WEDOWEE, Ala., Aug. 7 -- The FBI began its investigation Sunday into a suspicious fire that destroyed a racially troubled Alabama high school hours before a planned protest there. Firefighters called to the blaze at the Randolph County High School in Wedowee, Ala., Friday arrived too late to extinguish the flames and had to watch the 56-year-old school burn. Current and former students gathered at the scene Sunday to gaze at the charred remains of the gutted building. The 1994-95 school session had been slated to get underway Aug. 22. School officials were uncertain whether classes could begin on time at an alternate site. Local civil rights advocates welcomed the news that U.S. Attorney General Janet Reno had turned the case over to the FBI. 'It was a very timely move on the part of the attorney general, and the assistance of the FBI is greatly needed and certainly appreciated,' said Clark Frieson, president of the Franklin County chapter of the NAACP. Frieson said there was a need for outside investigators since the eyes of the nation would be trained on Wedowee. Alabama Gov. Jim Folsom offered a $10,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of those who set the fire at the school. Folsom also called on the town's mayor and other public officials to help ease racial tension in the area. The school was thrust into the national spotlight in February when principal Hulond Humphries threatened to cancel the prom if interracial couples attended.
Although Humphries later reversed that decision, the edict roused festering racial tensions in the east-central Alabama town of about 900 residents. The tensions were evident Friday when Humphries arrived at the scene of the fire. A Birmingham television reporter claims Humphries and several other men attacked him, beating him badly enough to require medical care. Friday's fire came hours before a planned protest march against Humphries in front of the school. The march was canceled. The march was to protest the Randolph County Board of Education ruling that allowed Humphries to keep his job while federal authorities investigate his actions in connection with the prom threat. (Written by Jeff Bray in Miami from information provided by Varion Walton in Mobile, Ala.)
