Pa. cross burning stokes ire

PITTSBURGH - A white Western Pennsylvania family that took in a black teenage foster child who plays for his high school football team said they were targeted by a wooden cross burned outside their home over the weekend after his team lost a playoff game.

State police yesterday said they didn't know who burned the 6-foot cross, which Joe and Candy Walbeck said they were shocked to find charred in their yard early Sunday.

The Walbecks, who live in a predominantly white community an hour's drive east of Pittsburgh, took in 16-year-old Shaq Howard three years ago as a foster child because he was having problems with his family. The Walbecks now have legal guardianship.

They said Shaq, a junior who plays inside linebacker and fullback for United High School, which had a 9-2 record but lost a district playoff game Saturday night, is well-liked.

"Everybody accepts him. Well, apparently, there's somebody who don't," said Joe Walbeck, a former coal miner who's on disability.

The Walbecks have taken in about 16 foster children over the last six years at their home in West Wheatfield Township, Indiana County. They've had a couple of biracial foster children, but Shaq is their first black child.

Shaq said he was frustrated about the cross burning but wasn't going to mope over it.

"I don't wish bad on no one, but something has to be done about the ignorance and brutality of their crime," he said.

Shaq, Walbeck, and United High School Lions coach Greg Mytrysak said they were unsure if Saturday's loss may have prompted the cross burning.