Ex-Klansmen Indicted On Rights Charges

Two former Klansmen were indicted Friday on federal civil rights charges for allegedly plotting the burning of a black church by two cohorts.

Arthur Allen Haley and Hubert “Herbert” Lavon Rowell were charged in a fire last summer at Macedonia Baptist Church in Bloomville.

Haley, a former Klan leader who said he left the group a year ago, organized rallies attended by Gary C. Cox and Timothy A. Welch. Cox, 22, and Welch, 24, pleaded guilty Wednesday to burning Macedonia Baptist and a church in Greeleyville.

Haley selected Macedonia Baptist to be burned, and Rowell instructed Cox and Welch how to use a plastic jug of flammable liquid to set the fire, prosecutors said.