San Diego (special) -- White supremist Alex Curtis is the only one who knows for sure whether he was sincere when he apologized to Jewish, civil rights and political leaders in a series of meetings last week at the Edward J. Schwartz Federal Building.

A majority of the people who met the handcuffed and manacled Curtis
were skeptical that he told them anything more than what was required of
him prior to his formal sentencing June 11 on a variety of federal hate
crimes charges.

The apologies were required under terms of a plea bargain worked out
between the U.S. Attorney's office and Curtis's attorney, Bernard Skomal. 
Prosecutors agreed not to seek a sentence of more than three years in
custody for Curtis, with one of the conditions being that he personally
apologize to each of his victims.

Where those three years in custody will be served will be decided by the
sentencing judge and by the U. S. Bureau of Prisons. Curtis' attorney
wants his client to be sent to a prison "boot camp" program, which is
considered to be an easier incarceration program than a regular prison. 
The U.S. Attorney's office has said, however, it does not believe that
Curtis qualifies for such a program.

With such legal maneuvering as a background, Curtis was escorted by U.S.
Marshals, representatives of the defense and prosecutorial teams and by
federal mediators to a series of meetings with people who had been
subjected to threats and harassment at their homes or offices, and with
leaders of two vandalized synagogues.

Among those who met separately with Curtis were Clara Harris, former
director of the Heartland Human Relations Association; Morris Casuto,
regional director of the Anti-Defamation League; Rep. Bob Filner (D-San
Diego); La Mesa Mayor Art Madrid and representatives of Tifereth Israel
Synagogue and Temple Adat Shalom.

"He mouthed the words of an apology," said Casuto of the ADL. "He was
very careful to say that he was sorry for the crimes he committed; he
didn't say anything about the beliefs which led him to commit those
crimes. ... He gave me the impression he was someone who had memorized
the words."

Harris was more hopeful. "He sounded sincere," she said. "He said 'I am
sorry. I did not realize my actions would hurt anybody.'" Told that
Casuto had been more skeptical following his separate meeting with
Curtis, Harris said: "I am very different from Morris. I always look for
things to be better than they actually are. Sometimes that gets me in
trouble, expecting people to be better, but I felt sincerity from him. Of
course, he had an audience, so it is possible he was playing to them."

Filner said that during his interview with Curtis, "he never changed his
manner, his appearance; he was almost robotic the whole time. ... Who
knows what he is really saying ... I take him at his word, that he didn't
know that this would scare people; that he was just trying to get
attention."

Temple Adat Shalom sent a delegation including Rabbi Deborah Prinz,
Holocaust Survivor Howard Marcus and Rose Rosenberg, who grew up with
anti-Semitism in her small town in Indiana. "It was hard to know what
he was really thinking," said Rabbi Prinz. "Is he serious and sincere? 
How far does the apology really go? There is a part of me that is hopeful
that this will mean something and that he has truly regretted what he
did."

In Curtis's meeting with the Tifereth Israel delegation, according to Rabbi
Leonard Rosenthal, "there were certain times when I did believe that the
connection was made, especially when we were talking about the pain and
the hurt he had caused, and wasting his own life.... Perhaps the
conversations with victims will touch him some way, and have him look
into his own soul, and look at his own values. ..I think he is sorry that he
got himself into this kind of trouble -- sorry, but not repentant."

Rosenthal was joined by Rory Goldberg, president of the congregation, and
by Mike Zaks, a former president of the congregation and of the New Life
Club of Holocaust Survivors.

"When I said I was a Holocaust Survivor, he said it was an honor to be
with a Holocaust Survivor, that he never had been with one," Zaks said. "I
asked if he had seen Schindler's List; he said he was impressed with the
movie. I asked if he believed the six million Jews perished, and he didn't
give a clear answer. He was hesitant. I started disbelieving him. ... I don't
think he is sorry for what he did... He mentioned that he is sorry, blah,
blah...but I think inside he is still the same Alex Curtis."

Why did all these people want to meet with someone like Alex Curtis?

Casuto replied that "there was an expectation on the part of the mediators
that by sharing with Alex the adverse impacts on me and my family, it
would allow him to connect with me as a human being." While harboring
doubts that this would occur, Casuto said he felt it was worth a try. 

Over several years, Casuto and his family were subjected to at least 17
incidents of harassment at his home or office. Additionally, Casuto was
the subject of vitriolic commentary by Curtis on the latter's internet site.

In 1998, to mark the birthday of Adolf Hitler, Curtis had a cake box
delivered to the front door of Casuto's home; on the cake was a swastika. 
Another time a talking skull was left at the front door--an occurrence
that brought out the bomb squad. Leaflets with swastikas left at the
Casuto home and office were frequent occurrences. When Temple Adat
Shalom was desecrated, "Casuto" was one of the names spraypainted on
the house of worship.

"You worry all the time; it is always in the back of your mind, when you
wake up in the morning, when you leave for work and when you come
home," Casuto said. "I think generally the real heroes of this experience
are the members of my family. They didn't sign on to be targets and for
what Alex did to them, my forgiveness, if he cares, will be a long time in
coming."

Harris said over the years Curtis had spread "his ugly material around my
office--the stickers with swastikas" and also had "leafleted the place"
causing the landlord to put up iron gates and security bars. "He put little
swastikas over the door jam, so when I opened the door those things
rained down on my head."

He also put a snake skin over a bush on Harris's front lawn. After whites
so severely beat an African-American Marine at a party in Santee that he
was paralyzed, Curtis put a message on his web site that people like her
who are "trying to mix the races" were to blame, Harris said. "Who knows,
next time it might be her," she quoted Curtis as saying on that website.

Filner had a sticker put on the window of his congressional district office
which said: "Yabba Dabba Doo: Kill Every Jew." The congressman said his
encounter with the 25-year-old man at the federal building left him "more
sad than anything. He is just a kid, and he has all these incredibly hateful
ideas. ... I feel that we have to confront the idea that somehow diversity
will hurt white people. Rather than participate in a diverse, pluralistic
society, they are scared to death."

Madrid, whose home was spraypainted and leafleted with anti-Mexican
slogans, also found a package on his lawn with a dummy hand grenade
inside. The La Mesa Mayor could not be reached for comment following his
meeting with Curtis.

Prinz said the Temple Adat Shalom delegation told Curtis that the
desecration of their building was a "distraction, upset and trauma" for
many members of the 1,500-member congregation. "I also reminded him
that there was a tremendous outpouring of support from our neighbors,
from political leaders, and from the Christian clergy," Prinz said. "Later,
there was a march from a church to our congregation to show solidarity
with the Jewish people...."

Rosenthal mentioned to Curtis that he would be giving an invocation at a
community-wide commemoration of the Holocaust. The Tifereth Israel
rabbi asked what he should say about Curtis at such an event. Curtis
suggested that Rosenthal report that Curtis believes that his acts had
been stupid.

"He seemed genuine about not wanting to be in the limelight anymore,
about not turning his beliefs into action," Rosenthal said. "I don't think
he will change his actual beliefs."