OPELOUSAS, La. (AP) Each church catered to an African American congregation. Each graced a rustic, country setting. Each fronted a small cemetery. And each is now a charred disaster scene, the result of three conflagrations that brought echoes of civil rights-era violence to Opelousas, a city of about 16,000 people in rural St. Landry Parish, Louisiana.
The announcement that an arrest had been made was welcome news in and around Opelousas.
Im very relieved, Harry Richard said Thursday. He is the pastor of Greater Union Baptist Church, the site of the second fire. This takes a lot of the pressure off us in terms of who was behind all of this. Im very relieved.
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