It's a grisly story the it featured the best comment from a law
enforcement official about a criminal. It's something I often wonder
about, and a Louisiana sheriff said with perfect understatement and
succinctness.
The story is in our Cops and Courts section and it is about something
I almost think I'd never hear about in current events: A KKK
initiation ending with a killing.
Entitled "Police: Woman slain as she tried to leave KKK rite," the
story featured this quote from St. Tammany Parish Sheriff Jack
Strain: "The IQ level of this group is not impressive, to be kind."
He later went on to assure the public they should not be worried
about additional violence from this group, calling them "these kooks."
The KKK group apparently dubbed itself the "Dixie Brotherhood," and
one expert from the Anti-Defamation League on such groups commented
that "some of these guys are just crooks, sociopaths," instead of
highly organized haters.
Covering courts, I've seen some surprising associations among
criminal elements and I am not one to believe everything is highly
organized and planned, whether drug groups or media conspiracies. In
fact, typically something is not organized but instead just comes
together when a group of yahoos gathers, whether a drunken brawl, a
poorly hatched murder plot, or anything involving youths — especially
when breaking into cars or trying to get a party started.
But apparently the KKK still exists, we're just lucky it doesn't thrive.
And, though such violence and hate is frightening, we're lucky to
have a sheriff who tells it like it is and puts it in perspective.