KKK leader criticizes state's decision on Adopt-A-Highway signs

The Associated Press

05.24.00

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ST. LOUIS — The Ku Klux Klan Adopt-A-Highway signs in St. Louis aren't going back up anytime soon because they pose a potential safety threat, says a state highway official.

The leader of the Klan and a lawyer for the group say the decision violates a court order.

"I think the state is obligated," Klan national director Thomas Robb said yesterday.

Missouri's Adopt-A-Highway program allows groups — typically scouts, service organizations and the like — to pick up trash along a mile or two of roadway. In return, the state puts up signs recognizing the group.

Until last November, the Missouri Department of Transportation had refused a Klan request to adopt a stretch of Interstate 55 south of downtown, citing the group's history of discrimination. But after years of legal wrangling, MoDOT reluctantly gave in.

Twice, signs noting the Klan's participation were placed along both the north — and southbound lanes. Within a day both times, vandals destroyed the signs, most recently in February.

Because the signs attract so much attention, they could pose a risk to the safety of motorists and others such as the media and the simply curious who park near them, said MoDOT spokesman Jeff Briggs.

"We're talking interstate highway here — very busy," he said.

Briggs said the decision not to replace the signs was not necessarily final. "Our director and the Highway Commission are evaluating the situation and deciding what to do next," he said.

Briggs also noted that the decision does not affect the Klan's ability to participate. "We're not kicking them out," he said.

Robb said the safety argument didn't hold up in court. Last March, a three-judge panel of the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in Michael Cuffley v. Joe Mickes that attempts to block the Klan's participation were unconstitutional. The state is seeking a rehearing before the appeals court.

"What they're doing is a violation of the court order," Robb said. "I think the judge should consider that a slap in the face. I think the judge should fine the state numerous bucks."

Lawyer Bob Herman, who represented the Klan for the American Civil Liberties Union, said he would consider going back to court to force the state to put up the signs.

Robb said the state could take steps to ensure the signs stay up, but won't. "I think if somebody else's signs were being torn down they'd probably patrol it and make sure they didn't do it," he said.

Herman says he believes MoDOT has no intention of stopping vandalism of the signs. "They're encouraging it," he said.

Meanwhile, Gov. Mel Carnahan plans to sign a law next week that includes a provision naming the stretch of I-55 after civil rights pioneer Rosa Parks. The idea came from St. Louisans angered by the Klan's involvement in the Adopt-A-Highway program.

Several civil rights groups also paid for a billboard along the stretch of highway that reads, "Freedom of Speech Protects All People, Even When They're Wrong."