Julio
01-20-2009, 05:13 PM
Tuesday, January 20, 2009, 08:10 AM
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
A Forsyth County woman who went to Washington D.C. to attend the inauguration of President Barack Obama will come home to find her house burned.
Authorities have declared the fire in Cumming to be suspicious and spoke of “terroristic threats and acts.” There’s no sign that anyone has talked to the homeowner, Pamela Graf, so the story remains incomplete.
Jon Flack, a Democratic activist who lives in Forsyth County and operates the blog Tondee’s Tavern, said Graf is on her way home. Flack said she had been active with Democratic women in the county.
This was posted late last night by the Gainesville Times:
No one was home when the house on Lanier Drive in northeastern Forsyth County burned to the ground about 4:30 a.m. Sunday. Someone spray-painted graffiti that included the phrase “your black boy will die” on a fence along the property….
Attempts to reach Graf for comment Monday were not successful. But her father, William Morrow, said he thinks she was targeted because of her political views.
Morrow said Graf had two Obama campaign signs in her yard before the fire. He wasn’t sure what happened to one sign, but said he asked her to remove the other after she received a negative letter about a week before the fire.
Morrow said the letter addressed her political views, though he couldn’t remember any specifics from it that his daughter had shared with him. He said she had taken the sign out of her yard before she left Friday.
Anderson said if fire investigators determine that the graffiti is a possible threat against Obama, they will involve the Secret Service. The department’s Atlanta field office was closed Monday for the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday.
“Once I sit down and talk with her and we can discuss this a little bit more in depth, if we feel that’s what it is we’ll call them and give them the information and see what they want to do,” he said.
Last night, Marie Anderson, chairman of the Forsyth County Democratic Party, put out this statement:
”In response to the recent house fire which occurred in Forsyth County and is suspected to have been racially motivated, the Forsyth County Democratic Party condemns hate crimes of any nature.
“Should the allegations prove to be true, we as residents of Forsyth County, whether Republican or Democrat, Obama supporter or not, should be shocked and appalled that this type of incident would happen here in our County.”
Updated: This morning, as inauguration ceremonies in D.C. got underway, the Southeastern office of the Anti-Defamation League condemned the fire as “a terrible reminder that even on this day of history, racism remains a virulent threat in America.”
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
A Forsyth County woman who went to Washington D.C. to attend the inauguration of President Barack Obama will come home to find her house burned.
Authorities have declared the fire in Cumming to be suspicious and spoke of “terroristic threats and acts.” There’s no sign that anyone has talked to the homeowner, Pamela Graf, so the story remains incomplete.
Jon Flack, a Democratic activist who lives in Forsyth County and operates the blog Tondee’s Tavern, said Graf is on her way home. Flack said she had been active with Democratic women in the county.
This was posted late last night by the Gainesville Times:
No one was home when the house on Lanier Drive in northeastern Forsyth County burned to the ground about 4:30 a.m. Sunday. Someone spray-painted graffiti that included the phrase “your black boy will die” on a fence along the property….
Attempts to reach Graf for comment Monday were not successful. But her father, William Morrow, said he thinks she was targeted because of her political views.
Morrow said Graf had two Obama campaign signs in her yard before the fire. He wasn’t sure what happened to one sign, but said he asked her to remove the other after she received a negative letter about a week before the fire.
Morrow said the letter addressed her political views, though he couldn’t remember any specifics from it that his daughter had shared with him. He said she had taken the sign out of her yard before she left Friday.
Anderson said if fire investigators determine that the graffiti is a possible threat against Obama, they will involve the Secret Service. The department’s Atlanta field office was closed Monday for the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday.
“Once I sit down and talk with her and we can discuss this a little bit more in depth, if we feel that’s what it is we’ll call them and give them the information and see what they want to do,” he said.
Last night, Marie Anderson, chairman of the Forsyth County Democratic Party, put out this statement:
”In response to the recent house fire which occurred in Forsyth County and is suspected to have been racially motivated, the Forsyth County Democratic Party condemns hate crimes of any nature.
“Should the allegations prove to be true, we as residents of Forsyth County, whether Republican or Democrat, Obama supporter or not, should be shocked and appalled that this type of incident would happen here in our County.”
Updated: This morning, as inauguration ceremonies in D.C. got underway, the Southeastern office of the Anti-Defamation League condemned the fire as “a terrible reminder that even on this day of history, racism remains a virulent threat in America.”