KKK FREE SPEECH: IT'S LIKE EVERYONE ELSE'S

The issue of free speech has a way of showing up in unusual circumstances. It happened again last week when Senior U.S. District Judge Stephen N. Limbaugh -- one of Cape Girardeau's own -- ruled in St. Louis that the Ku Klux Klan has a right to participate in Missouri's Adopt-A-Highway program despite the Missouri Department of Transportation's efforts to prevent it.

Under the 10-year-old Adopt-A-Highway program, organizations, businesses and individuals assume responsibility for cleaning up trash along specified portions of state highway, usually a mile or two. In return, the participants are recognized with official highway signs indicating the name of the adopter.

In 1994, the KKK sought to adopt a short stretch of I-55 in St. Louis. MoDOT turned the racist organization down, saying the KKK simply wanted to get free publicity and encourage recruitment rather than pick up motorists' litter along the highway.

Since then, there have been several court decisions. A federal magistrate judge ruled in 1996 that the KKK had a First Amendment right -- that's the amendment that guarantees free speech, a free press, freedom of religion and the right to assemble -- to participate in the Adopt-A-Highway program. MoDOT appealed and got that decision reversed. Finally, the case landed before Judge Limbaugh, who said the highway department "cannot use its regulations to target the Klan's unfortunate beliefs."

As repugnant as the KKK's core beliefs may be, the judge said, it has a right to its opinions and just as much of a right to post its name on a litter-control highway sign as other organizations with discriminatory membership rules, including the Boy Scouts and Knights of Columbus.

Despite Limbaugh's ruling, it is unlikely the KKK will get to adopt any highway in St. Louis. With 700 groups already involved in the Adopt-A-Highway program there, the highway department has decided not to allow anyone to adopt any more highway in the city. Limbaugh ruled the highway department had a right to limit the number of participants.

Statewide, there are about 5,000 highway adopters, with hundreds of miles not claimed by anyone in the litter-cleanup effort. KKK officials say they may apply to adopt a more rural area, in which case the highway department would likely have to allow it.

As offensive as many motorists might find the KKK's association with a program like this, it is clear government can't make rules deciding whose views are permitted and whose aren't. It was a tough decision for the judge, but the right one.

As for those other 5,000 highway adopters, here's a suggestion: Clean up your portion of highway. As it turns out, the program has been widely used for free advertising while miles and miles of adopted highway remain cluttered with trash.