ed People, said that the eastern part of Texas surrounding Jasper has been considered a "problem area and a hotbed of Klan activity for years." Jasper lies 55 miles north of the town of Vidor, where a Klan group in 1993 tried to prevent the integration of an all-white housing development, threatening the first black residents as teen-agers dressed in sheets confronted black newcomers (Cropper A16). Certainly, the racist environment that Byrd's perpetrators were forced to grow up in contributed greatly to their bigoted ideology. Reporters say Byrd's perpetrators were three troubled men riding and drinking on a Saturday night. John William King, 23, was the trio's unofficial leader, a foul-mouthed convicted burglar whose prison nickname was "Possum." Shawn Allen Berry, also 23, was King's former high school classmate and partner in crime. Lawrence Russell Brewer, 31, had served seven years on a cocaine conviction, released on condition he be treated for an undisclosed mental illness. All three had tattoos or personal items wit
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