Hate Crimes

The bloody handprint is still on the sidewalk in front of the home where the two women live on Temple Avenue in Long Beach. There is a bloody footprint there as well, a grim reminder to passersby of what happened in the early hours of Saturday when the two were allegedly beaten by a dozen of their neighbors with sticks that resembled police batons. Their transgression, according to those who live nearby, is that they parked a little too close to some neighbors--and that they were lesbians.

Eight Hollywood teenagers were arrested in a gay-bashing incident last weekend, the second reported hate crime in West Hollywood in little more than a week. The youths allegedly kicked and beat a 25-year-old West Hollywood man Saturday and made slurs about his sexual orientation, Los Angeles County Sheriff's deputies said. The unidentified victim and witnesses said the youths appeared "jubilant" as they ran away, shouting they had just beaten a gay man, Sgt. Mike Parker said.

The City Council approved a new ordinance this month making it a crime to put hate literature, targeted at any group, in food packages. There have been no reported incidents of hate literature being placed in food packages in Agoura Hills, but there have been several incidents in other areas of Los Angeles County.

Prosecutors charged two 16-year-olds from the Antelope Valley with a hate crime Thursday in connection with an attack earlier this week on two black teenagers, one of whom was slashed with a machete. The boys, who immediately before the alleged assault shouted, "White power!" were described by authorities as white supremacist "skinhead-types." The teenagers are scheduled for arraignment this morning at Sylmar Juvenile Hall.

In the fourth suspected race-related attack in the Antelope Valley in eight days, a 15-year-old white boy was kicked in the back in a Lancaster supermarket by a black teenager who shouted "you skinheads!" at him and two companions, the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department said Tuesday. The attack occurred at the Max Foods store on Ave I about 7 p.m. Monday, sheriff's Sgt. Steve Nelson said. The boy suffered minor bruises but did not require medical treatment.

In the fourth suspected race-related attack in the Antelope Valley in eight days, a 15-year-old white youth was kicked in the back in a Lancaster supermarket by a black teenager who shouted "You skinheads!" at him and two companions, the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department said Tuesday. The attack occurred at the Max Foods store on Avenue I at 6:54 p.m. Monday, Sheriff's Sgt. Steve Nelson said. The boy suffered minor bruises but did not require medical treatment.

An Antelope Valley man was shot and seriously wounded Saturday afternoon during what he described as a racially motivated confrontation, sheriff's deputies said. Robert Ulberg, 25, who is white, told deputies that at least two African Americans approached him in a car in Lancaster and shouted "skinhead" before shooting him once in the abdomen and driving off. Ulberg was listed Saturday night in stable condition after undergoing surgery.

An Acton man was shot and seriously wounded Saturday afternoon during what he described as a racially motivated confrontation, sheriff's deputies said. Robert Ulberg, 25, who is white, told deputies that at least two African Americans approached him in a car in Lancaster and shouted "skinhead!" before shooting him once in the abdomen and driving off.

City and county officials acknowledged Wednesday that more than a year after a county commission recommended that Lancaster adopt reforms to quell skinhead violence, the city still lacks a broad policy to deal with racially motivated crimes. Two African Americans were assaulted in Lancaster on Monday, the latest in a series of attacks on members of minority groups during the past 18 months. Three suspected skinheads were arrested, sheriff's deputies said.

After a week of highly publicized suspected hate crimes, Antelope Valley elected officials, civil rights leaders and law enforcement commanders met Monday to discuss racial animosity in the area and how to deal with the violence. The meeting of the Antelope Valley Human Relations Study Group, scheduled before last week's rash of violence, reached areas of agreement and disagreement.