American

What can a hate group do to clean up its dirty image? The Reidsville klavern of North Carolina's Ku Klux Klan thought it had come up with a tidy answer: it offered to join the state's Adopt-a-Highway program, under which 5,000 civic and social organizations have agreed to keep 10,000 miles of state highways clear of litter. At least four times a year, the Klansmen would exchange their white robes for orange vests and pick up trash along three miles of U.S. 158, east of Reidsville. In return, a sign noting their good deeds would be erected along the highway.

It was an offer that North Carolina's department of transportation found too good to accept. "The Klan is atypical of the groups that have been involved with the program," explained James Sughrue, a DOT official. No other volunteers, except a cub-scout pack considered too young to be on the roads, had been turned down for the highway-cleanup project. Rockey Chapman, head of the klavern, admitted he wanted "that sign to advertise my group." He asked the state branch of the American Civil Liberties Union to sue for a reversal of the rejection. The A.C.L.U. was expected to do so on the ground that the KKK was the victim of discrimination based on its "political philosophy."