Question for KXYL's James Williamson - " Who agitated these young men to think this way ?" Sounds like some of your call-in "students" !

Small Town Rural America - Compare Cleburne and Brownwood - When the Local Press & Law Enforcement Do Their Jobs ! Justice is Served..........Who's the Local Gay Basher and Bully of the Airwaves in Central Texas ?

10-8 Arrests made in beating
By Rob Fraser/Staff Writer

Two teenagers were taken into custody Thursday morning and charged with aggravated assault with serious bodily injury in connection with the Sunday night beating of a Cleburne High School student.
Cleburne police Criminal Investigator Veronica Cox said the two are being held on a $25,000 bond.
Cox said the assault appeared to be a hate crime because of the sexual orientation of the 17-year-old victim and comments that were made just before the boy was attacked from behind.
An aggravated assault is a second-degree felony but increases to a first-degree felony if it is determined to be a hate crime.
The assault happened at a gathering of young people after the victim had been there about 10 to 15 minutes.
Rob Fraser can be reached at 817-645-2441, ext. 2336, or rfraser@trcle.com

source: http://www.cleburnetimesreview.com/articles/2004/10/08/news/local_news/news02.txt
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10-7 Police investigate possible hate crime
By Rob Fraser/Staff Writer

A Sunday night beating of a Cleburne High School student will be presented to the district attorney's office as an aggravated assault. It may be treated as a hate crime, a police investigator said.
Criminal Investigator Veronica Cox said the assault could be considered a hate crime because it appeared to be motivated by the sexual orientation of the 17-year-old male victim.

An aggravated assault is a second-degree felony but increases to a first-degree felony if it is determined to be a hate crime. "The punishment is more severe," she said.
Cox said the student and several friends went to a gathering of young people, between 15 and 19. He was there about 10 to 15 minutes when three young men attacked him using their fists and feet. The incident happened around midnight.
Several witnesses told police the three suspects remarked on the man's sexual orientation and then came up behind him and attacked him, Cox said.
Cox said from what she can determine, the suspects are former CHS students who dropped out. Arrests in the case are pending, she said.
The victim and his family want to ensure something like this doesn't happen to anybody else, Cox said.
Rob Fraser can be reached at
817-645-2441, ext. 2336, or
rfraser@trcle.com

source: http://www.cleburnetimesreview.com/articles/2004/10/07/news/top_
story/top.txt

Then it goes National and is not covered up !

Hate-crime charges weighed
Dallas Morning News (subscription), TX - Oct 14, 2004

Student's Beating Investigated As Hate Crime NBC5i.com
3 Cleburne teens charged in brutal assault of 17-year-old Dallas Voice
Johnson County teens charged in possible hate crime KVUE (subscription)
The Advocate - all 7 related »
Teen's beating investigated as hate crime
Fort Worth Star Telegram (subscription), TX - Oct 13, 2004
A 17-year-old Cleburne High School student who was seriously beaten at a ... 3 beating as a hate crime because the student's three attackers made slurs derogatory ...
365Gay.com Gay Student Viciously Attacked By Teen Thugs
365Gay.com - 13 hours ago
(Cleburne, Texas) A gay high school student was beaten so badly by three ... Police say the investigation is continuing and that a hate crime enhancement may be ...
Cleburne student's attack under investigation
KLTV, TX - Oct 13, 2004
... Cleburne police say the October Third attack is being investigated as a hate crime because the three attackers made slurs derogatory to homosexuals. ...
HIGH SCHOOL ASSAULT
KFDX-TV, TX - Oct 13, 2004
A 17 year old high school student is badly beaten, in what police are calling a hate crime. The Cleburne, Texas, high school senior is suffering several broken ...
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In Cleburne, Local Clergy Refuses to “ Remain Silent ” ....................

“ Knoll said the crime stunned the city’s 28,000 residents.
“I think we’re kind of shocked someone would do something like this here,” Knoll said.
At least one of the town’s churches is discussing sexual orientation this week. The Rev. John Hall, pastor of the Field Street Baptist Church, has scheduled a sermon on what the Bible has to say about homosexuality.
Hall said that he had already written the sermon before the attack on the student, but he decided to place more emphasis on the need for compassion as a result of it.
“Hate is not consistent with a thoughtful follower of Christ,” Hall said. “A thoughtful follower of Christ cannot hate someone for whom God loves.”
Hall said that he plans to “state clearly and unequivocally that hate is wrong.”
“Now, of course, with emphasis I need for reinforce that,” Hall said.
Hall said that he is unaware of any gay and lesbian members of his congregation, but that he would hope they would be welcomed by the congregation. “

source: http://www.dallasvoice.com/articles/dispArticle.cfm?Article_ID=5224

But in Brownwood, The Clergy and all the "good people" chose to remain silent....................

“ The focus of this statement is on hate crimes related to 9/11. We wish not to dismiss other acts of hate that have been leveled against people of color and the gay and lesbian community in Texas.
For one example, the ACLU, with local concerned citizens, is currently investigating a rash of hate crime in Brownwood, Texas. We suspect at least 10 hate crimes in that town alone-including murders and even murders of witnesses to those hate crimes. Local officials have repeatedly refused to investigate or prosecute these crimes according to the mandates of the the Hate Crimes Act. In one instance, a field officer drafted a crime report which clearly documented race as the motive of the violent crime. Nevertheless, the local District Attorney's office still refused to prosecute this at all, much less as a hate crime. Our conclusion is that the law alone is not enough. The Texas Attorney General, or some external body, must be vested with full authority to prosecute these crimes or at least monitor the law's enforcement in some meaningful way. ”

William Harrell, Esq. Executive Director, ACLU of Texas
To the House Judicial Affairs Committee Regarding
The Committee's Oversight of the Texas Attorney General's Office

August 15, 2002 San Antonio, Texas

source: House Judicial Affairs Committee
[PDF/Adobe Acrobat]
... the ACLU, with local concerned citizens, is currently investigating a rash of hate crime in Brownwood,. Texas. We ...

archive.aclu.org/news/2002/harrell_statement.pdf