Olathe home to KKK chapter

Deborah Frazier, Rocky Mountain News

Published July 11, 2006 at midnight

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Olathe residents learned last month that their town is home to the only Ku Klux Klan chapter in Colorado, news that has rattled the rural farming community best known for sweet corn, not racial hatred.

Railton Loy, an Indiana minister and International Imperial Wizard of the Klan, said the Olathe chapter was formed about four years ago. He said he didn't know the names of any of the members.

The immigration debate has boosted membership in the white supremacy group, including the chapter in Olathe, according to Loy.

"It's just a little Klan klaven," he said.

The Olathe chapter asked him to come speak against immigration on the steps of the Montrose County Courthouse about 18 months ago, he said.

"They couldn't raise enough money to cover my expenses, so I didn't come," said Loy. "I was going to speak about the immigrant invasion."

The news became public during a town meeting a few weeks ago, and town leaders are having a hard time believing it.

"We couldn't figure out a single likely Klan member," said Mayor Wayne Blair. "The Klan has never done anything here. There have been no racist leaflets or incidents."

About 35 percent of Olathe's population is Hispanic, according to the 2000 U.S. census, which tallied just one black resident.

Blair said one town board member, about four of the town's 14 employees and several business owners are Hispanic.

"As far as I know, the Klan is just a post office box here," he said.

Hundreds of migrant farm workers stay in Olathe during the summer months, working in the corn fields, livestock yards and other farm enterprises, Blair said.

Olathe is in Montrose County, where many Hispanic workers live and commute to resort jobs in Telluride.

"We'll keep an eye peeled, but whoever it is, they're probably wannabes who want a little notoriety but aren't going to be burning any crosses," said Dick Deinst, the Montrose County Undersheriff.

There haven't been any rallies or hate literature associated with racist groups in years, he said.

Loy said he didn't know why the Olathe chapter formed, but said the immigration debate has brought more members to Klan chapters across the country.

"They are taking this country over," he said of illegal immigrants. "They don't want to learn the language. Look at what they are doing to welfare and prisons."

Loy said Hispanics in America legally aren't the target.

That's not what the Southern Poverty Law Center, an Atlanta-based nonprofit that monitors hate groups, is hearing, said spokeswoman Heidi Beirich.

"The anti-immigration debate is causing increased activity in all hate groups, which call it the darkening face of America," she said.

The Klan, which started in the South as a secret society after the Civil War, terrorized minorities for more than 100 years, through to the civil rights era.

Some 600 hate groups had been identified by the Southern Poverty Law Center in 2000 and 800 in 2005, an increase of 33 percent, Beirich said.

"They call them 'dirty, breeding Mexicans' and 'criminals,' " she said. "For the hate groups, America is supposed to be a white Christian country."

As for Olathe, Beirich said, "It's probably just a couple of idiots, but with haters you never know."

Olathe

A demographic profile

1,573 Population

74.4% White

0.1% Black

1.7% Indian and Alaska Native

19.7% Some other race

35.2% *Hispanic

33% Speak a language other than English at home

$26,286 (in 1999 dollars) Median household income*Percentages Add To More Than 100 Because, Under Census Bureau Definitions, Hispanics Include People Of Any Race. Source: 2000 U.S. Census

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