slim
03-08-2006, 02:07 PM
These little lefties were ......trying to make trouble ..then cover their tracks. We will probably find out their real reason was because they disliked religion.
http://today.reuters.com/news/newsarticle.aspx?type=domesticNews&storyid=2006-03-08T192232Z_01_N38485760_RTRUKOC_0_US-CRIME-CHURCHES.xml&rpc=22
Three Arrested In Alabama Church Fires
By: Peggy Gargis
TUSCALOOSA, Alabama (Reuters) - Authorities have arrested three college students in connection with a spate of fires that damaged or destroyed 10 Baptist churches in Alabama, investigators said on Wednesday.
Prosecutors identified the suspects as Ben Moseley and Russell Debusk, 19-year-old students at Birmingham-Southern College, and Matthew Lee Cloyd, 20, who transferred last year from Birmingham-Southern to attend the University of Alabama at Birmingham.
Federal and state investigators planned to release details at an afternoon news conference.
The pastor at one of the destroyed churches said investigators notified him of the arrests on Wednesday.
"We are relieved. We were fearful while they were on the loose because we did not know their agenda," said Jim Parker, pastor of the Ashby Baptist Church in Brierfield, Alabama, which was burned to the ground.
At least 10 Baptist churches have been damaged or destroyed in arson fires that began on February 3. Several had their doors kicked in and their pulpits set ablaze but no motive was known.
The FBI was investigating whether the fires could be considered hate crimes under the Church Arson Prevention Act. The 1996 law makes it a crime to intentionally damage or destroy houses of worship or to use threats or violence to halt the exercise of religion.
Baptist is the predominant denomination in the region. The attacks did not appear to be racially motivated since some of the churches had majority white congregations and some had majority black congregations.
(Additional reporting by Verna Gates in Birmingham)
Slim
http://today.reuters.com/news/newsarticle.aspx?type=domesticNews&storyid=2006-03-08T192232Z_01_N38485760_RTRUKOC_0_US-CRIME-CHURCHES.xml&rpc=22
Three Arrested In Alabama Church Fires
By: Peggy Gargis
TUSCALOOSA, Alabama (Reuters) - Authorities have arrested three college students in connection with a spate of fires that damaged or destroyed 10 Baptist churches in Alabama, investigators said on Wednesday.
Prosecutors identified the suspects as Ben Moseley and Russell Debusk, 19-year-old students at Birmingham-Southern College, and Matthew Lee Cloyd, 20, who transferred last year from Birmingham-Southern to attend the University of Alabama at Birmingham.
Federal and state investigators planned to release details at an afternoon news conference.
The pastor at one of the destroyed churches said investigators notified him of the arrests on Wednesday.
"We are relieved. We were fearful while they were on the loose because we did not know their agenda," said Jim Parker, pastor of the Ashby Baptist Church in Brierfield, Alabama, which was burned to the ground.
At least 10 Baptist churches have been damaged or destroyed in arson fires that began on February 3. Several had their doors kicked in and their pulpits set ablaze but no motive was known.
The FBI was investigating whether the fires could be considered hate crimes under the Church Arson Prevention Act. The 1996 law makes it a crime to intentionally damage or destroy houses of worship or to use threats or violence to halt the exercise of religion.
Baptist is the predominant denomination in the region. The attacks did not appear to be racially motivated since some of the churches had majority white congregations and some had majority black congregations.
(Additional reporting by Verna Gates in Birmingham)
Slim