By Julie A. Miller
Catholic Herald

Churches help foil KKK effort to gain publicity

The Klan applied to the Wisconsin Department of Transportation to participate in the Adopt-A-Highway program to clean up two miles of state highway 51 between Mercer and Hurley. Groups that adopt a section of highway are acknowledged by a sign posted next to the roadway.

Even if the local people find the Klan's name on a sign objectionable, it can be difficult to stop. In March the U.S. Supreme Court ruled on a Missouri case upholding the decision to let the Klan participate in that state's Adopt-A-Highway program.

Fr. Bob O'Connell, pastor of St. Mary of the Seven Dolars Parish in Hurley, said he didn't think the Klan should be prohibited from participating in the program. "It has nothing to do with their hurting anybody. If they're trying to do some good I'm not going to stop them," O'Connell said, but added, "I would ignore any publicity that they would desire to achieve."

O'Connell also questioned how the Klan would find enough supporters in the Hurley/Mercer area to accomplish the clean-up task.

Shoshana Buchholz-Miller, associate director of the Chicago office of the Anti-Defamation League, said that a sign in the community bearing the Klan's name "can be negative in its impact but it's important that the community turns something that is negative into something positive. In fact it can work to unite the community rather that divide it. That's our goal."

According to Miller, when the Klan was allowed to adopt a highway in the St. Louis, Mo., area, some state legislators got together and named that stretch of highway after civil rights pioneer Rosa Parks.

Miller also said it is important to state publicly that the Klan's cynical goal in adopting a highway is to get publicity and to intimidate people. "They're not environmentalists," she said.

An Associated Press report referred to Michael C. McQueeney as the grand dragon of the Knights of the KKK based in Mercer. However, both O'Connell and Deacon Norbert Brossmer from St. Isaac Joques and Companions Parish in Mercer, said Klan presence in the area is mainly just McQueeney. Brossmer added that McQueeney has a few followers centered around a tavern business that he owns.

Brossmer learned about the Adopt-a-Highway application when he was contacted by the Catholic Herald for his comments on the situation. In a subsequent telephone call, Brossmer reported that he had contacted local officials and learned that the portion of highway the Klan wanted to take over was being relinquished by a group that didn't have enough members to share the clean-up tasks.

Brossmer said he then contacted a local Methodist minister. After discussing the issue, both Brossmer and the minister offered to provide additional volunteers from their parishes. As a result, the group has agreed to continue cleaning up that stretch of highway. Brossmer added that he was not aware of any other portions of local highway that were available for adoption.

In earlier statements Sen. Bob Jauch, D-Poplar, expressed his opposition to the Klan's participation in the program. He could not be reached for comments for this story.

Michael McQueeney said his group will not give up. "We have also requested (highways) 122, 77 and 182 in Iron County. ... If those places are all filled up, then we'll go to a county highway. We'll keep going until we get one." He added that if the applications are turned down because the Klan is a racist organization, he will go to court.

"We're very enthused. We have a lot of members in the area and people from Milwaukee coming up to help with the project. They said they would come a couple times a year to do highway cleanup," McQueeney said. He later said his local group consists of about 20 people.

O'Connell said there was a similar situation with the Klan seeking publicity through a rally in Ironwood, Michigan about two years ago. People just ignored the Klan, O'Connell said. He added, "We had a counter-demonstration -- actually a prayer meeting."

Brossmer also participated in the Ironwood prayer meeting. He said, "The approach to the handling of the rally in Ironwood was to keep the spectators away. ... The clergy did not show face there. They went to the Lutheran church where there was a counter program."

According to Brossmer, local people have also taken action in the past to stop something they found objectionable. He said that a few years ago nearly 60 local people came out to protest a proposed establishment featuring exotic dancers. Ultimately Mercer's zoning laws were used to keep the business from opening.

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