Perilous
Times
Cross-burning ignites anger in prosperous US town
An 11-foot (3.3-meter) cross was stolen from a church and set on
fire next to the home of a black family, igniting anger and
disbelief in a prosperous, mostly white Central California
community that hasn't seen a hate crime in nearly a decade.
6:22AM GMT 23 Mar 2011
The Telegraph UK
Police assigned extra patrols to the neighbourhood in Arroyo
Grande and rewards were offered for information leading to an
arrest. Church leaders were urged to mention the family in their
prayers.
"I was horrified," said the Rev. Stephanie Raphael, president of
the San Luis Obispo Ministerial Association. "We live in a
paradise, and I think the first thought was, this can't really be
real."
The cross was stolen from a garden at Saint John's Lutheran Church
weeks ago and set ablaze on Friday in a lot behind the house where
the family lived, police Cmdr. John Hough said.
A 19-year-old woman awoke about 12:30am and saw the flaming cross
from her bedroom window. Arriving officers doused burning pieces
of wood with a garden hose.
A telephone call to the house was not answered on Tuesday.
Police declined to release the names of the family members because
the incident was considered a hate crime – the first since 2002 in
the city of 17,000 people in mostly rural San Luis Obispo County,
a region of vast farms, picturesque small towns and a state
university campus.
More than 30 clergy members signed a letter to the editor of the
San Luis Obispo Tribune urging that the crime be taken seriously.
"Any kind of hate crime is not a joke, it's not a prank," Raphael
told The Associated Press. "It's designed to intimidate and
frighten. We live in a beautiful area but it's only beautiful if
every single person feels safe conducting their lives and living
here."
Dean Limbo, 54, who attends Saint John's Lutheran Church, said the
incident scarred the community and left people searching for
answers.
"It was surreal," she said. "The peace and the love in this
community, you never would have thought it. It was just horrific,
it really was, this poor family terrorised."
FBI agents and investigators from the state Department of Justice
and San Luis Obispo County were involved in the arson and hate
crime probe. No suspects had been identified and few tips were
being received, even though $3,500 in rewards were offered.
There was no evidence that an organised racist group was involved,
Hough said.
The 100-pound (45-kilogram) cross was hollow and made of fir. It
was built eight years ago for a local production of "Jesus Christ
Superstar" then donated to Saint John, pastor Randy Ouimette said.
It was usually bolted to a base in the garden, but each year it
was taken inside the sanctuary during the Lenten season before
being moved to a beach two miles away to be decorated with flowers
for an Easter sunrise service.
The theft at the church was discovered March 5 but may have
occurred weeks earlier, the pastor said.
"They probably lassoed the top and just yanked it down, tied it to
a truck, and snapped it at the base," Ouimette said.
Authorities suspected the stolen cross had been used in the hate
crime and showed Ouimette the half-charred, dismembered pieces of
wood.
He quickly recognised it because its maker had carved "PHIL 4:13"
into it, a reference to a passage in the New Testament book of
Philippians that says: "I can do all things through Him who
strengthens me."
Ouimette was saddened the cross had been used during a hate crime.
"It's such a violation," he said. "You know, the cross originally
was an instrument of violence. ... but Christ redeemed it. Through
the cross has come forgiveness and peace."
More than 100 people in the congregation signed a giant card of
compassion they planned to deliver to the victims with two
handmade prayer quilts – even though they didn't know the family.
"We wanted to bathe this family in prayer and love," the pastor
said. "Obviously they're feeling rejection and ... hate."
The church accepted an offer of a 10-foot (3-meter) replacement
cross that a nearby church had placed in storage.