White supremacist fliers surface in Milford

Dentist Dr. John Vecchitto picks up a Ku Klux Klan flier left on his Herbert Street driveway in Milford, Conn. on Monday, July 8, 2013. Dentist Dr. John Vecchitto picks up a Ku Klux Klan flier left on his Herbert Street driveway in Milford, Conn. on Monday, July 8, 2013. Photo: Brian A. Pounds Photo: Brian A. Pounds Image 1 of / 5 Caption Close White supremacist fliers surface in Milford 1 / 5 Back to Gallery

MILFORD -- Early risers in the city's northern section got a surprise Monday upon walking down their driveways to get the morning newspaper.

Lying nearby, for many, was a sandwich-size plastic bag weighted down by white rocks. Inside each bag was a folded letter bearing the logo of the United Klans of America, the largest functioning Ku Klux Klan operation in the nation.

The letter announced the group's efforts as a neighborhood watch organization.

"You can sleep well tonight knowing the UKA is awake," read the note. It contained a contact phone number in Alabama and the UKA's website.

The bags landed in driveways on Wheelers Farms Road, Herbert Street and Coram Lane -- mostly white, middle-class neighborhoods leading to the Great River Golf Course. However, residents also include Catholics, minorities and Jews -- all Klan targets.

"It's shocking," said one area resident, who like many in the neighborhood, did not want his name published. "Nobody wants that here."

Why that area was targeted was unclear, although it has experienced an uptick in car break-ins.

John Vecchitto, a dentist, found the packet near his mailbox after arriving home from work Monday. He opened it and shook his head.

"They want to get their name out there and hope people will call," he said. "But it's something that lasts about two seconds in my hands before being tossed in the garbage."

Scot X. Esdaile, state president of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People and a member of its national board, said distribution of the fliers is notable.

"Anytime we hear of any type of activity or people conducting themselves under those symbolic hatred organizations, we have very much concern," Esdaile said. "A lot of people have been killed, murdered. A lot of families have been destroyed over the years in the North and in the South."

Vecchitto suspected that the UKA's actions might be related to the ongoing George Zimmerman trial in Florida. Zimmerman, a neighborhood watch captain, is accused of second-degree murder in the shooting of Trayvon Martin, a black teenager.

Eric Krieger, "imperial kleeper" of the UKA and a spokesman for the group, denied that. Though he did not provide specifics on the group's effort in Milford, he said UKA neighborhood watches began "long before" Martin's death.

"We don't condone any sort of violence," Krieger said. "A member would have to go about it just like any other citizen would in the community if they see something wrong. The difference is we would be those eyes watching, so other people can go ahead and sleep."

Greta Stanford, one of three Milford aldermen who represents the city's First District, was surprised at being told of the flier, and said she intends to contact Police Chief Keith Mello and Mayor Ben Blake, neither of whom could be reached for comment Monday.

"I'm concerned that these people seem to think they need to protect our citizens," Stanford said. "We don't need their protection. We have a wonderful police department."

According to the Anti-Defamation League, the UKA, headquartered in Tuscaloosa, Ala., has been "notorious for its many brutal acts of violence, including a number of murders."

Asked about that violence, Krieger said that "what happened in the past is the past ... We're trying to break that stigma that's attached to the big, bad Klan and let people know that we're not a hate group. We defend the Constitution of the United States and citizens of it and that would be the idea of the neighborhood watch."

Esdaile said he did not know how active the UKA or similar groups are in Connecticut, or whether the organization had held recent rallies in the state -- "Obviously they don't invite me," he said.

He did point out, however, that white supremacist groups have made their presence known in eastern Fairfield County, particularly in Stratford, in recent years.

"We've had issues in the past in the Stratford area with the (White) Wolves and other white supremacist activity," Esdaile said, adding that the state's NAACP chapter has held rallies against that kind of activity over the years.

Esdaile said the NAACP's offices in Connecticut, including its Bridgeport office, have received hate mail littered with swastikas and racial slurs in the last few years. He said he intended to forward information about the UKA leaflets in Milford to the NAACP's national office, as well as to the FBI and the Milford Police Department.

domalley@ctpost.com, @domalleyctpost, 203-330-6230; mmayko@ctpost.com; 203-330-6286