Saturday, June 22, 1996

Klan Plans Rally in East Texas Site of Black Church Blazes

By KEVIN O'HANLON
Associated Press

GREENVILLE, Texas - A little more than a week after the militant New Black Panthers drove to East Texas to denounce arson at black churches, the Ku Klux Klan marched Friday to some jeers - and cheers.

Michael Lowe, the KKK's regional director, told a crowd that included more than 300 spectators and some protesters that Klan members came from Arkansas "to condemn the arson of the churches."

Lowe, wearing a gray suit, addressed the crowd from the steps of the Hunt County Courthouse, flanked by a dozen other Klan members carrying confederate and other flags, as recorded martial music played in the background.

Black protesters, along with some Anglos, shouted, "Go home" and "Take it back to Arkansas." But some sympathizers in the crowd cheered.

Sheriff Bobby Young said about 200 law officers - some from Plano, about 60 miles away - were on hand to keep order in the 1-1/2-hour rally.

But there was no violence and no one was arrested during the addresses by Lowe and two other Klansmen, including National Director Thomas Robb.

Fires blamed on arson earlier this month destroyed two churches in Greenville, becoming part of a string of such blazes across the South.

The two churches were among 12 structures that have burned in the city in just over a week. No one has yet been charged in the blazes, although the Texas Rangers and other law officers are investigating.

Texas-based members of Knights of the Ku Klux Klan, who had earlier planned a rally Saturday, now say they want to march on June 29, city officials said Thursday.

"We hope the outsiders just come in, exercise their constitutional rights and then get out of town," said Joe Bobbitt, the county judge.

Greenville is about 60 miles east of Dallas.