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TIME: Almanac 1990
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1990 Time Magazine Compact Almanac, The (1991)(Time).iso
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101689
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10168900.049
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1990-09-19
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NATION, Page 37American NotesNORTH CAROLINAA Klan Kleanup
What can a hate group do to clean up its dirty image? The
Reidsville klavern of North Carolina's Ku Klux Klan thought it had
come up with a tidy answer: it offered to join the state's
Adopt-a-Highway program, under which 5,000 civic and social
organizations have agreed to keep 10,000 miles of state highways
clear of litter. At least four times a year, the Klansmen would
exchange their white robes for orange vests and pick up trash along
three miles of U.S. 158, east of Reidsville. In return, a sign
noting their good deeds would be erected along the highway.
It was an offer that North Carolina's department of
transportation found too good to accept. "The Klan is atypical of
the groups that have been involved with the program," explained
James Sughrue, a DOT official. No other volunteers, except a
cub-scout pack considered too young to be on the roads, had been
turned down for the highway-cleanup project. Rockey Chapman, head
of the klavern, admitted he wanted "that sign to advertise my
group." He asked the state branch of the American Civil Liberties
Union to sue for a reversal of the rejection. The A.C.L.U. was
expected to do so on the ground that the KKK was the victim of
discrimination based on its "political philosophy."