ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Friday, March 29, 1996 TAG: 9603290087
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B-3 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: PULASKI
SOURCE: FROM STAFF AND WIRE REPORTS
Two teen-agers have been arrested after they allegedly burned a cross in a black family's yard and threw a rock at their home, authorities said Thursday.
The boys - one 15 and the other 17 years old - are each charged with cross burning and rock throwing, both felonies, and with entering private property with intent to destroy property because of race, a misdemeanor, said Investigator J.B. Saunders of the Pulaski County Sheriff's Office.
George and Chanie Trueheart discovered the burning cross - made with two 2-by-4s and doused with lantern fuel - Saturday night after returning home from an outing.
``Some neighbors saw them carrying [the cross] up the road,'' Saunders said.
Neighbors tried to alert the Truehearts, but could not reach them by phone. They then called police.
Saunders said sheriff's deputies arrested the boys about a quarter-mile away after the department's bloodhound, ``Hoss,'' picked up their scent at the cross and followed it to a house.
``We've been here 23 years, and nothing like this has ever happened before,'' Chanie Trueheart said.
Saunders said the cross burning was racially motivated but that the boys were not affiliated with any organized group.
``They just did this on their own,'' he said.
Chanie Trueheart said neither she nor her husband knew the boys or why they would burn the 4-foot cross in their yard.
``You never would believe something like this could happen to you; I was so scared,'' she said.
Neighbors and friends in the area have called to offer the Truehearts their support.
``They're just as sorry as we are,'' she said.
The boys, who were not identified because of their age, were being held in juvenile detention in Christiansburg, Saunders said. A trial is scheduled for May 17.
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