Someone burned a cross on the lawn of a home where a black man was staying, and police are investigating the incident as a possible hate crime.
Mario L. Johnston, 23, discovered the burning cross about 3 a.m. Saturday morning, outside a home owned by his employer, Thomas St. Goddard. Johnston, an African-American, was staying there.
St. Goddard said Johnston might have made some enemies when he went out on Friday night. "He went to a club and found some local hillbillies who didn´t like black guys," St. Goddard said. The men apparently exchanged words and several hours later, the cross was set on fire.
The cross was resting against a bush. The people responsible fled the scene, police said.
Essex County State´s Attorney Jan paul said the incident might be a hate-motivated crime because the victim was black and cross-burning is considered to be racially motivated.
Johnston could not be reached for comment Monday. St. Goddard, owner of T&B Country Furniture Barn, was reluctant to comment. "We would like to see what the state police come up with before we say anything," St. Goddard said.
Police said Johnston was upset about the incident, but St. Goddard said he was shaking the incident off Monday. "He´s doing fine," St. Goddard said.
Saturday´s cross burning left Concord residents uneasy. "I really don´t want to see this stuff around, especially with my three children," said Tye Rowe, a cood at the Wagon Wheel restaurant in Concord.
"Vermont is changing. I would never have thought we had gang members either, but you never know," Rowe said.
Concord was the scene of an unsolved cross burning on June 26, 1982. Somebody that time burned a 7-foot cross on a farm owned by the Woffords, an African-American family.
The Woffords are still in town but could not be reached for comment. A neighbor, Henry Descoteaux, 64, said he is aware of no other incidents involving the Woffords, but was nonetheless disgusted by the latest cross burning.
"Well, it happened again," said Descroteaux, who has lived in Concord about 50 years. "I can´t explain it. Some people are just like mad dogs. They can´t find anything else to do.
"There are a lot of bad feelings right through the town," said Descoteaux, who cited disputes over schools, logging, taxes and the cross burning as reasons.
"It´s been neighbor against neighbor. It´s just going all to pieces. The whole town is nothing like it used to be when I came here," Descoteaux said.
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