News Release

State of South Carolina

Office of the Governor

David M. Beasley

Governor

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: Robyn Zimmerman

May 10, 1996 803/734-9840

STATEMENT BY GOVERNOR BEASLEY REGARDING CHURCH BURNINGS

(Columbia) -- Governor David M. Beasley made the following statement today regarding the arrests today in two separate cases of church arson.

"It was with great satisfaction that I learned from Robert Stewart, Chief of the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division (SLED) that arrests had been made today in two church burning cases: St. John Baptist Church in Lexington County which was torched in August of 1995 and the Islamic Center of Greenville which was torched in October of 1995.

I want to commend SLED and the Lexington and Greenville County Sheriff's Offices for their dogged determination to bring to justice those responsible for what was nothing less than an intolerable rampage against people of faith.

Law enforcement in the State of South Carolina has done an outstanding job in apprehending those responsible for church arsons. According to recent statistics, the national average of cases of this sort cleared by arrest is about 16% -- in South Carolina we are at 50% or better.

And the good people of South Carolina can rest assured that we will not rest. We will continue to pursue to the fullest extent of the law those responsible for these actions. As I have previously said: crimes of this nature cannot be tolerated in a society that so deeply cherishes its religious freedoms. To people of faith, a church is more than four walls. It is the house of God. Willfully desecrating a house of worship is a despicable and violent attack on the values our society holds dear.

My thoughts and prayers continue to be with the congregations of all these churches. And I know that as South Carolinians stand united against this type of violence, justice will prevail.

###