Time Has Not Changed Metzger

Though Tom Metzger was not involved in the Denver case, he made national headlines after the 1988 beating death of an Ethiopian immigrant in Portland, Ore., by skinhead followers of the White Aryan Resistance.

Metzger and his son, John, the visible leaders of WAR, were not charged in the criminal case. But in a civil trial, the Metzgers were held responsible for the skinheads’ criminal behavior. Metzger, quite literally, is paying for his beliefs. Jurors awarded $12.5 million to the victim’s family.

Attorneys foreclosed on Metzger’s five-bedroom house in Fallbrook, collected about $100,000 of his assets and continue to seize WAR-bound donations from his post office box in San Diego County.

The verdict, however, hardly seems to have changed the public Metzger.

Last week--as network minicams rolled during an intermission interview and a tense post-play discussion between cast and audience--all eyes turned nervously to Metzger and his shaved head, blue sport coat and shiny black boots.

A bodyguard by his side, he claimed to have continued contact with the two men sent to prison in the Berg case. Speaking in a soft voice and appearing utterly nonchalant to the whispers encircling him, the Fallbrook resident made a clear stand for keeping races separate and praised the play during the halftime interview.

“I like it, and I’d like as many people as possible to see it,” he said. “Like it or not, it’s the future.”