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James Ledbetter and Katharine Mieszkowski

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Pigeon Killers and Hate Groups

By James Ledbetter
Posted Thursday, Aug. 12, 1999, at 10:14 AM ET

Dear Katharine,

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Someone is poisoning birds in Central Park. "Between Tuesday morning and yesterday afternoon, 30 pigeons, 10 sparrows, one grackle and two ducks were found dead in the park," the New York Times reports this morning. (I did not know that grackles were native to Central Park; I don't think I could pick a grackle out of a lineup.) Park commissioner Henry Stern--himself a bit of a loon--admits that until autopsies are performed, they can't be certain of the cause of death, but everyone agrees that fowl play is likely. Evidently there have been signs of such bird murder since 1997. The Times continues with the information that "Killing the ducks, sparrows and grackle would be a violation of the Federal Migratory Bird Act." Reading between the lines, one can infer that poisoning a pigeon is not a federal offense. I guess Tom Lehrer would be pleased.

If the pigeon killer is still at large, thank heavens there's a real culprit for the mass shooting in Los Angeles. There's something oddly reassuring about having a suspect in custody, and having him be an avowed racist to boot. So many of these shootings end up with the guy killing himself, which makes the entire incident impossible to grasp. Here is Buford Furrow, a suspect very easy to grasp: a longtime affiliate of the Aryan Nations who is obsessed with guns and mass murder and who eventually tips over from theory into practice.

About the only part of it I don't get are the peculiar reports about his getaway strategy. On the run in Los Angeles, Furrow abandons his van and carjacks a Toyota. That all makes sense. Then he supposedly kills a mail carrier? Why? The Toyota is found abandoned "in the parking lot of the 7-Star Suites Hotel," according to today's Los Angeles Times. Then, we're told, Furrow hailed a cab in the San Fernando Valley and took it to Las Vegas, an $800 fare. Since when can you hail a cab in L.A.? I guess it's easier if you're armed.

The best detail I've encountered is from the Los Angeles Times, which traced a crucial piece of Furrow's AR-15 assault rifle to Bushmaster Firearms in Maine. Of course it's a coincidence, but the president of that company is a former state finance chair for GOP presidential hopeful George W. Bush. I'd like to see this shooting become an issue in the Republican primaries. Which of the GOP presidential candidates is willing to say that there is a deplorable, violent movement of hate in American society, and that anyone affiliated with that movement is unwelcome in the Republican Party? Which ones are willing to say that taking an anti-crime stance means finding a way to either stamp out these groups or isolate them so completely that they can't try to kill more innocent people?

Ever yours,
Jim