Californians Convicted In Racist Attack

Two California men were convicted Monday in an off-campus attack on two minority students at Western Washington University last fall.

Banner Dawson, 20, of Chico was convicted of second-degree assault and malicious harassment in Whatcom County Superior Court.

Jason LaRue, 22, also of Chico, was convicted of malicious harassment.

They were accused of attacking a 19-year-old black man and a 20-yearold Asian man on Nov. 3. Neither of the victims was seriously hurt.

Police said two men, described by witnesses as skinheads, yelled racial slurs while beating up the two students.

The verdicts are proof the community will not tolerate these kinds of actions, said Western Washington University President Karen Morse.

“It is a statement to (minority) students that they are welcome in the community, and that the community will not condone an unsafe environment,” she said Monday.

Thirteen percent of the university’s 10,700 students are racial minorities.