The Nation - News from June 7, 1988

Arson charges were reduced for a man accused of torching an anti-apartheid shantytown while attending an alumni weekend at Yale University. Dr. Elwood G. Bracey, 56, of West Palm Beach, Fla., who once worked at a hospital in South Africa, was charged Sunday with first-degree arson, but the charge was reduced to third-degree arson in Superior Court. State statutes say first-degree arson is based, in part, on intent to destroy or damage a building when it is inhabited. Authorities said the shanties were not occupied at the time of the Sunday fire.