WILKES-BARRE TWP. — Plastic bags containing rocks, a lollipop and a Ku Klux Klan recruitment flier have been found on residents’ front lawns and local law enforcement officials say the issue has them concerned.
The baggies, as they were described, have turned up in Wilkes-Barre Township, Warrior Run, Hughestown and other towns on both sides of the Susquehanna River. On Thursday, a few residents of Hanover Township also reported to police that they had received similar items.
The baggies contain rocks, a lollipop and a note from the Traditionalist American Knights of the Ku Klux Klan, soliciting people to join the organization.
“It’s not widespread as far as we know,” said Wilkes-Barre Township Police Chief Ron Smith. “But we are concerned about it.”
It is the second time in less than a year that the Klan fliers have turned up in the Wyoming Valley. In October of last year, several West Side residents said they found similar fliers on their porches.
The Ku Klux Klan is one of the most infamous and oldest hate groups in America, according to the Southern Poverty Law Center.
“Although black Americans have typically been the Klan’s primary target, it also has attacked Jews, immigrants, gays and lesbians and, until recently, Catholics,” according to the Law Center’s website.
Luzerne County District Attorney Stefanie Salavantis said her office has not received any phone calls on the KKK activity, but she is aware of the activity and concerned.
“We have been seeing certain things, but no one has called me on it,” Salavantis said. “It is intriguing.”
Salavantis said anybody who has received anything like the fliers found in Wilkes-Barre Township should call their municipal law enforcement immediately.
“It’s concerning because it sounds like they are planning to take things into their own hands,” Salavantis said of the KKK solicitation. “And law enforcement needs to know about this activity.”
The flier being distributed has a photo of a Klan member wearing a hood and a two-word caption “Neighborhood Watch.” The flier also says the following:
“Are there troubles in your neighborhood? Contact the Traditionalist American Knights of the Ku Klux Klan today.”
The flier provides a “24-hour Klanline” phone number and the group’s website.
On the website, viewers are greeted with the following:
“It’s time for us as citizens to show our law enforcement officers that we appreciate the job they do and also be vigilant. We should be prepared to come to their defense in the event we witness any attacks against them going on.
Under the Missouri Constitution we have the right to defend our friends and family with the use of deadly force if we fear for their lives and I consider all LEOs (law enforcement officers) to be friends.
It’s also time for the higher-ups and political a—holes to stop second-guessing the life and death split-second situations these officers are confronted with making everyday.”
The website then encourages people to join the organization.
Salavantis said she wants to be sure the flier distribution was not done as a joke — that it’s an actual solicitation by the KKK.
“At this time, we’re not sure of what it is or who is behind it,” she said. “But I am interested to know more. It’s always concerning to me to learn of these types of things. We need to find out who is behind it.”
Source: http://timesleader.com/news/589599/police-concerned-by-klu-klux-klan-fliers-in-wilkes-barre-township