ARLINGTON — A black minister and his five children awoke to see a cross burning on their front lawn at 2 a.m. Wednesday, police said.
The 3- by 5-foot cross, held together with duct tape, was lying flat in the grass, Arlington Police Chief John Gray said. Firefighters put out the flames.
The family, which moved into the upscale Gleneagle neighborhood south of Arlington several months ago, "was saddened and surprised," Gray said. "This just goes against everything they’ve already experienced here."
Family members are concerned about their safety and did not want to talk about what happened, Gray said.
The cross burning is apparently the first in Arlington’s history, police said.
"We’re very angry," Gray said. "This kind of malicious harassment is just intolerable. Arlington is generally a very inclusive community. This kind of crime goes against what this community believes in."
Police have stepped up patrols in the neighborhood and are probing whether the cross burning is connected to an earlier incident at Arlington High School.
Gray wasn’t able to provide details about that incident.
The minister also told police his yard was damaged twice by people driving over the grass, Gray said, adding that the minister didn’t report the damage to police because he didn’t believe it was racially motivated.
Officers Wednesday canvassed Gleneagle, which surrounds a golf course, and sent pieces of the cross to the State Patrol crime lab for testing, Gray said.
"We want to see what kind of fuel was used and if there’s any other evidence," he said.
At Arlington High School, teachers held an emergency meeting to discuss the cross burning, and students signed a poster in support of the family.
"Everybody is just very, very upset about this whole thing," world history and psychology teacher Mike Buckholz said. "We’re just appalled that something as ignorant and intolerant as this happened."
Mayor Margaret Larson also said she was upset by the incident, calling it a "terrible event."
"Behavior like this cannot and will not be tolerated," she said. "Each and every person in our community of Arlington deserves to be treated with respect. This is not acceptable."
Reporter Katherine Schiffner: 425-339-3436 or schiffner@heraldnet.com.
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