KKK application to burn a cross atop Stone Mountain denied

An application by a Ku Klux Klan group to burn a cross on top of Stone Mountain in Georgia was denied. The Stone Mountain Memorial Association denied the application Tuesday. The association said the Sacred Knights of the Ku Klux Klan applied for a permit to burn a cross on Oct. 21. The association said its “ordinances allow for the denial of a public assembly permit if the result of granting such a permit would create the material disruption of Park activities or it reasonably appears to represent a clear and present danger to public health or safety.” The association, which is charged with managing the state-owned park, said it believed both conditions would exist if the KKK’s permit were granted. The association's permitting process has been in place for only a few years, said association spokesman John Bankhead. This is the first time a permit has been denied since the system has been in place. Bankhead said the permit may have been granted if the KKK had not wanted to burn a cross. He also said the association sought legal counsel before denying the permit. "We don't want them here," Bankhead said. "But we do understand their right to free speech." Petitioner Joey Hobbs said the KKK was not happy with the decision, but "in light of what happened over the weekend, I understand them not wanting violence. That's not something we want, either." The ceremony was proposed to commemorate a November 1915 cross burning on top of Stone Mountain that marked the KKK's revival. Stone Mountain, which depicts three Confederate figures — Jefferson Davis, Robert E. Lee and Stonewall Jackson — was the site of a number of KKK cross burnings in the 19th and 20th centuries.

-          USA Today