Police outman Klan

Police outman Klan

GATE CITY — Authorities spent $30,000 to provide security for a march by the Christian Knights of the Ku Klux Klan, but there were no incidents between the 35 Klan members and a crowd of about 600 onlookers.

Gate City Town Manager Gary Cooter had estimated that providing protection for Klan members during Saturday’s march would cost the state and local taxpayers about $1,000 a minute.

“Well, we just wasted $30,000 for that,” one woman said as the Klansmen, flanked by about 40 law enforcement officers, came to the end of their 0.3-mile parade route. The whole event lasted about a half hour.

Members of the Appalachian Peace Education Center and several Scott County residents distributed antiKlan handbills and passed out balloons with the slogan “Love Thy Neighbor.” Some of the local businesses closed for a half-hour to protest the Klan’s presence.

Several people in the crowd asked for and took handouts from the marching Klansmen and about five local people marched with them. Some Klansmen were robed while others were dressed in street clothes, black t-shirts and jeans and camouflage outfits.

Jordan Gollub, Grand Dragon of the Bristol-based faction of the Christian Knights of the KKK, said he would have preferred a bigger crowd.

11 colleges are bargains

Eleven colleges and universities in Virginia, from tiny, private Mary Baldwin College to sprawling, statesupported Virginia Tech, are bargains in higher education, according to a forthcoming book.

The Best Buys in College Education, by education editor Edward B. Fiske of The New York Times, will be available at book stores Oct. 10, said a spokeswoman for Times Books. The spokeswoman, Sandee Brawarsky, said 221 colleges are on the list.

“It is especially rewarding that Mary Baldwin is alone among its competing Southern women’s colleges in being featured in this important publication,” said Mary Baldwin president Dr. Cynthia H. Tyson.

Mary Baldwin, whose 890 students live on its