CLINTON ACTS ON BLACK CHURCH FIRES.

Byline: Todd Purdum The New York Times

President Clinton on Saturday ordered stepped-up federal efforts to investigate and combat the wave of suspicious fires that has swept at least 30 African-American churches in the South in recent months. The measures include a 24-hour toll-free number for the public to report tips.

``We do not now have evidence of a national conspiracy,'' Clinton said in his weekly radio address on Saturday. ``But it is clear that racial hostility is the driving force behind a number of these incidents. This must stop.''

On Thursday the Matthews-Murkland Presbyterian Church in Charlotte, N.C., became at least the 30th church in the South to be damaged or destroyed by fire in the past 18 months.

While the assistant attorney general for civil rights, Deval Patrick, has characterized the fires as ``an epidemic of terror,'' he and other officials have so far found no evidence of national or regional conspiracies to link them.

But a coalition of church and civil rights groups has pressed for heightened federal involvement, and Clinton vowed ``to do everything in my power to get to the bottom of these church burnings as quickly as possible.'' He asked a joint task force from the Justice and Treasury departments to advise him of any new actions the government can take.

At the same time, Clinton ordered the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms to visit Southern churches and inform them of any additional steps they might take to protect their property.

He also endorsed a bill sponsored by Reps. John Conyers of Michigan and Henry Hyde of Illinois that would make it easier for the federal government to assert jurisdiction over desecration of churches, by lowering from $10,000 to $5,000 the threshold of property damage that would constitute a federal crime.

Officials said the new toll-free number, (888) ATF-FIRE, is to be in operation by early this week.

Over the past six years, the government has investigated dozens of fires nationwide, more than half of them at predominantly African-American churches.

Civil rights and church groups have compiled varying tallies, but most of the fires were in rural areas, and investigation has been difficult because there were few if any witnesses and the fires were not discovered until the churches burned to the ground, consuming forensic evidence.

Hundreds of federal and local investigators have worked on the cases, and arrests have been made.

But a larger solution has been elusive, and prominent African-Americans like the Rev. Jesse Jackson have blamed a ``cultural conspiracy'' that tolerates racism. The fires have drawn the attention of rights groups because of the historical legacy: African-American churches were repeatedly attacked during the civil rights movement of the 1950s and '60s.

Clinton recalled that legacy Saturday, saying: ``We must never allow that to happen again. Every family has a right to expect that when they walk into a church or synagogue or mosque each week, they will find a house of worship, not the charred remnants of a hateful act done by cowards in the night.''

A coalition of groups, including the National Council of Churches and the Center for Constitutional Rights, is to meet with Attorney General Janet Reno today to discuss the status of federal efforts.

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Photo

Photo: Flanked by pastors of fire-damaged African-Americanchurches, President Clinton discusses the burnings during his weekly radio address.

Associated Press