Charlie Howard (murder victim)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

For other persons named Charles Howard, see Charles Howard (disambiguation).

Charles O. Howard (born January 31, 1961, died July 7, 1984) was a resident of Bangor, Maine in 1984. As Howard and a male companion (Roy Ogden) were walking down the street, Shawn Mabry, Daniel Ness, and Jim Baines, aged 15-17, began to harass Howard for being a homosexual. The youths chased the pair, yelling anti-homosexual epithets, until they caught Charlie Howard and threw him over the State Street Bridge into the Kenduskeag Stream, despite his pleas that he could not swim. He drowned, but his friend escaped and pulled a fire alarm. Charlie Howard's body was found by rescue workers several hours later.

This event galvanized the Bangor community in ways similar to the killing of Matthew Shepard, although the case never attained the same level of national notoriety. Jim Baines later spoke to various groups in Maine about his involvement in the case and the damage that intolerance can do to people and their community. His story was later published, although Baines received no royalties from the book, Penitence: A True Story by Edward Armstrong.

The Bangor City Council and members of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered (LGBT) community are working on a monument to be installed along the Kenduskeag Stream honoring the memory of Charlie Howard as the victim of a hate crime. On July 7, 2004, a twentieth anniversary walk was held in memory of Charlie Howard.

[edit] References

Armstrong, Edward J. (1994). Penitence: A True Story. Bangor: Lucie Madden Associates. ISBN 0-9642473-0-5
Preston, John. (1995). Winter's Light: Reflections of a Yankee Queer. Hanover NH: University Press of New England. ISBN 0-87451-674-9
Carnes, Jim. (1996). Us and Them: A History of Intolerance in America. New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-513125-8
Gagnon, Dawn "Hate crime memorial plan debated" Bangor Daily News August 26, 2006 (accessed September 8, 2006)A Rose for Charlie

[edit] External links

A Rose for Charlie: brief account of Howard's coming to Bangor and his death (accessed September 8, 2006)

Persondata
NAME	Howard, Charlie
ALTERNATIVE NAMES	Howard, Charles O. (full name)
SHORT DESCRIPTION	murder victim
DATE OF BIRTH	January 31, 1961
PLACE OF BIRTH	unknown
DATE OF DEATH	July 7, 1984
PLACE OF DEATH	Bangor, Maine