[bloodrayne]

Go Figure: Onetime Cross-Burner Loses Election

Pratt, west Virginia — A man who pleaded guilty to taking part in a cross burning several years ago lost in his bid to be mayor.

Greg Bess garnered 41 votes in Tuesday's nonpartisan election, coming in a distant second to Ann Neese, a social justice officer at West Virginia University Institute of Technology, who received 104 votes. Two other candidates got fewer votes than Bess.

Bess, a coal mining contractor and chairman of the town's utility board, has said his role in the 1999 cross burning was exaggerated and "it was more of a joke that got out of hand."

"Just for the record, Greg Bess is not a racist," Bess said before the election.

Bess pleaded guilty in 2001 to a criminal conspiracy charge, telling a federal judge that he built the cross and carried it to the residence of Lucy Roberts, who was at home baby-sitting for her 2-year-old biracial granddaughter.

He was sentenced to 30 days in jail and three years' probation and was fined $1,000.

"I think that the citizens were making a statement that they did not care for Bess' behavior and his participation in the cross burning," Neese said Wednesday.

Calls to Bess rang unanswered Wednesday morning.

Pratt is a southern West Virginia town of about 530 residents.