A burning hatred

In Anne Martin’s opinion, it could have been a lot worse.

A lot worse, that is, than her son Albert Martin, 34, and neighbor John Dixon, 44, allegedly burning two crosses in the pavement behind an interracial couple’s home on the 2800 block of Ernst Street.

After all, the targets of the Sept. 6 crime — Michael Dillon and fianc�e Ebony Williams — could have been killed or their house set on fire, rationalized the 66-year-old Martin.

And besides, Martin thinks her son and Dixon might have been just "joking" after possibly having had a little too much to drink at a Labor Day barbecue on the block, she said Friday, shortly after police announced the pair’s arrests.

"They wouldn’t kill nobody. They’re not criminals. It just looks bad. It’s a shame. I feel bad, but I can’t do much about it — it’s done," said the resident of the 2500 block of South 29th Street.

Detectives Joe Chiaro and Thomas J. Spiller of South Detective Division’s Special Investigations Unit made the arrests last Thursday around 6:30 p.m., said Chiaro. Detectives cracked the cross-burning case, which made national news, based on information provided by neighbors.

Martin lives with his mother, while Dixon is the victims’ next-door neighbor.

Like others, Anne Martin is trying to make sense of her son’s alleged involvement.

"He’s never had any problems. I think this [incident] just got out of hand," she said.

Born and raised at 57th and Christian streets, Albert Martin works for a Center City bank, which his mother said she thought best not to name in light of her son’s recent legal troubles.

Asked what Martin does at the bank, she said, "All kinds of work — I’m not sure what he’s called."

Police originally charged Martin and Dixon with possession of an instrument of crime, recklessly endangering another person, causing a catastrophe and ethnic intimidation, said Inspector Bill Colarulo of the Police Public Affairs Unit.

The District Attorney’s Office approved the police charges and added more, including criminal conspiracy, criminal mischief and failure to prevent a catastrophe, said Assistant District Attorney Christopher Mallios, chief of the Family Violence/Sexual Assault Unit, who also handles hate crimes.

Since there are two adult victims in this case, Martin and Dixon were charged with two counts of all eight offenses, the prosecutor added.

Both defendants are out on $20,000 bail after posting $2,000 each. The defendants’ preliminary hearing was scheduled for today.

The incident occurred on Labor Day sometime after eight or so neighbors

gathered for a barbecue. At the get-together, Dixon allegedly uttered ethnic slurs and denounced his new next-door neighbors, said Chiaro. The couple and their 6-month-old son, Aidan, moved on the block Sept. 1.

The suspect allegedly said, "If the KKK was here, they would burn a cross and send a message," Chiaro said at a news conference.

The practice of burning crosses is most closely linked with the Ku Klux Klan and was used to intimidate blacks in the South.

"Historically, a burning cross always signifies hate — especially against people of color," Colarulo said. "So there is no doubt that ethnic intimidation is an appropriate charge in this case."

The racist climate brewing at the barbecue was a little too much for some neighbors, who left early and disgusted, Chiaro said. Those people later came forward about the alleged comments, added the detective.

The next morning around 8:30, Dillon — the new neighbor — was being picked up for work by an employee when the man discovered two burning crosses in a common rear driveway behind the 2800 block of Ernst Street, said Detective Ed Tolliver of South Detectives.

The crosses were not located in the victims’ driveway, as investigators originally stated. Instead, they were near the entrance to the common parking lot.

Investigators believe the crosses were formed out of foam insulation that the suspects then torched with an accelerant to burn the images into the pavement.

The motive, according to Chiaro, is that Dixon didn’t think an interracial couple should be living next door to him — and the flaming crosses were used to "send a message," said the detective.

"It’s unbelievable in this day and age that people can resort to this type of behavior and intimidate someone to have them move out of a neighborhood," Chiaro added.

Dillon and Williams could not be reached for comment.

Whatever message the suspects had hoped to send the victims, neighbors sent one of their own by helping detectives nail them, believes Joseph Kluzynsky, of the 2800 block of Porter Street — one block north of where the crime occurred.

"They ain’t gonna tolerate this kind of stuff. I’m glad. There’s no room in the world for this kind of stuff," he said.

Early on in the investigation, detectives treated the incident as a hate crime based on interviews with neighbors and the couple receiving "dirty looks" since they moved in, said Tolliver.

Kluzynsky, who also is in a biracial relationship, claimed he got his own look from suspect John Dixon, whom neighbors know as Jack.

Two days before the cross-burning incident, Kluzynsky, 44, was installing a hot-water heater in the victims’ house when he ran into Dixon, who, he claimed, gave him a deprecating look.

"I didn’t think anything of it at the time until after the cross-burning," said Kluzynsky, whose 35-year-old girlfriend Kim is black, and who also has two mixed-race sons, ages 8 and 10, from a previous relationship.

Kluzynsky believes some people in the neighborhood disapprove of his kids, the fact that he prefers the company of black women and even that he has "a lot of black friends," he said.

A 30-year resident of the neighborhood in the shadows of Sunoco Refinery, Kluzynsky said he has felt the sting of racism through remarks and strange looks.

But most people know better than to take things any further than that, he said.

"I don’t bother with nobody. The neighbors around here don’t mess with me," said Kluzynsky. "They know I’ll kick in their front door. I don’t care, I’ll go to jail. I don’t take this bull—-."

Albert Martin’s mother maintained that "all the neighbors are surprised" about her son’s arrest.

"They’ve known him since he was a little boy. Everybody tells me he’s such a nice boy," she said.

Martin said she agreed to talk to the Review and Channel 10 because she has nothing to hide.

And neither does her son, she added.

"I always say you’re innocent until proven guilty."