MAY 14, 1993 GAY PEOPLE'S CHRONICLE

Ku Klux Klan recruits in Akron-Canton area

by Derek Wallace

AKRON-CANTON BUREAU

The first page looks like one of those recruiting posters, but the figure is hooded and the wording at the bottom is "I want you for the Ku Klux Klan." Page two asks if you are tired of: rap music, foreign interests, AIDS, sexual perverts, and being intimidated for being white, among a list of others. Page three proclaims that the KKK is "unapolegetically (sic) committed to the interests, ideas, and cultural values of the white majority" and "We are growing fast and strong because we have never comprimised (sic) the truth."

Residents of Canal Fulton, a small community midway between Akron and Canton, awoke to find the fliers in newspaper delivery bags on their driveways and in their yards the first weekend in May.

According to information obtained from Police Chief Michael B. McNeely and an Akron Beacon Journal article, the materials were distributed by three men, two from Massillon and one from Lorain. The May 4th Beacon Journal article said the recorded message at the listed Massillon phone number "was largely against homosexuality." However, the BJ reporter chose to follow up by contacting Robert Dougan, the president of the Stark County chapter of the NAACP. Dougan expressed his desire to establish an inter-racial urban to suburban exchange program where youth could overcome racism.

When a Chronicle reporter called the KKK number, the message was not specifically anti-gay, but after lengthy scriptural quotations listeners were exhorted to"...be a freedom fighter and fight for God's word ... Support your local police. We do . . ."

According to the Beacon Journal, Canal Fulton police had stopped the men for the purpose of ascertaining their identity when they saw them distributing the fliers. Since there was no law violation, no action was or could be taken according to McNeely.

A local resident familiar with the KKK through collegiate course work expressed the opinion that "some of their supporters are right over there in our police department." On the condition of anonymity, the resident further commented that many of the area residents "would as soon eat ground glass" as to have their youngsters participate in the kind of exchange Robert Dougan had proposed.

The Canal Fulton police department has been a hotbed of controversy for over a year with the former chief charged with various infractions. Chief McNeely came to the community from out of state with extensive police records experience, but limited street enforcement time.

Canal Fulton's growth during the past decade has been as a bedroom community for Akron. According to local gays and lesbians, the situation is pretty much liveand-let-live, but the distinct feeling is that behavior must be closeted and you're better off if your identity is closeted too. Several made reference to what they considered a large number of bisexuals living in the area.

Klan materials have appeared in other Stark County communities during the past year and there was a Klan rally in the southeastern Ohio town of Coshocton in April. There is no known established Klan organization in Stark County and the fliers listed a North Carolina address. No information regarding the Lorain County connection was available.

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