The Nation - News from Oct. 7, 1987

A county grand jury in Charleston, S.C., indicted five Citadel cadets on a misdemeanor charge of illegally wearing a mask during the hazing of a black cadet at the military college last year, a prosecutor said. The 13-member panel declined to return indictments on a second count of placing a burning cross in a public place. Both charges are misdemeanors carrying a maximum sentence of a $500 fine and a year in jail. In the incident which drew nationwide attention last October, five white cadets dressed in sheets and towels entered the room of black freshman Kevin Nesmith, muttering obscenities and leaving a charred paper cross behind. Nesmith resigned from the military college afterward, citing personal reasons and harassment.