A Ku Klux Klan top official says fliers left at northwest Jefferson County residences this week should be taken as an offer to help fight illicit drug sales.
However, the fliers upset some residents and spurred them to contact the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office, Capt. Ron Arnhart said.
Frank Ancona of Park Hills, the imperial wizard of the Traditionalist American Knights of the Ku Klux Klan, today (May 7) said the organization’s intent is to help report suspected drug use and sales.
He said he did not know how many fliers his organization distributed in the area.
The fliers arrived in plastic bags containing a rock and in part saying, “Traditionalist American Knights of the Ku Klux Klan. Neighborhood Watch. You can sleep tonight knowing the Klan is awake! Are there troubles in your neighborhood? Contact the Traditionalist American Knights of the Ku Klux Klan today!” The fliers give a 24-hour “Klanline” phone number.
“I think some people have fear of retaliation from drug dealers if they contact police,” Ancona said. “For the most part, I don’t think that concerns members of our organization.”
Ancona said northwest Jefferson County residents alerted KKK members to an illicit drug problem in their area.
“We’re getting a lot of calls from people there worried about this, saying kids at bus stops are seeing heroin needles lying around,” Ancona said.
He said the organization’s offer to assist in reporting illegal drug activity is a nationwide effort that focuses on KKK members reporting such activities, not taking matters into their own hands.
“We want to help people form neighborhood watch groups,” he said.
Arnhart said his agency has received calls about the fliers from people living in apartments and a subdivision off of Hwy. 141 and Fiedler Lane. He said the KKK flier distribution is legal.
Arnhart also said he doesn’t believe drug activity in northwest Jefferson County is on the rise.
“I’m not aware of any increased problem,” he said.
Arnhart said the Sheriff’s Office takes any illegal drug activity reports seriously.
People who got the fliers seemed particularly upset about the way the fliers were packaged with a rock inside, Arnhart said.
“I think what alarmed people was the way the fliers with rocks in the bags got in the yards,” he said.
Ancona said the rock merely keeps the fliers from blowing away.
The KKK also distributed fliers in plastic bags containing a rock in September 2012 in De Soto.
The group also announced plans to distribute fliers in Arnold in the fall of 2012, but it is not clear if the flier distribution occurred.