THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, July 3, 1996 TAG: 9607050304
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A6 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY ROBERT LITTLE, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: WASHINGTON LENGTH: 64 lines
Calling the recent rash of church arsons nothing less than ``a very great social crisis,'' southern law enforcement and church officials gathered at one of the nation's most prominent African-American universities Tuesday to search for solutions.
Billed as a summit at Howard University School of Divinity, the all-day conference produced a few tangible ideas. Virginia Attorney General James S. Gilmore III announced, for instance, a new toll-free telephone number established to collect tips in solving the 40 or more arson fires reported at African-American churches the past two years.
But participants acknowledge the summit's intention was also to spread the group's message of zero tolerance for such crimes.
``We need to look and see if there are conspiracies, we need to look for motives and we need to look for the atmosphere of hatred that could be behind this,'' said Gilmore, who organized the conference. ``We are going to deny a comfort zone of any kind to hatred and racism across the South.''
As chairman of an association of southern attorneys general, Gilmore has been a conspicuous figure in efforts to prevent and solve the fires. Another prominent Virginian - Christian Coalition director Ralph Reed - also has been in the forefront. Dozens of organizations covered Tuesday's event, including several national media outlets.
That both men have so much at stake politically - Reed's group with this fall's presidential race and Gilmore with his own gubernatorial race in 1997 - has been the source of skepticism about their involvement in the issue, mostly by Democrats and other political opponents.
But the university and church leaders assembled Tuesday offered no criticism, except against African Americans who have been reluctant to embrace the effort.
``We have some very evil forces out there that have penetrated the hearts of our young people,'' said the Rev. Anthony Paige, pastor of Norfolk's First Baptist Church Lamberts Point.
``There are some who may see this as political, but if you're hungry, anyone who puts food on your table is welcome. Right now, Attorney General Gilmore and these others and, yes, the Christian Coalition, are the only ones doing anything. And we welcome it.''
The attorneys general at Tuesday's conference said they hoped the meetings mark a resurgence of sorts in their jobs' traditional law enforcement roles. Several said most of their time is spent defending their states against civil lawsuits, and that fewer and fewer resources are spent battling crime.
Oklahoma Attorney General Drew Edmondson compared the fires to the Oklahoma City bomb.
``We have a particular perspective in Oklahoma of how devastating acts of domestic terrorism can be,'' he said. ``I hope now we see attorneys general more involved in fighting those types of problems.''
Suspicious fires have hit more than 40 black churches in the South in the past two years, including at least two in Virginia: the First Baptist Church of Centralia (Chesterfield County) auxiliary building and the Glorious Church of God in Christ in Richmond. ILLUSTRATION: Graphic
ARSON HOTLINE
The toll-free hotline set up for tips on the church fires is
1-888-855-5000. It can be reached from anywhere in Virginia, North
Carolina, Kentucky, West Virginia, Tennessee, Maryland and the
District of Columbia.
KEYWORDS: ARSON CHURCHES FIRES by CNB