Klan Cards Found in Wal - Mart Goods

Associated Press/August 27, 2002

Muscle Shoals, Ala. -- Shoppers at a Wal-Mart in Alabama found business cards from the Ku Klux Klan inside books at a patriotic display in the store.

"I was so startled I read it three times,'' said Mary Meherg, who saw the cards while shopping at the Muscle Shoals store on Monday. "I couldn't believe it.''

The cards were tucked inside copies of a book written by Lynne Cheney, wife of Vice President Dick Cheney, and red, zip-up book covers sold to benefit a nonprofit foundation named for Todd Beamer, one of the heroes on United Airlines Flight 93 last September.

The KKK cards touted a "message of hope and deliverance to America'' and solicited a $3 donation to the group for information on helping white children, "America's new minority.'' The cards listed an Arkansas post office box and the address for an online Klan store.

Officials at the Muscle Shoals Wal-Mart said they previously have found KKK literature in other goods. As in Monday's case, the literature was removed as soon as it was found, store officials said.

"It's definitely not something we want in our store,'' company spokeswoman Sharon Weber said. "Now that we've learned about it, we need to get them out.''

Rebecca Irwin, marketing director for Gregg Gift Co., which makes the book covers for the Todd M. Beamer Foundation, said the company was "shocked and extremely upset to learn that someone is using our product as a vehicle to promote their hate organization.''