MEMORANDUM: Summer 1998
TO: Community Leaders and Concerned Citizens
FROM: Monroe Gilmour, Bob Warren - Co-Coordinators
SUBJECT: Update on recent Hate Activity in Western North Carolina including
CAUSE, and other white supremacist/militia activity.
DATE: Summer 1998
(Note: Previous memos for 1993, 1994, and 1995 and 1996 available upon
request.)
Introduction
The search for Eric Rudolph, suspect in the January 25, 1998 Birmingham
women's clinic bombing, has focused national attention on western North
Carolina. That focus raises speculation on why WNC appears to be a haven
for right wing extremist groups and individuals. The region's mountainous
geography and a 94% white population are contributing factors. The Southern
Poverty Law Center reports 21 organized hate groups headquartered in North
Carolina, making NC 4th highest in the nation. Of those 21, WNC has six.
The first step in combating hate activity is to become knowledgeable
of what is happening around us. Toward that end, these periodic memoranda
are published and circulated widely in western N.C. and beyond. Memoranda
for previous years are available upon request or may be read on our web
page at www.main.nc.us/wncceib.
To obtain further information, provide us with updates of activity in
your community, or to volunteer your help in combatting all forms of racist
and hate activity, contact us at this address.
Contents of This Document
1. Kirk
Lyons of CAUSE Foundation Not Called as Witness in McVeigh/Nichols Trials
2. Kirk Lyons' Lunch With Local NAACP
President Causes Stir
3. CAUSE Foundation Listed as Hate-Group
by SPLC
4. Kirk Lyons' Connection to Sons
of Confederate Veterans Questioned
5. Kirk Lyons' Supporter, Herbert
Horton Dies
13. KKK Suspected in Rutherford County
Shooting
GO TO END OF DOCUMENT
RETURN TO WNCCEIB
HOME PAGE
Information on recent activity
involving hate groups and related incidents
1. Kirk Lyons of CAUSE Foundation
Not Called as Witness in McVeigh/Nichols Trials
Because the judge in the McVeigh/Nichols trials prohibited an expanded
conspiracy defense, previously subpoenaed witnesses such as Kirk Lyons
were not called to testify. McVeigh had telephoned Black Mountain the day
before the April 19, 1995 bombing and spoken with Lyons' assistant Dave
Hollaway for twenty minutes. The expected Oklahoma state trial is still
in the Grand Jury stage and a broader defense may be allowed in this trial.
The Grand Jury is expected to issue its conclusions by autumn 1998.
2. Kirk Lyons' Lunch With Local NAACP
President Causes Stir
A photo in the Asheville Citizen-Times, March 28, 1998 led to calls for
the resignation of the president of the local NAACP. The picture depicted
the local president with Kirk Lyons and Neil Payne, Lyons' brother-in-law
partner in CAUSE, laughing as they wore napkins on their heads to simulate
KKK hoods. The NAACP president said he was trying to create understanding;
many in the African-American community and others felt the meeting with
Lyons was inappropriate and counterproductive.
3. CAUSE Foundation Listed as Hate-Group
by SPLC
Once again, in its annual listing of "Active Hate Groups", the Southern
Poverty Law Center included the CAUSE Foundation. The report listed 474
groups nationally, with 21 organized hate groups in North Carolina, giving
NC the fourth highest number of organized hate groups in the nation. The
list was published in the Winter 1997 edition of the SPLC's "Intelligence
Report."
4. Kirk Lyons' Connection to Sons
of Confederate Veterans Questioned
Despite the reports to WNCCEIB of the embarrassment of some members of
the Sons of Confederate Veterans at Kirk Lyons' involvement with the group,
Lyons continues to play an active role in the organization. Lyons founded
the Issac Giffen "camp" in 1994 and served as its "commander." A September
21, 1997 article in the Winston-Salem Journal reported that Lyons' most
recent claim was that he was "Chief of Staff of the Army of Northern Virginia."
The SCV's effort to persuade the public of its purely historical interests
continues to be undermined by the active, prominent presence of Kirk Lyons.
5. Kirk Lyons' Supporter, Herbert
Horton Dies
The reclusive rightwinger, Herbert Horton died on May 16, 1998. He and
Kirk Lyons met at a Clemmons, NC Populist Party meeting in the late 1980s,
and he invited Lyons to move from Houston to one of Horton's rental houses
in Black Mountain, NC. Lyons moved his operation to Black Mountain in early
1992.
6. Kirk Lyons' Assistant Dave Hollaway
Moves Away
CAUSE Foundation incorporator and Assistant Director Dave Hollaway has
apparently left CAUSE and the Black Mountain area. He is said to be in
Texas. It was Hollaway, a former army explosives technician, who received
the 20 minute telephone call from Timothy McVeigh just before the 1995
Oklahoma bombing. Hollaway's departure makes CAUSE a family operation with
Director Kirk Lyons' brother-in- law and fellow CAUSE incorporator Neil
Payne as Assistant Director and his mother-in-law Betty Tate as secretary.
Tate's husband Charles Tate was second-in-command of the Aryan Nations
compound in Hayden Lake, ID before the couple moved to Black Mountain in
1994. He is now reported to be an "Ambassador At Large" for the Aryan Nations.
The Tate's son, David, was part of the Order, a violent white supremacy
organization in the 1980s. He is serving a life sentence in Missouri for
murdering a State Trooper who pulled over his van full of weapons and explosives
in 1985. Lyons & Payne are married to the Tate's two daughters.
7. CAUSE Foundation Web Page Cancelled
Kirk Lyons has cancelled the CAUSE Foundation's web page effective the
beginning of April 1998. It is not known at this time if Lyons plans to
reintroduce the web page.
8. Search for Eric Rudolph, Charged
Suspect in Women's Clinic Bombing
The ongoing western North Carolina search for Eric Rudolph has focused
national attention on extremist groups operating out of the region. Rudolph
is the prime suspect in the January 1998 bombing that killed a security
guard and badly wounded a nurse at a women's clinic in Birmingham, Alabama.
According to the Southern Poverty Law Center's Spring 1998 "Intelligence
Report," Rudolph is a "long-time believer in the racist Christian Identity
religion and a follower of the late Nord Davis, an Identity leader and
neighbor of the Rudolph family" (in Cherokee county, NC).
9. Nord Davis of North Point Team
Dies
The Asheville Citizen-Times reported on March 4, 1998 the death of Nord
Davis in September 1997. Davis was the long-time anti-government and Christian
Identity director of the 130 acre North Point Team compound in Tipton,
NC. Davis had close connections with Bo Gritz and sponsored Gritz' "SPIKE"
(Specially Prepared Individuals For Key Events) trainings in the Andrews,
NC area. In 1992, when Gritz ran for President on the Populist Party ticket,
he named Davis as his selection for Secretary of Defense. Birmingham bombing
suspect Eric Rudolph lived near Davis' compound and is reported by the
SPLC to have had connections to Davis and a shared belief in Christian
Identity "theology."
10. KKK Rally in Asheville, NC
On October 18, 1997, about 25 American Knights of the KKK, members from
Surry County, 100 miles east of Asheville, marched in Asheville. Despite
a Community Unity Rally attended by hundreds in another part of the city,
nearly 1000 people confronted the Klan downtown, some throwing rocks and
eggs. There were no major injuries. The Klan vowed to return
11. KKK Permit Denied after Threats
of Making Asheville "Another Greensboro"
Claiming their message didn't get out due to the nearly 1000 anti-Klan
protesters at their October 18, 1997 Asheville rally, Robert Moore of Thomasville,
NC "Grand Cyclops" of the NC branch of the American Knights of the KKK
applied for another rally permit. The permit to use a city facility was
denied by the city manager after Moore told the Asheville Citizen-Times
in a December 23, 1997 interview that "It's going to be another Greensboro
if they throw rocks." According to a January 10, 1998 ACT article, Moore
added to that comment saying: "If they throw one rock, it won't take us
but 88 seconds to wipe out what's standing across the street and God forbid
if there's (sic) any children there." Note: "88 seconds" refers to the
time it took Klansmen in 1979 to shoot down and kill five anti-Klan protesters
in Greensboro, NC.
12. KKK Threatens Asheville Woman
An downtown Asheville business person was threatened by NC American Knights
of the KKK "Grand Cyclops" Robert Moore after she filed an injunction on
January 8, 1998 to keep the KKK out of Asheville. Moore said in a January
10, 1998 Asheville Citizen-Times article: "She better keep her eyes open
behind her head every day she walks down those streets." WNCCEIB worked
with the Greensboro Justice Fund, a foundation set up by victims and surviving
family members of the 1979 Greensboro massacre, to secure a grant of $1000
for the woman to pay for security measures. Her suit became moot when the
City of Asheville denied the facility-use permit to the KKK.
13. KKK Suspected in Rutherford
County Shooting
The ATF (Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, & Firearms) and the FBI are investigating
the early dawn May 9, 1998 shooting into the home of an African American
couple in the Grassy Knob community of Rutherford County. James Wayne Stull,
21, and James Keith Pruitt, 23, are charged with conspiracy to murder and
discharging a firearm into an occupied dwelling. According to the Asheville
Citizen-Times May 12 article, both men were involved in the KKK marches
in Asheville in October 1997 and Hendersonville in April 1998. The victims'
family is related to the Asheville NAACP president who met with Kirk Lyons
of the CAUSE Foundation and made fun of the KKK, but no connection between
the two incidents has been established. (See Item 2 above)
14. KKK Rally in Hendersonville
April 25, 1998
Denied a permit to rally in Asheville, the American Knights of the KKK
held a rally on the Henderson County Courthouse steps in Hendersonville
on April 25, 1998. About 25 Klansmen and 200 anti-Klan protesters gathered
for the rally which remained violence-free. Hendersonville's Police Chief
Donnie Parks, who is African-American, prepared a strong show of force
with 80 police and State troopers on hand.
15. Cross Burned at School Prior
to NAACP Meeting
On January 26, 1997, the day before a meeting scheduled to discuss formation
of an NAACP chapter in Haywood County, a cross was burned in front of Waynesville
Middle School. Police said they found no evidence it was a hate crime,
but local African-American residents found it a "strange coincidence."
16. KKK Suspected in Yancey County
Arson
A mixed-race couple living in rural Yancey County (30 miles NW of Asheville)
were subjected to threats said to be from the KKK conveyed to them through
friends of the family. The threats telling them to leave the community,
came in the months prior to January 28, 1997, the night their home burned
down while the family was away. The NC State Bureau of Investigation determined
it was an arson, found the African American husband innocent through a
polygraph test, but has not made any further progress on the case. The
family feels there are leads which have not been adequately followed. WNCCEIB
worked closely with the family in securing a lawyer and coordinating support.
The case is still open.
17. Madison County Pipe Bomb Still
Unsolved
An unexploded pipe bomb was found in the driveway of a rural Madison County
Jewish woman on January 21, 1997. The woman felt the incident was an anti-Semitic
act. Although a neighbor who had made threats previously was suspected,
no arrests have been made and the case remains open. WNCCEIB works with
the family.
18. Haywood County Cross Burner
Gets 15 Years
On September 24, 1997, U.S. District Court Judge Lacy Thornburg ruled that
Eugene Smith, 48, was a "driving force" behind the December 31, 1992 burning
of two 6 x 4 foot crosses in front of a mixed race couple's trailer in
the Poison Cove community near Waynesville, NC. Smith was sentenced to
15 years and two others received sentences of seven years and six years
respectively. (Asheville Citizen-Times September 25, 1997)
19. Henderson County Man Charged
with Hate Crime
On June 17, 1997, Dana resident Foy Wayne Turner was in jail charged with
a hate crime after throwing his soft drink and yelling racial slurs at
a Taco Bell manager in Henderson County. (Asheville Citizen-Times June
19, 1997)
20. Racial Slur Scratched on Car
An Asheville man filed a charge June 7, 1997 that the words "nigger car"
were scratched on his 1991 Toyota when he left it parked in Asheville.
The car had been "scratched all over" according to police reports. No arrests
have been made. (Asheville Citizen-Times June 9, 1997)
21. Anti-Gay Violence/Intimidation
in Edneyville and Asheville
-Edneyville: Charles Merrill found a dead wild rabbit in his rural
mailbox with the rabbit's feet cut off and the head smashed in. Merrill
is president of Citizens Against Discrimination, a group working for gay
rights out of Edneyville in Henderson County. Merrill said he has been
the subject of other vandalism and rocks being thrown at his home. (Feb.
28, 1998 News Record of Hendersonville, NC)
-Asheville: The fundamentalist "Families United For Biblical
Values, a positive proactive, redemptive response to the NC Gay Pride Parade"
held a youth rally in the Robeson High School gym on June 12, 1998. "Reformed
homosexual" Michael Johnston of the Kerusso Ministries in Newport News,
Va spoke. In view of the statistics showing that 30% of teenage suicides
are associated with teenagers' sexual orientation, it is felt by WNCCEIB
that holding this type of rally aimed at youth and holding it in a high
school gymnasium is a dangerous contribution to the negative attitudes
toward gay teenagers among their classmates in school. Other events during
the week-end included a seminar for clergy at which Johnston spoke and
a rally attended by 3,800 in the Asheville Civic Center on June 14. (Note:
The NC PRIDE weekend and march in Asheville attracted 4000 and went off
without incident.)
22. Hate Directed Toward State Trooper
At Black Mountain Taco Bell
N.C. State Trooper Chris T. Phillips, who is African-American, filed a
lawsuit in March 1998 against Taco Bell after an incident in the Black
Mountain Taco Bell on June 29, 1997 when an employee allegedly spit into
Mr. Phillips' nachos. Testing by the SBI Lab "confirmed the presence of
human saliva on the chips." The suit alleges that Taco Bell employee Jason
Paul Jones saw Trooper Phillips drive up to the restaurant and asked for
his order "as he had something special" for him. Phillips filed suit after
getting no adequate response from Taco Bell. (Asheville Citizen-Times April
5, 1998)
23. Buncombe County School Board's
Hate Activity Toward American Indians
Clyde A. Erwin High School outside Asheville, NC has been asked by the
Buncombe County Native American Intertribal Association to eliminate its
"warrior" mascot for male athletes, its "squaw" mascot for female athletes,
other logos/Indian references, and the 25 foot high Indian statue in front
of the school. The Buncombe County School Board failed to apply its own
Non-Discrimination policy that obligates staff to create a learning environment
that has "respect for cultural differences." Instead, the Board allowed
Erwin students to vote on the issue. Forty one percent of the 1008 pupil
student body voted to retain the mascots while 33% voted for change, 13%
voted "unconcerned", and the rest were either absent or refused to vote.
The Board accepted the less-than-majority vote as binding to retain the
mascots. The Intertribal Association had explained to the Board to no avail
that one does not vote on racism and sexual harassment. All but five of
the 95 Erwin faculty members asked that the Indian mascots be dropped.
A campaign has begun to shine a national light on this issue.
24. East Henderson Confederate Flag
Controversy
East Henderson High School in East Flat Rock, NC suspended six students
for a March 12, 1998 Confederate flag-waving incident reported to be related
to a fight on March 10 between two sisters who are African American and
a white girl. The principal had instructed the students not to bring the
flags to school because they were offensive to African American students.
The students defied his instructions. The school has 18 African American
students out of a student body of 900. (Asheville Citizen-Times March 13,
1998) Conclusion: This memorandum covers only the tip of an iceberg of
hate activity, incidents, and crimes, many of which go unreported. The
good news is that for every act of hate in WNC, there are inspiring acts
of hope. Among them are the merging of a Black and White church in Asheville;
the 150 businesses and organizations that signed the Asheville Unity Coalition
resolution against hate activities; the peaceful NC Gay Pride March in
Asheville with 4000 participants; ongoing Building Bridges and Opening
Doors racial dialogue programs; the Asheville Citizen-Times deciding not
to use 'squaw' in its sports coverage; and numerous individual and institutional
efforts to address racial and bigotry issues in the work place. Rather
than be discouraged by this memorandum, we should use these words to motivate
ourselves to get involved and to remember Dr. Martin Luther King's words:
"The ultimate tragedy is not the brutality of the bad people but the silence
of the good." .
BACK TO TOP
BACK TO OTHER ISSUES
For
suggestions on how you can be involved in your community, please contact
us.
WNCCEIB thanks all the volunteers who have helped
put this memorandum together.
Please contact us if you have questions or want more
information.
Western North Carolina Citizens For An End To Institutional
Bigotry(WNCCEIB)
PO Box 18640
Asheville, NC 28814
Tel: 828-669-6677
Fax 828-669-8862
e-mail: wncceib@buncombe.main.nc.us
* * * * * * * * *
WNCCEIB is a non-profit, tax-exempt project of the
Western Carolina Coalition For Social Concerns. WNCCEIB expresses its appreciation
to the Greensboro Justice Fund, the Robert J. and Eunice J. Wagner Foundation,
and other generous donors for their support.