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Opinion: BecortsidGring Marriage, p.10 July 16. 1999 Serving the Carolines' Gay & Lesbian Communities for Twenty Years Volume 20 - Number 15 Synagogue attacks may P be linked to killing of a gay California couple. Associated Press REDDING, Calif. (AP) — In the wake of a white supremacist shooting rampage in Illinois and Indiana that left two dead and six others injured, police in Northern California say they have arrested Benjamin M. Wiliams, 31, and James T. Wiliams, 29, in connection with the killings of two gay men, Gary Matson and Wnfield Mowder. Authorizes refused to discuss details, but did say they had found “information and lit erature that suggests that die suspects may subscribe to some white supremacist beliefs.” . The Wiliams brothers were arrested just hours after police found die slain couple's missing car. Both were armed, and one was wearing a bullet-proof vest The two were charged were arraigned July 9 on charges of receiving stolen property that prosecutors said was linked to the victims Matson, 50, and Mowder, 40, were found July 1, dead from gunshot wounds. They were lying in bed in the trailer home they owned on five acres, about 180 miles north of San Francisco. On June 20 another gay man, James Amos, 66, was also found lying in bed dead of gunshot wounds not far from the Matson-Mowder residence. Police declined to say whether the killings may be related. Police said there was some indication the Wiliams brother may have known Matson and Mowder before they were killed. Earlier in July, Benjamin Smith killed himself after a shooting rampage that left a black man and a Korean-American man dead and six Orthodox Jews wounded in Illinois and Indiana. He was later linked to the World Church of the Creator, which A memorial to Winfield Mowder is displayed in the break room at Orchard Supply Hardware July 12 in Redding, CA where he worked. The bodies of Mowder and his gay partner were discoverd July 1. (AP Photo/Susan Ragan) teaches white racial superiority, anti Semitic beliefs and hatred of homosexuals Fires Linked to Pair On July 10, Shasta County Sheriffs Capt. Ron Richardson confirmed a link between the brothers and evidence pointing to the June 18 synagogue fires. The arson attacks at three Sacramento synagogues caused over $1 million in damages. Authorities searched the brothers’ mod est house and brought out several bags of evidence, and a van from the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms was parked nearby. The Sacramento Bee reported that authorities found a list of 32 prominent Jewish and civic leaders, linking the broth ers to the synagogue fires in Sacramento, about ISO miles south of Redding. FBI special agent James Maddock said protection was ordered for those individu als. Officials also urged Redding’s only Jewish congregation, Temple Beth 181361,10 increase security. The fires, set within minutes of each other on June 18, caused more than $1 mil lion in damage at Congregation B’nai Israel, Congregation Beth Shalom and the Knesset Israel Torah Center. A leaflet blaming the “International Jew World Order” for the war in Kosovo was left behind at one of the synagogues. Ed Smith, who owns the Palo Cedro nursery where the older Williams brother . continued on page 9 Flag-Burning at Ohio Pride COLUMBUS, Ohio (June 27) — Police in Columbus, Ohio, say they narrowly avoided a clash when protesters ripped down a Rainbow flag, a popular gay rights symbol, flying from a poll at Ohio’s state capitol and set it on fire in front of a passing Gay Pride parade. Authorities said Charles Spingola, 43, and Donald L. Richardson, 63, were charged with a variety of violations, ranging from disor derly conduct to riot and criminal damage. Police said the flag was taken down just minutes after an annual Gay Pride parade passed by the capitol building as some 30 anti-gay the anti-gay protesters broke but, leading to the flag-binning, wit nesses said. When more people joined in the increasingly tense con frontation, city police and state highway patrol officers had to step in to separate the two groups. Stonewall Columbus, sponsors of the parade, had arranged to have the flag raised at the capitol. The group quickly raised a replacement flag unfurled at the same location. The group also marched in the annual Fourth of July “Doo Dah Parade” in Columbus. Members marched with rainbow flags and carried fire extin guishers, in an attempt to show they had a sense of humor. The inci —-T- ‘V^'*** * * 4-' ** *•*A * * * * «.*;*>'* » * • « *'*»•> * * l ing in two arrests. Gay Soldier Murdered at Kentucky Army Base By Bob Roehr Contributing Writer NASHVILLE — Antigay violence seems to have claimed another victim. PFC Barry L. Winchell, 21, was sav agely beaten by another soldier in his unit at Fort Campbell, Kentucky on the night of July 5. He was flown by heli copter to the Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville, about sixty miles to the south of the base, where he died the following morning. A memorial service was held on the base on July 9. The Army has charged private Calvin N. Glover, 18, with premeditat ed murder in die attack and is confining him at Fort Knox, Kentucky pending legal proceedings. Fort Campbell spokesman Major Pamela Hart said there is “do conclusive evidence that this was a hate crime.” The Army has said little more and has instructed sol diers not to talk to the media. But almost immediately the oervicernemoers Legal ueiense Network (SLDN) began receiving phone calls alleging that the murder was an antigay hate crime. It dis patched staff attorney Kathi Westcott to the area to talk with members of the community and try to find out more. SLDN spokesman Stacey Sobel said they “felt it was very important to get involved very early on in die process, to make sure that if it is in fact a hate crime, that it won’t be covered up.” Westcott distributed more than 3,000 fliers seeking information as well as SLDN’s “rights card” which outlines the legal recourse for service members who are either under investigation or are being questioned with regard to another investigation. SLDN is being very cautious in their public statements. They have heard the rumors but say that they have not talked with anyone who has first hand knowl edge of the murder. Edward Clayton, president of the Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual Veterans of America (GLBVA) expressed a similar cautious approach. “We want to get it right,” he said. However, Clayton was willing to share a sanitized e-mail mes ■t' «, ** ..... L | contmuM on pag* & ivomaiamamui*»»»■*..«
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