First Lady Visits Valley Shooting Site

First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton visited the North Valley Jewish Community Center on Friday to praise, to soothe and to drum up support for tougher gun-control and hate-crime laws.

Speaking in the same center where five people, three of them young children, were wounded during an allegedly hate-inspired attack this August, Clinton said the country could learn a lot from the families of the shooting victims.

She especially applauded the family of Joseph Ileto, the 39-year-old postal worker shot to death in Chatsworth, allegedly by the same man who attacked the community center.

Locking her eyes on Ileto’s brother, Clinton said: “I hope the message of courage of this family and this center will serve as a hallmark, a beacon, a guiding light of how to navigate the years to come and how we can all stand up for dignity.”

The first lady also stressed the need for tougher laws on gun control and hate crimes, measures the Clinton administration is pushing despite Republican resistance.

“Only members of Congress can keep guns out of the hands of those who would be violent and protect those who would be victims of hate crimes,” Clinton said.

Her two-hour visit to the Granada Hills community center became a reunion of sorts for the victims and their families, many of whom hadn’t seen each other since the days following the Aug. 10 shooting.

There was 6-year-old Ben Kadish getting wheeled down the same hallway where he almost lost his life, his father’s hands firmly on the back of his wheelchair.

Mindy Finkelstein, a 16-year-old camp counselor, and Joshua Stepakaoff, a 6-year-old camper, got to meet the first lady before her speech and hear her read from a book.

Buford O. Furrow, 37, an avowed racist from Olympia, Wash., is accused of shooting the three youths, along with another boy and the center’s receptionist. Furrow burst into the community center entryway spraying bullets because he hated Jews, police said.

After Furrow left the center, he shot and killed Ileto, a Filipino American, while Ileto was delivering mail, police said.

Furrow is facing federal murder and gun charges and probably will face attempted murder charges from the state.

The most vocal of the victims’ family members was Ismael Ileto, brother of the slain mailman, who used Clinton’s visit as an opportunity to launch his own campaign for tougher hate-crime laws. He’s formed a group named after the letters of his brother’s name: Join Our Struggle to Educate and Prevent Hate and Instill Love, Equality, and Tolerance for Others. He speaks at schools and community events.

“I don’t want my brother to have died for nothing,” Ileto said. “That’s why I’m working for stronger laws.”

The Clinton administration is backing a measure that would expand the groups protected under federal hate-crime laws and make it easier for federal authorities to investigate hate crimes. Currently, federal law enhances penalties for crimes committed against people based on their race, religion or ethnicity. The proposed legislation would also cover violence based on sexual orientation, gender and disability.

This summer the Senate passed the proposed Hate Crimes Prevention Act. But during House-Senate budget negotiations, Republican leaders cut the measure out, saying it replicated state laws.

Last week, President Clinton vetoed the Justice Department spending bill, citing the absence of expanded hate-crime legislation. The administration is now negotiating with Congressional leaders over the hate-crime measure and tougher gun-control laws that would require trigger locks and prevent juveniles from purchasing arms.

The first lady said Friday that law enforcement needs more tools to fight hate-crime groups.

“We need to make it easier to prosecute these people,” she said. “We can’t permit the virus of hate crimes to infect our society.”

Clinton kept her remarks focused on the shooting incident and anti-crime legislation. She said nothing about her possible Senate run in New York.

Her audience kidded her about it, though, and gave a warm round of applause when Ileto introduced her as the next senator from New York.

Many said they appreciated Clinton’s push for stronger crime measures.

“We all know what can happen to our children now,” said Lionel Bell, chairman of the Jewish Federation, which helped organize the Clinton visit. “I don’t see how anybody can be against tougher laws that fight hate.”