ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Thursday, November 14, 1996 TAG: 9611140064
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-3 EDITION: METRO
University paper stirs racial pot
FAIRFAX - A column in George Mason University's student newspaper asking whether black people are ``animals that need to be chained down'' has generated more than two dozen letters to the paper.
The Broadside published the column Nov. 4 under the title ``Can't they all just get along?'' It was written by John Paul Wright, a white student.
``It is interesting that only particular ethnic groups riot when something occurs that they disagree with,'' the column said. It cited 1992 rioting in Los Angeles after the police beating of Rodney King and recent disturbances in St. Petersburg, Fla., following the shooting of a black motorist by a police officer.
``Perhaps it is not wise of me to think these humans are capable of reason,'' Wright wrote. ``Maybe they are animals that need to be taken care of by being chained down. Then again, that would even be cruel to a pet.''
He ended with: ``Everyone must respect and obey the laws, or no one will.''
Several students defended publication of the column, saying the tone reflected racial problems on campus.
Conaway Haskins, editor of the opinion section, said Wright's column did not violate the paper's standards.
``I did not feel that he was attacking black people or any other racial group,'' said Haskins, a sophomore who is black. ``It wasn't a direct, blatant, slanderous attack on anybody. He was more posing questions, raising issues.''
Wright wrote an apology in Monday's issue, saying that he did not express his ideas well but that he stands by his main argument that violent responses to injustice are wrong.
The school has about 25,000 students. About 7 percent are black.
- Associated Press
Dogs prompt call for 4,300-acre fence
PRINCE GEORGE - The Prince George County Board of Supervisors has taken a stand in a dogfight between hunters and the federal government.
The issue involves hunting dogs that run onto the James River National Wildlife Refuge.
For decades, the hounds have romped through the refuge's prime deer hunting areas. But last year, six hunters were fined $55 each in federal court when their dogs strayed onto the property. Federal law prohibits domestic animals from roaming free in a wildlife refuge.
Despite months of negotiations between sportsmen and refuge manager Barry G. Brady, the two sides could not come to an agreement. So the supervisors passed a resolution this week asking the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to erect a fence around the entire 4,300-acre refuge.
``Hunting dogs can't read posted signs,'' said Supervisor Reid Foster, who proposed the resolution.
The refuge is home to the largest bald eagle roost on the East Coast, but Brady said the hounds haven't harmed the birds.
- Associated Press
Sex offender, 68, given 130 years
VIRGINIA BEACH - A retired New York hotel executive has been sentenced to 130 years in prison for 19 counts of sexual offenses against boys in Virginia Beach.
Walter Skinner pleaded for his freedom Tuesday, saying therapy had helped make him a different person. But Circuit Judge Jerome Friedman was unmoved, although he suspended 74 years of the sentence.
Skinner, 68, may become eligible for release after 10 years under the state's geriatric release program.
In a statement to police, Skinner said he spent two decades molesting boys between 11 and 14, many of them in hotels along the city's resort strip. He said he took the boys there after meeting them in a football league, where he helped out as an adult instructor.
Skinner lived with his wife in New York City and came to Virginia Beach periodically to care for his ailing mother, said his wife, Joan Mary Skinner.
- Associated Press
Missing teen-ager found at truck stop
KING WILLIAM - A teen-age girl missing since Halloween is back home today, but is offering few clues about where she's been.
Nicole West, 16, was found Tuesday morning at a truck stop off Interstate 95 near Kings Dominion. She said a boy picked her up in a Jeep near her home, and called him her first date. She later said his interest in the occult scared her.
``Never again,'' said the slightly retarded teen-ager. ``I don't act my age.''
She was found at the truck stop after the night clerk at a nearby motel recognized her when she asked him about a room for the night. The clerk, Robert Gundaker, a neighbor of the girl, alerted the truck stop's security officer as she was about to get into a tractor-trailer bound for New York.
- Associated Press
LENGTH: Medium: 93 linesby CNB