Clinton County in KKK ‘flier drop’

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CLARK TOWNSHIP — A Klan organization left fliers on local driveways as part of a recruitment action last weekend in Ohio, Virginia and South Carolina, according to a leader of the Imperial White Knights of the Ku Klux Klan.

Among the recipients were rural Clinton County residents on Patch Road and Farmers Road, as well as Highland County residents on Webertown Road in Highland County’s northwest corner. They found the KKK fliers inside plastic bags that contained white rice.

Clinton Countian Tim Henry said he found one on his driveway Sunday morning. “It made me a bit sick to know this organization still exists,” he said.

Martinsville-area resident Karen Gibson said she found a flyer at her residence Monday after being away Sunday. She called the sheriff’s office and a deputy came and got it, she said.

Clinton County Sheriff Ralph Fizer Jr. said Wednesday as sheriff he is obligated to protect their [KKK members’] constitutional right to free speech, adding it is also a right of the homeowner “to throw it in the trash if they want.”

Fizer said whether he or residents have the same beliefs, as county sheriff his duty is to make sure the flier distributors abide by the law “and to protect everyone’s constitutional rights no matter what their belief is.”

Highland County Sheriff Donnie Barrera said his office received “probably three or four” phone reports of the fliers from residents who threw them away, while deputies picked up a couple fliers on driveways.

Barrera said, “I hate to see anything like this come about in the county.” He added the organization is “free to advertise how they wish” in terms of leaving the fliers on private driveways.

Among other things, the flier states, “White brothers and sisters, there is nothing hateful in showing pride for your race.”

Chuck Harless, the imperial wizard of the Knoxville, Tenn.-based Imperial White Knights of the Ku Klux Klan, confirmed Tuesday he had issued an order for the overnight Saturday, Aug. 8 “flier drop.”

He said Ohio members of the organization distributed approximately 2,000 fliers in Ohio, but said he is “not privy to what counties they placed them in.”

In trying to spread the group’s message, Harless said the intended audience is “average Joe American fed up with what’s going on in America today.”

The website of the Imperial White Knights of the Ku Klux Klan touts itself as “the largest and most active Klan in America today.” Harless said it receives about 75 new applications per day.

He said the sole purpose of having rice in the plastic bags is to keep winds from blowing the bag around and to keep the organization from getting charged with littering. Sometimes candy or rocks are used instead, added Harless.

Reach Gary Huffenberger at 937-556-5768 or on Twitter @GHuffenberger.

A Clinton County resident on Patch Road, a little northeast of Martinsville, was one of the local people who found this KKK recruitment flier Sunday on their driveway.
http://aimmedianetwork.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/22/2015/08/web1_kkk_flier_f.jpgA Clinton County resident on Patch Road, a little northeast of Martinsville, was one of the local people who found this KKK recruitment flier Sunday on their driveway.

By Gary Huffenberger

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