Written byWESTOVER -- Police are encouraging Somerset County residents to be on the lookout after flyers promoting a Ku Klux Klan event in Virginia were found on the Lower Shore.
The Maryland State Police received a call this week from a passer-by who discovered multiple flyers in driveways and mailboxes in southern Somerset. On the pieces of paper were the date and time for an event scheduled to take place in Martinsville, Va., along the southern edge of the mainland of the state.
Lt. Krah Plunkert, the commander of the MSP Princess Anne Barrack, said following the call troopers were immediately dispatched to the scene where they found additional flyers. An information incident report was filed.
"We are very sensitive about what these flyers have been stating," Plunkert said. "We have increased patrols within the area and are asking people to report any kind of suspicious activity similar to this."
This has not been the first time Somerset County has dealt with an issue like this. Earlier this year, several traffic signs were vandalized in Marion Station with racial slurs and "KKK" spray painted on many of them. Following a police investigation, two adults and a teenager were convicted of malicious destruction of property.
Plunkert said he contacted local authorities in Martinsville about the event and was told it has been held annually by the group but is "poorly organized and poorly attended."
Kirkland Hall, the president of the Somerset County branch of the NAACP, said he was informed of the incident by Plunkert and said he was surprised but not shocked.
"I'm 60 years old, so I've seen everything, but I am concerned because we're trying to improve race relations in Somerset County," Hall said. "To see that these groups are trying to recruit people here is kind of sad. After what has happened in Somerset County and other places, I guess they feel it is a recruiting ground, but we hope it's not."
"It's not just an individual project," he said. "Everybody has to step forward in this county and let people know we will not tolerate something like this."
Plunkert said that MSP will have their "ears to the ground" regarding the flyers.
"As very sensitive as it is, it's hard to believe that we have this going on in this day," he said. "We will not tolerate any kind of message promoting religious or ethnic prejudice in Somerset County."
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