KKK chapter wants to adopt stretch of Georgia highway

[At Least Clinton Liked Pussy, Obama Likes Dicks]

A North Georgia chapter of the Ku Klux Klan has applied to
"adopt" a stretch of highway in Union County, Georgia, according
to paperwork obtained by CNN on Monday.

The application, which would allow the white supremacy group to
receive state recognition for cleaning up a one-mile portion of
a highway, was filed by the International Keystone Knights of
the KKK on May 21.

If the Georgia Department of Transportation accepts the
application, the KKK would be responsible for cleaning litter on
a part of Georgia State Route 515 in the Appalachian Mountains
near the North Carolina border.

"All we want to do is adopt a highway," said April Chambers, the
chapter's secretary. "We're not doing it for publicity. We're
doing it to keep the mountains beautiful. People throwing trash
out on the side of the road ... that ain't right."

Jill Goldberg, a Georgia DOT spokeswoman, confirmed the
application but said, "the department is deferring comment
beyond that, however, until a resolution is determined."

Reader feels dirty for agreeing with KKK

DOT officials will discuss the matter Monday with
representatives from the state attorney general's office, she
said.

Chambers told CNN she didn't know anything about that meeting
but said the group is supposed to meet with the DOT at some
point. State Rep. Tyrone Brooks, D-Atlanta, has been working
against the group's adoption application, she said.

"We're not racists," Chambers said Monday. "We just want to be
with white people. If that's a crime, then I don't know. It's
all right to be black and Latino and proud, but you can't be
white and proud. I don't understand it."

A similar request in Missouri set off a legal battle that
stretched for years and went all the way to the U.S. Supreme
Court. A Ku Klux Klan chapter sought to adopt a portion of
Interstate 55. A federal appeals court ruled the state could not
bar the KKK from participating in the program, and the high
court declined to review the case, letting that ruling stand.

However, the Missouri Department of Transportation eventually
kicked the KKK out of the program because members were not
picking up trash as agreed, spokesman Bob Brendel said Monday.
The state also named the stretch of I-55 after civil rights
activist Rosa Parks, according to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

Georgia has been participating in the Adopt-A-Highway program
for more than 20 years. The program provides advertising for
sponsors who agree to clean a stretch of road on a sign posted
along the stretch.

http://articles.cnn.com/2012-06-11/us/us_georgia-kkk-
highway_1_kkk-international-keystone-knights-ku-klux-
klan?_s=PM:US

[Sofa King]

http://abcnews.go.com/US/kkk-groups-application-adopt-georgia-highway-denied/story?id=16551674
A Ku Klux Klan group's controversial application to adopt a stretch of
highway in north Georgia has been denied by the Georgia Department of
Transportation.

"Promoting an organization with a history of inciting civil disturbance and
social unrest would present a grave concern to the Department," spokesman
David Spear wrote in a statement. "Issuing this permit would have the
potential to negatively impact the quality of life, commerce and economic
development of Union County and all of Georgia."

The group, the International Keystone Knights of the KKK, had applied to
adopt a one-mile stretch of highway in northern Georgia.

"Maintaining the safety of our roadways is this Department's foremost
mission," the statement said. "Encountering signage and members of the KKK
along a roadway would create a definite distraction to motorists."

The GDOT also said that the section of roadway requested is ineligible for
adoption because its posted speed limit of 65 mph exceeds the program's
maximum of 55 mph. A letter of denial is being sent to the group.

The KKK group member who submitted the application did not respond to
request for comment.

The application set off a battle between a state representative condemning
the application and the group's ardent but anonymous leaders.

"The state of Georgia is absolutely shameful in even considering an
application from the KKK," Democratic State Rep. Tyrone Brooks told
ABCNews.com. "If the state will accept an application from the KKK, we may
as well get ready to accept applications from the Nazi party, Taliban, al
Qaeda and Aryan Nation."

The group dismissed Brooks' comments.

"What we're trying to do is something positive and this Tyrone Brooks is
trying to raise a stink about it. We just want to do something good for the
community," a representative of the KKK group, who would only agree to be
identified as the "Imperial Wizard," told ABCNews.com.

The man was adamant that his real name not be used, in order to protect his
job and family, he said.

"[Brooks is] coming out and calling the Klan a terrorist organization. Prove
it in black and white that the U.S. government has labeled us a terrorist
organization," the Imperial Wizard said. "Prove it. He needs to prove it. I
challenge him."

The Imperial Wizard insisted that the Klan does not commit criminal acts and
that "everybody has a past they want to forget about."

When asked if he maintained the beliefs of the KKK, notorious for violently
condemning minorities and religious beliefs that conflict with their own,
the Imperial Wizard said, "I'm a separatist. I'm not a racist. I believe in
the separation of the races. It was originally printed in the Bible."

The Georgia Department of Transportation says on its website, "Any
civic-minded organization, business, individual, family, city, county,
state, or federal agency is welcome to volunteer in the Georgia
Adopt-A-Highway program."

The case is similar to one in Missouri that turned into a lengthy legal
battle. When a KKK group tried to adopt a Missouri road, the state tried to
prevent it. The state eventually lost when the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in
2005 that membership in the "Adopt-a-Highway" program cannot be denied
because of a group's political beliefs.

Brooks said he wants Georgia's story to end differently.

"I think the state of Georgia should send a loud, clear message that we are
not going to allow the KKK to adopt our highways and byways," he said. "Say
that firmly and then let the chips fall where they fall."
--
"Most of the kookologists are as nutty as the kooks they poke, even if they
keep it better hidden, but for you to expect any different when you come
here is outright craziness." - Rhonda Lea Kirk Fries admits that she as as
kooky as Emmet!