Cross-Burning Attempt in La Crescenta Probed : Racism: Officials do not know what prompted the incident, which deputies say is the first of its kind in the community.

Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputies and local school officials are investigating an attempted cross-burning at the home of a black family in La Crescenta, but neither the family nor investigators knew what might have prompted the incident, officials said Tuesday.

Someone apparently tried to set a makeshift wooden cross afire early Saturday on the front lawn of a home in the 3100 block of Pontiac Street, Deputy Jerry Starks said.

“It was out there on the lawn in our direct vision when we opened the drapes in the morning,” said Lorna Kelly, 35, a nurse who has lived in the home for five years with her son, Kwame Barlow, 16. “It looked as though someone had made an attempt to burn it. There was soot on it, but it hadn’t actually caught fire.”

Kelly said she could think of no reason for the incident and had not experienced any racially oriented problems in the neighborhood.

Ken Biermann, principal of Crescenta Valley High School--where Barlow is one of six blacks in the student body of 1,600--said he questioned several students at the school Tuesday but had no reason to believe that any were involved in the incident.

Biermann said Barlow told him that he attended a party Friday night where he “had some hassles” with a few young people who are not students at the school, and had an argument with a classmate.

Barlow told police that the cross was not on the lawn when he came home from the party about 1:30 a.m. Saturday. His mother found the cross, about 3 feet high and 2 feet wide, when she awoke later that morning.

Starks, who has worked at the area sheriff’s station for 18 years, said the cross incident was the first he knew of in the community.

“We have no idea what prompted or precipitated the action,” he said.

Eugene Mornell, executive director of the Los Angeles County Human Relations Commission, said there were 167 racially motivated hate crimes reported last year, a 75% increase over 1988. Six of last year’s incidents involved cross-burnings.

According to the commission’s records, the only racially oriented incident in La Crescenta last year was vandalism at the home of an Armenian family.