KKK in East Tennessee

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KKK in East Tennessee

The Sullivan County Commission passes an almost identical agenda in the spirit of the KKK on April 19, 2004 according to the Time-News. If they fail at everything else, religion is always a sure vote getter. The Ten Commandments are used in the same threatening and distorted manner as the burning cross of the KKK. But these people are public officials and should know better then to incite this kind of bigotry from public office. The local press call them "lacking backbone" to stand up against these agents of intolerance. Like the KKK, they invent their history and mythology. At least the KKK operates on private property and not at a county courthouse.

BLOUNTVILLE - A move to "support the recognition of God as the foundation of our national heritage" is scheduled for a vote Monday by the Sullivan County Commission. It passed 24 to 0.

According to a resolution approved by the commission:

"Our Government was founded upon a trust in God, that began when our Founding Fathers proclaimed in America's first official document, our Declaration of Independence, that our rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, were not given to us by government, but by God, "our Creator, the Sovereign Judge of the Universe."
"It is fact that between 90 percent and 95 percent of those who drafted and signed the U.S. Constitution had a strong belief and trust in God and never intended that there be a separation between God and the affairs of Government, only that each citizen be free to choose on a personal basis how to worship or if to worship."
"Recognition of God by our Government was further established when Congress, in 1954, added the phrase ‘One Nation Under God' to our Pledge of Allegiance, followed by the official establishment of ‘In God We Trust' as our National Motto."
"There is now a growing demand by some within the judicial system to remove all visible recognition of God from public institutions, which has recently resulted in a federal order to physically remove the Ten Commandments monument from the Alabama State Supreme Court, rightfully placed there by the Chief Justice of the Alabama State Supreme Court to remind all that God is central to our National Heritage, and His Ten Commandments, without question, are the foundation of American law, moral values, and code of conduct."

It resolves that "the Board of County Commissioners of Sullivan County ... urge all American citizens, to proclaim to every level of Government (local, state and federal) its responsibility to publicly recognize God as the Foundation of Our National Heritage Lest Our Nation Forget and Our Children Never Know!"

KKK back to mountains

Re. "KKK Rally Draws Attention of Sheriff," as soon as Carter Quillen gets over feeling "intimidated'' by the sheriff, he needs to go get his head examined for allowing these KKK nuts to hold a meeting on his property. Quillen says he'd rather these characters got together at his place rather than "back in the mountains." I say the further back in the mountains they go, the better for everybody. How about Afghanistan?

Jim McCandlish
Church Hill

But Mr. Quillen fires back on April 25:

KKK out in the open

I would like to respond to the criticism that has been repeatedly leveled against me for allowing the KKK to rent part of my campground several weeks ago. The KKK would have had their rally whether they rented my place or not. They where a well behaved group of mostly families, with a majority of women and children. They broke no laws, and they conducted themselves in an orderly manner while exercising their constitutional right of free expression. As long as they are not breaking the law, even groups like the KKK are entitled to do their thing without harassment from law enforcement, and it's far better if they do it out in the open for all to witness.

Ninety percent of their message that day was a biblically-based, right-wing, conservative tirade about the evils of pornography, drugs, crime, etc., in our society and that the grand imperial wizard of them all was a long-time Boy Scout leader. If you removed their robes, all the nonsense about the purity of the white race and replace the shouts of white power, with hallelujah, you would have thought you were at a fundamentalist church picnic and revival meeting. The average klansman that I observed is not evil, but misled by evil ideas and duped into blaming ethnic minorities as the source of their misfortunes. They desperately want to belong to something that will empower them. Out of ignorance they band together in a tribal instinct as a klan and perform rituals of intimidation against their perceived enemies. Ku Klux Klan means "circle of family'' and they claim to be spreading the light Christ when they burn a cross.

Since they declare they are a Christian organization, why not give them every opportunity to contradict themselves in public? Maybe, if shown tolerance, they will learn a little tolerance. Maybe with some meaningful dialogue from dissenting observers they will begin to understand that you should love your neighbor even if he is different and disagrees with you. So many Christians, not just the KKK, pick what they want from the Bible for their own agenda, then conveniently forget the most important teachings of Jesus, such as love your enemy and judge not, lest ye be judged.

Too many people are just in too big a hurry to impose their view of morality on everyone else. When it comes to intolerance, the KKK does not particularly stand out around here.

Carter Quillen
Jonesborough

KKK rally in Jonesborough called off

May 14, 2004

By JAMES BROOKS

JONESBOROUGH - The Ku Klux Klan rally originally set for Jonesborough on Saturday is off. Ricky Dean, who gave an Afton post office box as an address, surrendered his permit to hold a private KKK rally in Mill Spring Park after meeting with Jonesborough Public Safety Director Craig Ford on Thursday.

In a statement by Town Attorney Jim Wheeler and Town Administrator Bob Browning, Wheeler said Dean was asked if the Klan had distributed fliers advertising the rally. When Dean admitted fliers were sent out, he was told the event would now have to go through the public event process. "They will not be coming to Jonesborough this weekend," Wheeler said.

Browning said the town has been trying to get in touch with Dean for about 10 days to discuss rules for holding a private event, including no fires in the park, trash pickup and other issues. "We were working for Chief Ford to get clarifications on their intentions," Browning said. "We sent out officers looking for fliers advertising the event, and they admitted it was their intent to have outside people come to the rally."

In order to reapply as a public event, the Klan would have to give adequate time for town staff to review what town resources would be required. The Klan would also have to provide proof of liability insurance and sign a hold-harmless agreement with the town. The application would then have to be reviewed and voted upon by the Jonesborough Board of Mayor and Aldermen.

Wheeler said that after the board reviewed the objective requirements of a public event, it could then review some subjective requirements. "They could not prohibit an event based on the purpose behind the organization, and that's the big issue," Wheeler said.

He said Dean indicated that not more than 20 people were estimated to attend the rally, had it been approved.

Dean arrived a few minutes late for the meeting, wearing a Confederate battle flag belt buckle and initially tried to hold his cap in front of his face when met by two cameramen and two reporters. "I'm not supposed to hold no interviews," Dean said. "I could get in trouble for that." The meeting with Ford lasted about 45 minutes. Browning said.

Dean clarified that his group, which police said involves people from Greene and Cocke counties, is not related to the Washington County Klan group that held an initiation at Limestone in November in which one person was shot.

"Craig Ford has done a tremendous job of preparing for this meeting," Browning said. "Based on what has happened, we will make changes in our application procedure for a private event, including requirement of a street address and a telephone number."

Browning said Ford communicated well with outside law enforcement in lining up extra sheriff's deputies and state troopers if needed. "If this does happen in the future, the resources will be there to ensure there won't be a problem," Browning said.

Marion McKinney, who filed a writ of mandamus seeking to have the town declare the rally a public event, declined comment. "It's over and I'm glad," she said. "What we wanted to do was done, and we did it the way you are supposed to - in the courts and not in the media."

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