CORTLANDT - An African-American family found a burning cross last night on the lawn outside their house, police and fire officials said.

The family believes the incident is related to one earlier in the day in which racial slurs turned to physical violence in a Hendrick Hudson High School classroom.

Clara and Wesley Artope said that shortly after 8 p.m., her son walked out of their house to find fire on either side of the driveway. When the family ran out to investigate, they saw a 5-foot-tall cross burning on the lawn, Clara Montague-Artope said.

"I couldn't believe it," she said. "I grew up in Chicago, and knew things like this happened. I had no idea it would happen here in Cortlandt. ... We teach our children to be responsible, to respect people to go to school and do the right thing and everything will be all right. But it doesn't matter how many degrees you have, in the end (your skin color) is all they see."

Police declined to release any details of the incident late last night, citing the pending investigation.

State police and Lake Mohegan fire officials did confirm, however, that a burning cross had been found.

Montague-Artope said she believes the incident stemmed from a confrontation her son Timothy, 15, had at school.

Clara Montague explained the events of the day reading from a statement her son Timothy had written out for the police:

Timothy Montague was in class playing a video game. The teacher decided to have a free period for the children because of the holiday. Montague got up from his seat, and when he returned a short time later a female classmate was sitting in it. He asked her to move, but she refused. He said to her, "I'll remember that," and walked away.

The girl, who is Caucasian, then allegedly started calling Montague vulgar names and using racial slurs. He then called her names. The girl walked over to where Montague was sitting and started shoving him. She allegedly shoved him several times and continued to use racial epithets until Montague stood up and shoved her onto a couch in the room.

Another Caucasian girl, presumably a friend of the first girl, came up to Montague telling him to fight her and also used racial slurs. Montague then punched the second girl in the face.

The teacher, who had been in another room at the time, came in and sent Montague to the office, where Montague admitted hitting the girl, according to the account.

The family did not release the names of the girls or the teacher. School officials were not available for comment.

Several hours after the shoving match, the family found the cross burning on their lawn.

A call to the Westchester County District Attorney's Office was not returned.



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The black boy's mom is an uppity bitch for using a hyphenated last name. The boy will move on to robbing liquor stores soon no doubt.

The whole thing probably began with a comment along the lines of 'yo bitch get up outma chair' or some other bastard vernacular. I'm chalking the whole fight and cross-burning up to coincidence.

A black friend of mine once thought it would be funny to light a cross on fire in his front yard so he could get on the news. It actually worked. I'm not saying that's what happened here though.

That wasn't a burning cross, It was a burning lowercase t, for tolerance....