Cross Set Ablaze Outside Black Family’s Home : 4 Had Moved to Santa Clarita 2 Months Ago to Live ‘Someplace That Was Safer’

A black man, who said he moved his family to Santa Clarita from Sepulveda two months ago because he wanted to live “someplace that was safer,” discovered a burning 8-foot cross in front of his house early Thursday morning.

Derrick Quals, 31, said he had just quieted his restless 9-month-old son with a pacifier about 2 a.m. when he spotted the blazing cross through a front window of his home on Crestview Drive.

“I said to myself, ‘This can’t be California,’ ” Quals said.

Quals said he did not see who burned the cross and has not received any threatening telephone calls or letters.

“We don’t have anything at this point,” said Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Lt. Harvey Cantor.

Fence Dispute

But Quals told deputies that the cross-burning may have been related to a dispute he is having with the Hidden Valley Homeowners Assn. over his plans to build a fence, Cantor said.

Michael R. Granen, president of the 271-member homeowners group, said that some association members have criticized Quals’ plans to build a fence. The members, Granen said, objected to the fact that the fence would block their views and would not match the housing development’s architecture.

“We hope that it’s not related to this incident,” Granen said of the fence dispute.

Granen said the association’s board has offered a $1,000 award for information leading to the arrest and conviction of whoever is responsible.

“We feel very strongly that racism has no place in our community,” he said.

Quals said he was awakened early Thursday by the cries of his infant son, Derrick Jr. Quals said he did not realize at first that the orange glow he saw through a window was the burning cross. The cross, made of wooden 2-by-4s, was jammed into loose dirt next to the house’s brick walkway.

Quals said he called the emergency 911 number. The first firefighter to leap off the fire truck minutes later was a black man, Quals said. Neither of them knew what to say, Quals recalled.

“I guess he was just as disenchanted as I was,” he said.

The firefighter doused the flames with a garden hose.

String of Stores

Quals, who owns a string of liquor stores, said he and his wife, Janice, moved to Newhall because they thought their neighborhood in Sepulveda was declining.

“We wanted to move someplace that was safer,” he said.

Janice Quals, shaken by the incident, did not speak with reporters. The couple also have a daughter, English, 4.

Throughout the morning, neighbors walked over to the Quals’ house to offer support and sympathy.

“I don’t know what to say other than I’m sorry,” Lynn Greenberg said.

“It makes you sick,” Jamie Alexander said. “I didn’t think these things happened anymore.”

The Santa Clarita City Council released a statement expressing sympathy for the family and outrage over “this frightening and inexcusable attack.”

The statement added: “We will not tolerate such criminal activity in the city of Santa Clarita.”

Quals said he paid $500,000 for the Spanish-style home and will not leave the upscale community.

“I’m not a runner; I’m a fighter,” he said.

In another part of Santa Clarita last February, a 6-foot cross was burned in front of the home of a black teen-ager, adopted by a white couple, in Saugus. Later, Kory William Linder, 19, of Canyon Country was arrested and pleaded no contest to one count of misdemeanor terrorism and was sentenced last June to 30 days in jail, 30 days of community service and three years’ probation.

Times staff writer Michael Connelly contributed to this article.