ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Tuesday, June 11, 1996 TAG: 9606110055
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A-2 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: RICHMOND
SOURCE: ROBERT LITTLE STAFF WRITER
ONE OF THE SUSPECTED church arsons across the South was in Virginia, hitting a Richmond sanctuary in February.
There's nothing very threatening about the Glorious Church of God in Christ, a gray stone temple across from a small park west of downtown. Certainly not Maudell Dillard, the 88-year-old pastor.
"All they do in a church is sing and pray," Dillard said. "They don't do anything destructive or threatening. Nothing that you would think could make people want to tear it down."
Today, the church is boarded up and charred around the soffits, with orange signs warning of falling debris. White, letter-size leaflets stapled to the outside, faded and crinkled from the weather, tell the story everyone in the neighborhood already knows: "Suspected arson," they read. "Reward offered."
But the story doesn't stop there. Federal investigators around the country think the Feb. 21 Richmond blaze could be related to 30 others in the Southeast - all of them suspected arsons, all in churches whose membership is predominantly black.
Officials have no tangible evidence that racism is behind the Richmond fire. But with all the Southern church fires, the most obvious similarity is the color of the church members' skin.
"Agents really found no evidence of conspiracy, or any one group or individual who would seem responsible for all these, but the similarities are apparent," said Bill Dunham, resident agent in charge of the Richmond ATF office.
"There's been a lot of pressure brought upon investigators by church leaders around the country and others to find out everything we can. So we want to make sure we do everything we can to keep the list from growing."
Local police and federal agents won't say much about the Richmond fire. They don't want to publicize details that only the arsonist would know.
But investigators quickly ruled out any accidental causes. The blaze started just inside the front door, in an area that would be difficult to ignite. Some type of accelerant seemed to have been used. Neighbors discovered the fire about 7:30 a.m. Several of the 40 or so active members of the Pentecostal church quickly arrived. They could only pray and watch it burn.
For religious leaders throughout Richmond, the fire ignited anger and grief. Three synagogues in the city were vandalized about the same time. The lieutenant governor, the state attorney general and city government and civic officials called a news conference to denounce the incidents and promise to investigate and prosecute.
Some called the crimes evidence of the racism that still festers in Virginia. Lt. Gov. Don Beyer drew a parallel to Nazi Germany.
Members of the Glorious Church of God in Christ left it to the police to draw conclusions. If hate is to blame, there's no point stoking it with anger and hate of their own, they said.
"I'm concerned about it in this way: I wish they could put their hands on the people who did it and put them away," Dillard said.
"But there's no use trying to get angry. We had to just turn it over to the Lord."
LENGTH: Medium: 66 linesby CNB