By Daniel L. Bamberg
State lawmaker, Senator Geral Dial of Linevile is proposing a piece of legislation which will make burglary and any desecration of religious property a hate crime in Alabama. Therefore, these acts would become felonies.
"We hope this is a deterrent for people to rob (churches)," Dial said. "They take copper and sound equipment. We just hope this will protect people in the rural area from doing that."
In 2006 five Bibb County churches were burned to the ground, haunting the community. Since then desecration of church properly has not gone away – thought nothing as severe has been reported. In 2009 several church break-ins including theft of copper, and damage occurred throughout rural Bibb County. There was also a vandalism of a church bus and of a few historic cemeteries.
District Attorney Michael Jackson whose district includes Bibb County is welcoming this proposed law.
“In my county, we have had five churches burned and that really devastated the community,” explained District Attorney Jackson. “It has been very painful.”
These incidents are however not just occurring in rural areas, but also within urban areas such as downtown Birmingham.
Russell DeBusk, who pled guilty to arson involving one of the five churches burned in 2006, is currently looking to shorten a sentence. Jackson is opposed to the idea and believes making these incidents hate crimes in the state would keep the idea of short state sentences from occurring. Currently DeBusk faces two years in state prison after serving his 6 years in federal. The bill proposed by Dial would have greatly increased the time DeBusk is to seve, if it was in effect at the time of DeBusk’s admitted church burning.
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