Treasury to Probe Racist Bash; ATF Not Only Agency Involved

Treasury Secretary Robert E. Rubin on Monday announced a major internal investigation of law enforcement participation in the racist “Good Ol’ Boys Roundups” in rural Tennessee, and officials acknowledged that the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms was not the only federal agency whose personnel attended the gatherings.

Officials said they also would examine participation at the May jamboree by a limited number of Customs Service, Internal Revenue Service and Secret Service agents, harshly warning that federal law prohibits employees from engaging in discriminatory conduct.

Videotapes of the event held in the mountain town of Ocoee, Tenn., have touched off national controversy. They show vendors selling T-shirts depicting Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in cross hairs, and another showing police officers surrounding a black man who is spread-eagle on the hood of a police cruiser, with the slogan “Boyz on the Hood.”

Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Orrin G. Hatch (R-Utah) plans to hold a hearing Friday into federal agents’ participation. He said he will call officials from the Justice and Treasury departments and other agencies to testify.

The annual weekend gatherings have been organized since 1980 by a former ATF agent, Gene Rightmyer. Rightmyer, who retired several years ago, began planning the events when he worked at ATF offices in Tennessee and South Carolina, where the events have been held. Invitations this year asked participants to respond and send registration fees to the ATF office in Greenville, S.C., according to published reports.

ATF officials have said that, on average, about six current and between six and 10 retired ATF employees took part in each of the yearly riverside bashes. ATF officials said last week that they would conduct an internal review of participation by agents.

But Monday, Ronald K. Noble, Treasury’s undersecretary for enforcement, said a small number of employees of some of ATF’s sister agencies that also are part of Treasury--Customs, Secret Service and IRS--also attended. Most of the people at the events were local, county and state law enforcement officers from the region, federal officials said.

It could be illegal for federal employees to use government cars, telephones or other equipment to organize a private event. Moreover, officials fear that black criminal defendants could challenge the credibility and fairness of agents found to have attended a racist gathering.