ROANOKE TIMES 
                      Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times

DATE: Saturday, June 8, 1996                 TAG: 9606090043
SECTION: NATL/INTL                PAGE: A-3  EDITION: METRO 
DATELINE: CHARLOTTE, N.C.

ARSON CITED AS CAUSE OF N.C. CHURCH FIRE 30TH BLACK CHURCH TORCHED IN SOUTH

Arson destroyed a 93-year-old wooden sanctuary in the 30th fire at a Southern black church in the last year and half.

Federal investigators on the scene stopped short of saying whether the fire Thursday night was related to the previous burnings.

The building, which dates to 1903, was used only to store old pews and other things on the grounds of the Matthews-Murkland Presbyterian Church. The mostly black 175-member congregation worships in a new building 100 yards away.

The church was planning to renovate the building and use it as a wedding chapel or for other community activities. It estimated the loss at $150,000.

Investigators said the fire had been set. They did not say how.

``We won't say it's connected to the series of fires, but we're just getting information from the scene,'' said Mark Logan, agent in charge for the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms.

Meanwhile, President Clinton told reporters: ``All I can tell you right now is we are working very hard to get to the bottom of this.''

Five people have been arrested in the other fires. But authorities have said they have found no evidence of a national racist conspiracy.

The church is nestled into seven acres in one of the city's most affluent and predominantly white neighborhoods.

The Rev. Larry Hill, the church's pastor, said his church had received no threats. ``It's painful to see things like this still happening in 1996,'' he said. ``Right now we're praying for genuine healing within the nation and the world.''

According to a tally of cases the ATF considers ``open,'' six black churches have burned in Tennessee, five each in Louisiana, South Carolina and Alabama, four in North Carolina, three in Mississippi, and one each in Virginia and Georgia.

LENGTH: Short :   46 lines
ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO:  AP. A church member holds a bulletin from 
          Matthews-Murkland Presbyterian, which burned Thursday in Charlotte, 
          N.C.