J B Stoner

More than 100 Evangelical ministers in Orange and Los Angeles counties have signed a "Covenant of Care and Brotherhood," the first step by a new task force against anti-Semitism, the Rev. Frank Eiklor announced Thursday. "Unchallenged anti-Semitism is really a disgrace to the Christian church and flies in the face of our claiming to be a moral force," said Eiklor, 51, a religious broadcaster in Orange County who spearheaded a similar effort in the Boston area several years ago.

Angered by a weekend clash in Glendale involving a neo-Nazi group, the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday denounced the white supremacists and criticized a hotel for allowing them to meet on its premises. Board Chairman Mike Antonovich lashed out at officials of the Glendale Holiday Inn for allowing white supremacist J. B. Stoner to hold a meeting of his Crusade Against Corruption group.

About 20 anti-racist activists picketed the Glendale Masonic Lodge on Sunday to protest a Bible study conference, but they were a bit late. The final session of the three-day conference was called off at the last minute by organizers to avoid confrontations, police said. That announcement, however, did not discourage demonstrators from marching around the lodge entrance for more than two hours chanting "No racists, no KKK, no fascist USA" and other anti-racist slogans. The demonstration was incident-free, but it attracted the largest number of Glendale police personnel since white supremacist advocates and anti-racist groups clashed in a 1987 mini-riot.

The prosecution of four men arrested during a 1987 protest against the appearance of avowed racist J. B. Stoner finally wrapped up this week, with two men pleading guilty to charges of battery for attacking two youths identified with the neo-Nazi Skinheads group. Late last week, the last of three charges against another defendant in the case was dismissed when a jury couldn't reach a verdict.

Another rash of racial graffiti was discovered in Glendale last weekend, the most recent onslaught since the highly publicized visit to the city last November by avowed racist J.B. Stoner. Glendale Police Agent Chris Loop said the graffiti, which included an anti-black epithet, swastikas, "White Power" slogans and a number of unintelligible symbols, were discovered mainly on driveways and sidewalks within one square block. "It appears like they were connected," Loop said.

A judge Monday refused to order the Glendale police to give the defense personnel files of every officer assigned to a demonstration in 1987 that led to charges against Jewish activist Irv Rubin and three other men. The judge, however, granted a request for personnel files of the arresting officers and police witnesses against the four and said he might hand over any police intelligence reports about the defendants' role in the demonstration. He is to rule on intelligence documents individually.

In the wake of last weekend's near-riot sparked by a white supremacist meeting Sunday in Glendale--the second such street fracas this year--city officials are vehemently denying the city is a haven for racists. But civil rights leaders say the city has a racist image--in part because of official inaction--that invites white supremacists to Glendale. The issue was raised by a comment made before Sunday's meeting, led by avowed racist and convicted church-bomber J. B. Stoner.

As one of more than 500 public defenders in Los Angeles County, John Michael Lee represents people who are charged with crimes and do not have the money to pay for a private attorney. But these days, Lee, 42, is himself accused of a crime and has secured the services of a private attorney. Like many others, he is struggling to meet the high costs of legal counsel.

The early-morning jogger was lost in thought as he made a final loop around the dew-covered knolls of Glendale's Oakmont Country Club. "This is for members only!" a woman in a nifty sweat suit shouted. How did she know the runner was not a member? It seemed unlikely that she would know every club member, unless. . . . Unless it was because the jogger was not an Anglo, as the woman was. Could it be that the club membership was, how shall we say it, racially exclusive? Nah.

Hellhound on His Trail The Stalking of Martin Luther King Jr. and the International Hunt for His Assassin Hampton Sides Doubleday: 480 pp., $28.95 Told that his activities were "unwise and untimely," the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. responded, in his famous 1963 "Letter From Birmingham Jail," that while he was committed to nonviolence, "I am in Birmingham because injustice is here." Five years later, he was in Memphis, Tenn., for similar reasons — to demonstrate in support of 1,300 city sanitation workers who were on strike — when he was gunned down on a motel balcony, waiting to go to dinner.