Fiery cross burns near houses

Press, 23 September 1987, Page 1

Fiery cross burns near houses

PA Palmerston North A 3.5 m wooden cross was set alight on wasteland near a Palmerston North residential district early yesterday morning. A housewife, Ms Leilani Dalleston, who found the charred remains of the cross on the boundary of her property, said that it was a “sick joke.” “I never thought this sort of thing would happen to us in New Zealand,” she said. "I want to know what they are going to do next — burn my house down?” Early yesterday the large cross, made of 4in by 2in timber wrapped in paper, was set alight on the boundary. It was discovered at 1.30 a.m. by a neighbour, who had been awakened earlier by the sound of hammering coming from the

railway wasteland at the rear of the houses. Ms Dalleston was bom in New Zealand, but her husband is Ku Klux Klan as a warning.

“Then they kill the main man in the house. We are supposed to pack up and move away from the area, but we aren’t going anywhere.” Mrs Dalleston was bora in New Zealand, but her husband is a Pacific Islander. They have lived at the new development with their two small children for about a year. She said the police told her there was little they could do. They suggested she chop up and burn the cross. Ms Dalleston said she was going to leave the cross there “for everyone to see.”