web1_BLOTTER.jpg

Hanover Township police arrest two on outstanding warrants

web1_Penn-St-Maryland-Foot_Sopr.jpg

James Franklin shoots down Miami rumor: ‘This is where I want to be’

<p>SWOYERSVILLE &#8212; Some residents found something unexpected when they went out to get their newspapers on Tuesday morning.</p><p>Police Chief David Latoski said about 20 households throughout the borough reported finding recruitment fliers for the Ku Klux Klan (KKK). The households were primarily on Jay Street, and Latoski believes the fliers were distributed between 5 a.m. and 6 a.m.</p><p>Latoski later learned that the fliers were distributed by East Coast Knights of the True Invisible Empire. A call to the East Coast Knights by the Times Leader Tuesday afternoon was not returned.</p><p>&#8220;There was a lot of them,&#8221; Latoski said of the fliers.</p><p>Latoski said officers initially thought the fliers may have been targeted to a single African-American family, but added that turned out not to be the case.</p><p>Latoski said this is the first time in his 25-year career that he&#8217;s seen anything like this.</p><p>&#8220;It took people time to do this,&#8221; he said. &#8220;We are concerned about it.&#8221;</p><p>Mayor Chris Concert said that people are free to believe what they want. He did not, however, take kindly to the KKK&#8217;s presence in his borough.</p><p>&#8220;I&#8217;m totally against it,&#8221; he said. &#8220;It has no place in a community.&#8221;</p><p><strong>Klan&#8217;s presence</strong></p><p>This is not the first time that the KKK has made its presence known in the Wyoming Valley.</p><p>A Ku Klux Klan recruiting flier was distributed to some homes in Wilkes-Barre in August, and the East Coast Knights gathered two weeks ago for a private &#8220;cross lighting&#8221; in Mountain Top, with Klan members telling the Times Leader the event drew participants from as far away as Delaware.</p><p>The group&#8217;s recruitment efforts drew widespread media coverage and a response from the local chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People and other religious and community organizations, which held a march on Sept. 15 that they said was intended to send a message to the Klan that it is neither welcome nor wanted in the area.</p><p>A full-page ad on Page 7A in Tuesday&#8217;s edition of the Times Leader contained a letter from religious officials throughout the Mountain Top region and beyond, speaking out against the Klan&#8217;s efforts in the region.</p><p>&#8220;As followers of Jesus, we categorically reject the hatred, fear, and violence of the Klan as sinful, evil and anti-Christian,&#8221; the ad read.</p><p>In September, U.S. Sen. Bob Casey called on the nation&#8217;s top prosecutor to aid in the response to KKK&#8217;s presence.</p><p>Casey, in his letter, said city residents were &#8220;frightened&#8221; to find the fliers bearing a Ku Klux Klan symbol on their properties and asked U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch to &#8220;mobilize Department of Justice resources to take proactive steps&#8221; to ensure safety while the &#8220;fringe group&#8221; is active in the city.</p><p>&#8220;These new fliers are another troubling sign of the KKK&#8217;s persistent attempts to recruit followers to their hateful cause in Northeastern Pennsylvania,&#8221; Casey said in a statement Tuesday. &#8220;This group has a right to promote their cause but we should call it out for what it is &#8212; racism, plain and simple.&#8221;</p><p><strong>What&#8217;s next?</strong></p><p>Latoski explained that the fliers did not threaten violence in any way, and he said that police could only charge those responsible with littering, at most.</p><p>Police presence, Latoski said, will be increased in the early-morning hours when he believes the fliers were distributed. That presence will come in the way of extra patrols and traffic stops, he said.</p><p>Concert referred to the organization&#8217;s violent history and called their presence &#8220;disgusting,&#8221; calling on residents who are also against the KKK&#8217;s presence to &#8220;unite as one and show that this is not what this area is about.&#8221;</p><p>To encourage residents from throughout the Wyoming Valley to stand united, Concert invited people to join him at 5 p.m. Sunday for a vigil at Roosevelt Park. He asked those that do attend to bring a candle to light, so that they can be lit and those that attend can stand united &#8220;against racism and hatred.&#8221;</p><p><em>Reporter Jerry Lynott contributed to this story.</em></p><style>
.neFileBlock {
	margin-bottom: 20px;
}
.neFileBlock p {
	margin: 0px 0px 0px 0px;
}
.neFileBlock .neFile {
	border-bottom: 1px dotted #aaa;
	padding-bottom: 5px;
	padding-top: 10px;
}
.neFileBlock .neCaption {
	font-size: 85%;
}
</style>
<div class='neFileBlock'>
<div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/web1_KKKresponse3.jpeg">
<div class="neCaption">A full-page ad on Page 7A in Tuesday&#8217;s edition of the Times Leader contained this letter from religious officials throughout the Mountain Top region and beyond, speaking out against the Klan&#8217;s efforts in the region. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/web1_KKKresponse3.jpeg</photo0><caption0>A full-page ad on Page 7A in Tuesday&#8217;s edition of the Times Leader contained this letter from religious officials throughout the Mountain Top region and beyond, speaking out against the Klan&#8217;s efforts in the region. </caption0><photoCredit0>Times Leader | October 27, 2015 </photoCredit0></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/web1_TTL050515SwoyersvilleCouncil_26.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Concert </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo1>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/web1_TTL050515SwoyersvilleCouncil_26.jpg</photo1><caption1>Concert </caption1><photoCredit1>Times Leader | October 27, 2015 </photoCredit1></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p>By Travis Kellar</p><p>tkellar@www.timesleader.com</p></bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta><p>Reach Travis Kellar at 570-991-6389 or on Twitter @TLNews.</p></shirttailMeta></div>

Swoyersville community reacts to wave of Klan fliers