ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Thursday, February 22, 1996 TAG: 9602220065
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: B6 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: MODESTO, CALIF.
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS
Air-quality authorities plan to take the Ku Klux Klan to court, claiming that cross burnings violate pollution standards.
Police said they had no reason to arrest the Klansmen who burned a 30-foot cross Feb. 10 on farmland near Modesto.
But the San Joaquin Valley Unified Air Pollution Control District plans to file a civil complaint seeking $50,000 in fines and an injunction to prevent future cross burnings.
``It's intentional,'' said Philip Jay, counsel for the district. ``They are doing it as a get-in-our-face kind of thing. It's not an inadvertent violation.''
Bill Albers, who says he's the Imperial Wizard of the American Knights of the Klan, said burning the cross on his land was part of his birthday party, not a threat to anyone and no more polluting than tractor-trailers.
Jay said landowners can burn only agricultural materials on their land, and crosses don't qualify.
Last year, the air-quality district cited Albers after a cross burning, but he showed no willingness to settle the charge informally, Jay said. This month's burning triggered a stronger reaction.
LENGTH: Short : 33 linesby CNB