By David Beasley
ATLANTA, June 12 (Reuters) – A Ku Klux Klan chapter’s
request to “adopt” a stretch of road in Georgia was rejected by
state authorities on Tuesday, setting up a possible court fight
over the right of the white supremacist group to participate in
the highway clean-up program.
Under adopt-a-highway initiatives in Georgia and other U.S.
states, groups volunteer to pick up trash and plant trees along
the highway. Road signs are typically installed to recognize the
organizations’ efforts.
Georgia cited public safety concerns in denying the Union
County Klan’s application to participate in the program.
“The impact of erecting a road sign naming an organization
which has a long rooted history of civil disturbance would cause
a significant public concern,” the Georgia Department of
Transportation wrote the Klan chapter.
“Impacts include safety of the traveling public, potential
social unrest, driver distraction or interference with the flow
of traffic.”
Harley Hanson, whose formal title is the Exalted Cyclops of
the Union County Klan, had earlier said his group would consider
legal action if the application were denied.
“We’re not going to be deterred,” Hanson told Reuters on
Monday.
State Representative Tyrone Brooks said Georgia should fight
the Klan’s application in the courts and if it loses, “I think
you might want to end the program.”
In 1997, the state of Missouri rejected a similar request
from a Klan chapter, saying the group’s membership rules were
racially discriminatory.
But a federal appeals court ruled in favor of the Klan,
saying that requiring a group such as the Klan to alter its
membership requirements in order to qualify for the
adopt-a-highway program would “censor its message and inhibit
its constitutionally protected conduct.”
The U.S. Supreme Court refused to hear the Missouri case.
Following the court ruling, the Klan was allowed to adopt a
stretch of Missouri highway, and did so for a short period.
(Editing by Paul Thomasch and Mohammad Zargham)