NAACP, Frederick County Chapter v. Thompson
| Decision Date | 06 October 1986 |
| Docket Number | Civ. No. K-85-3512. |
| Citation | 648 F. Supp. 195 |
| Parties | NATIONAL ASSOCIATION FOR the ADVANCEMENT OF COLORED PEOPLE, FREDERICK COUNTY CHAPTER, An Unincorporated Association, et al. v. Michael C. THOMPSON, Zoning Administrator of Frederick County, Maryland, Winchester Hall. |
| Court | U.S. District Court — District of Maryland |
Willie J. Mahone, Frederick, Md., Patricia E. Butler, and Michael A. Millemann, Baltimore, Md., for plaintiffs.
Lawrence E. Speelman, Co. Atty., and Joseph E. Emerson, Deputy Co. Atty., Frederick, Md., for defendant.
Plaintiffs are the Frederick County Chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP); the Chapter President, Lord D. Nickens; and JoAnne Evans-Anderson, a black woman, who is Director of Community Relations for the Maryland Human Relations Commission.1 Defendant is the Zoning Administrator (Administrator) of Frederick County, Maryland (County).2 On May 15, 1985, the Ku Klux Klan (Klan) applied to the Administrator for a permit to use private property in the County for a Klan rally to be held on August 17, 1985. On June 12, 1985, the Administrator issued that permit. On August 15, 1985, the original3 plaintiffs filed this suit, seeking, inter alia, a temporary restraining order declaring the permit void. Following a hearing on August 17, 1985, plaintiffs withdrew their request for a restraining order, and amended their complaint to seek a permanent injunction barring the Administrator from issuing permits for future Klan rallies not open to all members of the public. Subsequently, plaintiffs have been permitted further to amend their complaint.4
The parties have stipulated as follows, without thereby conceding relevancy or materiality of such facts:
1. Section 1-19-213 of the Frederick County Zoning Ordinance, enacted in September, 1981, requires that a person must obtain a Temporary Use Permit from the Frederick County Zoning Administrator prior to holding a public rally or public gathering on non-institutional use private property. Public rallies and gatherings are defined in the Ordinance as those open to at least a segment of the general public.
2. On June 12, 1985, acting pursuant to this Ordinance, the then Frederick County Zoning Administrator, Frederick Lowndes, issued to Roger Kelly a Temporary Use Permit for a public Ku Klux Klan ("Klan") rally to be held on the evening of August 17, 1985, on his father's property, approximately 11¼ acres, in a rural area of Frederick County near Rocky Ridge, Maryland. Lowndes concedes that he learned of the Klan's plans to exclude all non-whites from the public rally on June 28th, two weeks after the issuance of the permit. Lowndes had issued permits for five similar public Klan rallies that were, on their faces, discriminatory. Those permits specified that the public rallies were open "to white gentile persons only." These permits were issued for public rallies on June 28, 1980; October 18, 1980; April 4, 1981; July 25, 1981; and September 19, 1981. They were issued pursuant to the then existing Permit Ordinance, which is different from the present one.
3. The last public rally, held on August 17, 1985, was permitted pursuant to the presently effective Zoning Ordinance, § 1-19-213(a). The present permit ordinance is facially neutral as regards race. The ordinance was enacted on September 23, 1981 as a result of the recommendation of an ad hoc advisory committee appointed by the Frederick County Commissioners to study problems with public rallies and other gatherings. Plaintiff Lord Nickens was a member of the committee. The Frederick County Commissioners also designated June 28, 1980 as "Brotherhood Day" in Frederick County to counteract the discriminating practice of the Ku Klux Klan.
4. Condition number 7 states: "The issuance of this permit shall in no way be construed as the approval of any Frederick County Governmental Agency or official of the purpose of the meeting or of the organization holding the activity."5
5. The Ku Klux Klan ("Klan") is an organization comprised of individuals who promote and practice racial discrimination. The Klan's policy of excluding all non-whites from public and private rallies is codified in its constitution, bylaws and operating procedures. The Klan's discriminating practices and policies are a matter of general public knowledge in Frederick County and Mr. Lowndes was aware of these practices and policies, which have been the subject of numerous articles in the Frederick and Hagerstown newspapers.
6. The public rallies serve as a forum for the dissemination of the Klan's political and religious views and as a mechanism for the solicitation of new members. Speeches by individual Klansmen promoting the Klan's discriminatory racial and religious views are the focus of the public rallies.
7. Klan members actively solicit media coverage of the rallies. Newspaper and television reporters and photographers are routinely permitted to attend public Klan functions. Reporters have been present for virtually all of the public Klan rallies, and in each case have published or broadcast stories about the rallies. Klan members grant interviews to newspaper reporters in which they discuss their plans for upcoming public rallies.
8. Since June, 1980, there have been at least six (6) public Klan rallies in Frederick, County, open to whites only, at which all non-whites have been excluded. These were:
More specifically, on June 28, 1980 a black woman JoAnne Evans-Anderson, was refused permission to attend a public Klan rally in Braddock Heights by an armed Klansman, who told her no blacks were permitted to attend the rally. She was excluded by a white male Klansman "dressed in army fatigues and carrying a rifle". As she was leaving the rally, she overheard another white man dressed in army fatigues telling a black television reporter that he would have to leave because the public rally was closed to non-white persons. In September, 1981, Klansmen excluded an Asian-American photographer, Sam Yu, who was sent by United Press International to cover the public Klan rally in Braddock Heights.
9. As noted above, Klansmen armed with rifles and semi-automatic guns enforce the Klan's discriminatory policies, escorting all non-whites off the property who attempt to attend a public Klan rally. The exclusions are visible to all who attend these rallies, including State Police and Frederick County Deputy Sheriffs.
10. At Klan public rallies, approximately 35 State Police troopers and 15 Frederick County Deputy Sheriffs were, and are routinely assigned to monitor Klan functions, to assist with traffic control, ensure compliance with the conditions of the permit, and to maintain the peace. It is the policy of both the State Police and the Frederick County Sheriff's Department to refrain from interfering with the exclusion of non-whites from public Klan rallies, so long as there is no breach of the peace. In accordance with that policy, no State trooper or Frederick County Deputy Sheriff has ever intervened, or otherwise taken any action to prevent the exclusion of non-whites at any of the public Klan rallies noted above or any other that they have monitored. Frederick County has no control or authority over the Maryland State Police.
11. The most recent public Klan rally took place as scheduled on the evening of August 17, 1985. Some of the Klansmen present at the rally were armed with rifles and semi-automatic weapons. Several representatives from the news media were present to cover the event, including representatives from WMAR-TV in Baltimore (Channel 2), the Frederick News Post and the News American. However, Klan members refused to allow Jocelyn Maminta, an Asian-American reporter from television station WDVM in Washington, D.C., to attend the public rally because she was non-white. Ms. Maminta was escorted off the property by armed Klansmen. Approximately six State troopers and an equal number of Deputy Sheriffs were stationed around the perimeter of the property in their usual fashion to assist with traffic control and to maintain the peace. Consistent with previous practice, no State trooper nor Deputy Sheriff intervened to prevent the exclusion of Ms. Maminta. The property in question was private property, an eleven (11) acre farmette owned by the father of the permittee.
12. Under the Maryland Constitution, Article IV, § 44, the sheriff of each county is elected by the voters for a term of four years "to exercise such powers and perform such duties as now or may hereafter be fixed by law."
13. The parties stipulate to the truth and accuracy of all the facts contained herein and the allegations contained in the Affidavits in support of Plaintiffs' cross-Motion for Summary Judgment. However, no party concedes the relevancy or materiality of these facts.
(Emphases added).
Another such rally was apparently held on August 16, 1986 in accordance with a permit seemingly issued by the Administrator in June or July, 1986 pursuant to the 1981 ordinance. No details as to what occurred during that rally have been made known to this Court by the parties or their counsel.
The 1981 ordinance is a type of statutory provision designed to require advance governmental...
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