Churches, Houses Torched in Tennessee Town

[Judi Lynn]

Churches, Houses Torched in Tennessee Town

By Gary Tanner
Associated Press
Saturday, July 9, 2005; Page A02

SPARTA, Tenn., July 8 -- Seven fires were deliberately set Friday in a neighborhood in this small Tennessee town, inflicting heavy damage on two black churches and burning five vacant houses, authorities said.

Detective Allen Selby of the Sparta police said there was no evidence the arsons were part of a racist hate crime but authorities were not ruling out anything.

No injuries were reported in the fires, which were set just before 5 a.m. in the town, 75 miles southeast of Nashville.

The churches that burned were on the same street, and as firefighters arrived to fight one fire, Selby said, "they looked down the street and the other church was fully involved."
(snip/...)

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/07/08/AR2005070802024.html?nav=rss_nation
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[Name removed]

1. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Judi Lynn]

2. Citizen's arrest!

No doubt you meant "they" (enemies) are out defacing public bridges, etc. Sometimes they scribble things which appear to insult _Bush, to frame us!

[TheGoodCitizen]

3. That was HILARIOUS!

:rofl:

I needed a good laugh!

I cant stop laughing! I cant even view your post without laughing... or did I just smoke one too many?

I bet it's really that funny! :headbang:

(edit: not to make light of the original post, that shit was not good and I do NOT promote that type of potential racial intolerance and/or torching Church's)

[WCGreen]

4. My step nephew is in town for a few days

Were gonna make us some signs. Gonna teach him a thing or two about free speach in 'merica

[TheGoodCitizen]

5. .

[WCGreen]

6. I don't think his dad will actually let him go out with me

to hang the signs, but we will be busy making a few......

I have to see where the best place would be.....

[Moderator]

9. Please don't hijack this thread on a very serious issue

[Tsiyu]

7. Weird and sad. That kind of stuff just doesn't happen here.

Though the circumstances are bad, whatever the case may be, I hope it isn't racism. Though Tennessee of course has its share of dumb bigots, there generally isn't this kind of hostility towards other people here. Nobody screams about putting the rebel flag on our state flag and there's no noticeable presence of the KKK or other hate groups (no yearly marches like I remember in Georgia). Though there are issues of concern to the black community that Tennessee needs to do a better job of addressing, it just isn't fraught with this kind of racial tension...if racial tension is what this is. If it's just a bizarre case of arson, then I have to say I know even less about what to do.

[scarletlib]

8. I 'd like to say I agree with you. I am originally from Tennessee

Nashville to be exact. Most Tennesseans got along well with each other. Jim crow segregation was abandoned in Nashville rather quickly once Civil Rights demonstrations got under way in earnest. The mayor and chamber of congress did not want violence in the town. I can't speak for the rest of the state.

However, I do not know how they are measuring the distance of Sparta to Nashville. Sparta is just on the outskirts of the county. As soon as you leave town heading southeast to Murfreesboro on I-24 yoiu come to Sparta. No way is it 75 miles from Nashville.

[HamstersFromHell]

12. You're thinking of Smyrna, not Sparta....

Smyrna is just outside of Nashville on I-24, along with LaVergne. Sparta is out I-40E to the Cookeville exit (hwy. 111), then south. (Still a resident of Nashville myself.)

As to the fires themselves, I'd bet they were set by teenager wannabe racists. The 5 houses between the churches were absndoned and empty at the time of the fires.

Link to Nashville newspaper article:

http://www.tennessean.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050709/NEWS01/507090345

[screembloodymurder]

10. Contrast Detective Selby's statement with Tony Blair's.

Selby gives the facts and tries to reduce racial tensions. Tony Blair used the bombings in London to support his decision to go to war in Iraq and ignite racial and religious hatred. Both had no evidence, but one chose to inflame while the other sought to sooth. Whose the leader?

[FloridaPat]

11. People who burn down churches are really stupid. Not matter what

your religious beliefs are, what happens if you just happen to be wrong? It's not like every other building is a church. I think people that burn down churches will someday see how ticked off God can really get when God's "property" is destroyed.