National Desk
This article is from the archive of The New York Sun before the launch of its new website in 2022. The Sun has neither altered nor updated such articles but will seek to correct any errors, mis-categorizations or other problems introduced during transfer.
SOUTH
ANOTHER CHURCH FIRE IN ALABAMA RULED ARSON, BRINGING TOTAL TO 10
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – A weekend fire at a Baptist church was ruled arson yesterday, the 10th in a recent string of blazes set at churches in rural Alabama, authorities said. The Saturday afternoon blaze severely damaged the Beaverton Freewill Baptist Church in northwest Alabama, near the Mississippi line. “It’s definitely arson,” said Ragan Ingram, a spokesman for the state fire marshal’s office, which was investigating whether the fire was connected to the other blazes that have destroyed or damaged nine churches since February 2. Saturday’s fire was the only one that wasn’t set in the pre-dawn hours. Investigators have said they don’t know a motive, but there is no racial pattern. Five of the churches had white congregations and five black. All were Baptist, the dominant faith in the region, and mostly in isolated country settings.
– Associated Press
WASHINGTON
WHITE HOUSE ACKNOWLEDGES PHOTO OF BUSH AND ABRAMOFF
The White House yesterday acknowledged the authenticity of the first photograph made public that shows President Bush and embattled lobbyist Jack Abramoff, while stressing it does not mean the two had a personal relationship.
The photo, published by the New York Times and Time magazine, shows Mr. Bush shaking hands with an Abramoff client, chairman Raul Garza of the Kickapoo Indian tribe in Texas. Abramoff’s bearded face appears in the background, small and slightly blurry.
White House spokesman Allen Abney said the photo was taken in 2001, when the president dropped by a meeting of about two dozen state legislators to thank them for supporting tax relief.
Originally, the White House said it had no record of Abramoff’s attendance at the meeting.
“We now know that Mr. Abramoff attended this meeting,” Abney said Sunday. “The president has taken tens of thousands of pictures. This does not mean he has a personal relationship with each individual that is in those pictures.”
The White House would not release the photo or any others that Bush had taken with Abramoff, who helped raise more than $100,000 for the president’s re-election campaign. Abramoff has since pleaded guilty to federal charges related to an influence-peddling scandal on Capitol Hill.
Mr. Bush has said that he had his picture taken with Abramoff an unknown number of times, but he doesn’t remember any of them.
– Associated Press
