Beating of LDS teens stirs memories of hate group

(i saw this article and just thought id show you it)

by Emily Gersema - May. 6, 2008 02:58 PMThe Arizona Republic
The beating of two teens at a Gilbert neighborhood park has rattled town residents and reopened wounds that many local residents had thought were healed.
The teens were attacked Saturday evening at a neighborhood park in northwest Gilbert after being asked by a group of kids if they were Mormon, according to a police report. At least one was taken to the hospital to be treated for facial injuries.
Police have arrested two Mesquite High School students, 15 and 16, one of whom was on the Wildcats varsity football squad last fall. Both had swastikas carved in their wrists and are accused of making anti-Mormon statements.
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They were held on suspicion of aggravated assault and disorderly conduct, authorities said. The 16-year-old also is accused of drunken driving and underage drinking.
He said his was trying to protect his younger brother, police said.
According to one of the victims, they were in a group playing Ultimate Frisbee when they were attacked.
He said his attackers called in other friends after a pellet gun was fired.
He said he knew one of his attackers.
"We do consider it a hate crime," Gilbert police spokesman Sgt. Mark Marino said Tuesday.
The Republic typically doesn't release the names of minors, as juvenile cases in Arizona are kept private.
The weekend attack has stirred up old memories of the Devil Dogs, a White supremacist group that emerged in the 1990s at Gilbert's Highland High. More than 35 people were arrested in 2000 in connection with the gang, which had ties to mobster Sammy "The Bull" Gravano and was accused in a series of beatings and drug trafficking.
That year, Gilbert police reported to the FBI that it handled 11 hate crimes - seven of them targeted victims because of their race.
Many of those arrested were children of upper-middle-class families in Gilbert.
The violence prompted a community-wide effort to address hate in the booming farm town. Groups such as Gilbert's Human Relations Commission was formed and the town's Citizens Action Network, which was already in existence, received increased interest and funding.
Tami Smull, a Gilbert resident and former commission chair, said she is saddened by the recent beating, and hopes community members can rally around one another and start a public discussion to address problems with prejudice.
"There are a lot of misunderstandings about all of the religious differences," Smull said.
"Whatever extent the community can establish some dialogue - some communication efforts to help us understand one another better - it will be for the greater benefit of the community."
The number of hate crimes reported by the town has ebbed since. In 2006, the most recent data kept by the FBI, there were three cases - one over race, another religion, and another sexual orientation.
Although the Devil Dogs are history, Smull said residents have to be vigilant.
"The only time we'll regress is if we stop working hard," Smull said, "because it's not going to go away."
Residents near the neighborhood park northeast of Elliot and McQueen roads declined to be interviewed Tuesday. Although temperatures were in the lower 80s - perfect for a play day in the park - no families could be found.
A 15-year-old Mesquite High sophmore said Tuesday the incidents is "appalling."
"If they have swastikas on their wrists, it looks like they are trying to be funny about it," Joshua Hsu said. "But it's not a funny thing."
School district officials think the case is an isolated incident but remain watchful.
Associate Superintendent Dave Allison said at this point, no one connected to the case has been expelled or suspended. However, Mesquite High officials have been meeting with parents on all sides.
Allison said the district is awaiting word from police to determine if it needs to take further action with the suspects.
"We're certainly going to be making sure that the students are kept away from each other," Allison said. "All the parents have been supportive of what we're doing.
Allison recalls that after the Devil Dogs arrests, the district launched an educational program with the Anti-Defamation League, an organization that tracks hate crimes. Students attend a program in the summer, and then they return to the classrooms in the fall and share what they've learned about prejudice with their peers.
Allison feels confident that students are safe.
"This is the first incident like this that we've had this year at any of our schools," he said.
He noted, too, that it happened on a weekend, away from campus.
Mayor Steve Berman called the attack "absolutely rotten," but said it isn't reflective of the Gilbert community.
"We're a city of 220,000 people and we have our share of nuts," he said.
Gilbert police officers are completing a final report detailing interviews with witnesses and the recommended charges to forward to county prosecutors.
The 16-year-old suspected attacker who was driving had a 0.137 blood alcohol content while the other, who was at .028, was not charged with underaged drinking..
It will be up to the Maricopa County Attorney's Office whether the two accused attackers will be tried as adults