ROANOKE TIMES 
                      Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times

DATE: Friday, June 21, 1996                  TAG: 9606210053
SECTION: VIRGINIA                 PAGE: B-4  EDITION: METRO 
DATELINE: RICHMOND
SOURCE: Associated Press 

STATE TO PROBE INSURANCE COMPANIES INEQUITY SUSPECTED AFTER CHURCH FIRES

Attorney General Jim Gilmore asked state regulators Thursday to investigate whether insurers are unfairly terminating the fire insurance policies of black churches hit by arson.

One church in Virginia is on the list of more than three dozen arson fires being investigated by federal officials, and its fire insurance was canceled shortly after the blaze.

Gilmore said he has heard that many other churches on the list have had the same problem.

``I am concerned that congregations that have been the victims of church burnings not become victims yet again because they are unable to rebuild for lack of insurance,'' Gilmore said in a letter to Alfred W. Gross, acting insurance commissioner.

Gilmore, who last week persuaded other Southern attorneys general to join forces to investigate the church burnings, said in a telephone interview that he hopes the others will follow his lead.

``We will be alerting the others we are taking this action. They may wish to make it a subject of their inquiry,'' he said.

The Glorious Church of God in Christ in Richmond was torched Feb. 21. Morris Mahoney, chairman of the trustee board, said the church's claim was paid but its policy was canceled about three weeks after the fire.

``We only had two losses in a 10- to 15-year period, yet because we were a risk I'm sure they were afraid they would be losing more,'' Mahoney said. ``To them it may be good business practice, but to us it's not very ethical.''

Keith Anderson, spokesman for Travelers-Aetna Property Casualty Corp. in Hartford, Conn., confirmed that the church's insurance was canceled but denied that it was because of the arson.

``We do not non-renew policyholders because of arson - period,'' he said. ``We insure literally thousands of churches. If we had a problem with arson, we wouldn't be in that business.''

He declined to say why the coverage was discontinued, citing the privacy of the former policyholder.

Mahoney said his church had trouble finding another insurer but finally succeeded. He would not name the company.

Mahoney said most of the 16 pastors who attended a conference on the church burnings reported having trouble getting insurance coverage.

``I was surprised it was the rule rather than the exception,'' he said.

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