they wanted to," he said.
Asked Friday to clarify his department's position, spokesman Charles Vaughan issued another statement, which said: "The Virginia State Police investigation concerning a complaint that racially motivated, threatening letters were sent to a student at the Virginia Military Institute determined that the allegations were unfounded. This investigation was conducted with full regard for the rights and privacy of all individuals contacted. The state police investigation is closed."
Three notes were sent to Watson, threatening "they were going to get me," he said.
" `You're next in line,' stuff like, `We're watching you, we're going to get you sooner or later,' " Watson said.
The third note used the word "nigger," which triggered VMI's request that the FBI investigate, he said.
Knapp addressed the corps Friday and made clear that the school should move beyond the investigation. Earlier in the semester, a black freshman resigned after he was hit in the face by three men. That incident also was investigated, and the former cadet does not believe the incident was racially motivated, according to Friday's statement from VMI.
"These investigations do not suggest either a conspiracy or racial ferment at VMI, yet we have heard a recurring theme," Knapp said. "The question is: Does racism exist in the corps? It does, of course, to the extent it exists everywhere in our society. In a special place like VMI, which rests on ideals of equality and fair play, an outbreak of racism quickly becomes an ugly and glaring sore."
Watson agreed Friday.
"I don't think VMI has a racial problem, I just think there's racist people here, like everywhere in society," said Watson, a track star who wants to be a high school English teacher and track coach.
by CNB