The state transportation department has posted new rules for the adopt-a-highway program that will let the Ku Klux Klan be part of it. The Klan and the department have been fighting about that issue in the courts for six years. Department spokesman Jeff Briggs says the new rules make it easier for groups to sign-up and easier for the department to administer the program. But the most substantive part of the new rules responds to the K-K-K by removing language that barred groups with a history of violence or a history of discrimination. The Klan says the department was violating its freedom of speech by denying it a chance to be in the adopt a highway program. The last time the Klan was part of the program, the signs marking the stretch of road it was clearing were torn down shortly after they were put up. Briggs says the KKK will get some new signs if it re-enrolls…. If the Klan signs are knocked down or removed three times, the department will not erect a fourth set—even if the Klan wants to pay for them. The rules allow Klan members to do their roadside work in full regalia if they want to do so—as long as they wear fluorescent safety vests.
