Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, June 27, 1990 TAG: 9006270431
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B-3 EDITION: EVENING
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH LENGTH: Medium
"It's not unusual for an officer to get these kinds of threats," Police Chief Charles Wall said Tuesday during a news conference by city officials. Three posters were found three weeks ago at Rutgers University's Newark, N.J., campus.
The posters were an apparent reaction to last year's violent confrontations between police and young people, the majority of whom were black, in the resort city over Labor Day.
The posters read: "Laborfest '90. Virginia Beach, Virginia. We'll Be Back! See your M.O.V.E. area coordinator for details and bus schedule. Drop A Cop & Win $500. Burn The Beach In 90!"
City officials, residents, and civil rights leaders have been trying to defuse the situation in preparation for the coming Labor Day.
While Wall said he thought the posters were just another anonymous threat, his officers were apprehensive.
"We don't need this. Three in a confined area is bad enough," he said.
City Manager Aubrey Watts said he has asked for help from the federal government in tracing the source of the posters.
"I don't want to blow this out of proportion, but we have to take this seriously," Watts said. "I think it is a real mistake to give this document credence of any organization that can deliver on its promises."
Oral Lambert, the city's director of public works, said it was unfortunate "that some jerk in New Jersey can get this much attention by putting up an 8 by 11 piece of paper. It's kind of like yelling `fire' in a crowded theater."
Detective Tom Kozakiewicz of the Rutgers University police said the three identical posters were found posted within 100 feet of each other.
Watts said he does not believe the posters are an indication there is a group organizing to disrupt the holiday weekend.
MOVE, a radical back-to-nature group, was at the center of a May 1985 confrontation with Philadelphia police. When police used a bomb to try to dislodge a bunker from the roof of a MOVE-occupied row house that had been the subject of complaints from neighbors, the resulting fire destroyed 61 homes. Eleven people died in the MOVE house.
Watts discounted any connection with the Philadelphia group.
"I don't think they have the financial resources to do something like this and the term `area coordinator' was not normally used by that group," Watts said.
Kozakiewicz said he knew of no MOVE organization in existence in the Rutgers area.
by CNB