Klan leader says group member probably wrote hate letter

May 26, 2005|By ANDREW SCHOTZ

HAGERSTOWN

A member of a local Ku Klux Klan chapter probably wrote an anti-black hate letter to a Hagerstown organization in January, the chapter leader said Wednesday.

Gordon Young, the imperial wizard of the World Knights of the Ku Klux Klan, said Wednesday he's "70 percent sure" a chapter member sent a hate letter to the Martin Luther King Community Center in Hagerstown.

Brothers United Who Dare to Care, a black community group, has its office at the center.

The end of the letter says, "KKK will again cleanse this town of its filth."

For the last several months, Hagerstown Police and the FBI have been investigating who sent several hate-filled letters, including that one, to city residents and organizations.

Asked if World Knights members wrote the letters, Young said, "I'm sure a few of 'em. I pretty much know who's doing the main ones."

But he then said he couldn't pick out specific members writing the letters - and he wouldn't name them anyway.

Young, who lives in Hagerstown, said neither the FBI nor local police have talked to him about the letters.

Barry Maddox, a spokesman for the FBI in Baltimore, said he can't discuss who his agency might have interviewed.

Hagerstown Police Capt. Charles Summers, the department's acting chief, could not be reached for comment Wednesday afternoon.

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