COVINGTON, Va.- – People in Covington are upset about offensive flyers being left in their front yards. They appear to be recruiting tools for the Ku Klux Klan.
"It was laying right here, I said, 'who would be giving me bird seeds?" said resident Louise Pritt.
But when she looked more closely, Pritt discovered it was more than a bag with bird seed. She came outside Tuesday afternoon to find a KKK flyer in her yard.
She says it's a shame to see something like that and remembers what it says word from word.
"I looked down and it was from the Loyal White Knights inside the packet. And that blacks are taking over. And 'wake up white America.' And I thought, 'This is awful," Pritt said.
Different versions of the recruiting flyer were placed in several other yards on East Hickory Street and North Beverly Avenue.
Police Chief Anthony Morgan said his officers responded immediately to pick up every one of the flyers.
They're looking for who actually threw these items on people's yards.
"We don't want this here in the community. These kind of things if you want to keep it in the confines of your home or in your own area, you have more of the right to do it. We just don't want this here," Morgan said.
Still Morgan said distributing the fliers doesn't appear to be a criminal act.
"We have no idea who did it. We know we have other communities with the same thing which probably tell us this is a group of people," Morgan said.
Regardless, Pritt hopes this doesn't create more problems.
"I have never had any trouble with anybody. I've lived here for 61 years. And I don't approve of it."
The flyers will be kept as evidence at the police department in case there are more issues in the future.
Residents near the Potts Creek area in Alleghany County and in Clifton Forge and Fincastle also are reporting the same type of flyers in their area.