WEDOWEE, Ala., Aug. 6 -- A suspicious fire Saturday burned down the old section of an Alabama high school whose principal threatened to cancel the school prom rather than allow interracial couples to attend. Volunteer firemen said they responded to a report of the fire at 1 a. m. EDT, and it was still smoldering at noon.
A dispatcher at the Randolph County Sheriff's Department said investigators were still looking into the cause of the fire but other officials said they were almost positive it was arson. The eastern Alabama town of 900 has been the center of racial protests since the Randolph County High School Principal Hulond Humphries threatened to cancel the prom last spring because he had learned black and white couples planned to attend. Another march took place Saturday afternoon. Deputies said about 125 people marched, and there were no incidents and no hecklers. Sheriff Larry Colley said one of the four buildings at the school was burned to the ground. 'The office was saved, all the records were saved,' he said. 'The gym and the dining hall were saved.' The U.S. Justice Department is involved in an effort to fire the principal.
