Gemtun

One of a very few moments when I am truly ashamed to be an Oregonian.


Town in Uproar After Nazis 'Adopt a Road'

PORTLAND (Jan. 30) - The American Nazi Party has volunteered to pick up trash along a quiet stretch of rural road in Oregon state, causing an uproar after getting a sign placed there crediting its work.

The issue has flared up in the same week that world leaders and aging survivors gathered in the Polish town of Auschwitz to mark the 60th anniversary of the liberation of the infamous Nazi death camp.

"American Nazi Party" reads the sign, which is part of the the "Adopt-A-Road" program, a widely promoted U.S. scheme encouraging local groups to clean up road litter in exchange for recognition on small signs.

The sign, located on a quiet stretch of road near Salem, Oregon, also lists the initials "NSM," which stands for the National Socialists Movement, another white supremacists group.

Marion County officials say there is nothing they can do about the Nazi litter pick up because barring the group from the program would violate its First Amendment free speech rights.

"I myself have gotten at least 30 complaints," Dan Estes, the senior policy advisor to the Marion County Board of Commissioners said. "We knew there was going to be a great deal of public outcry."

The Klu Klux Klan "adopted" a stretch of road in Missouri. After several legal battles, U.S. courts ruled that attempts to block the white supremacist group from the litter program was a violation of its free speech.

Neither the American Nazi Party nor the National Socialists Movement immediately responded to attempts to reach them.

The Oregon county put up the two signs at a cost to taxpayers of about $500, Estes said. If the signs are destroyed, the sponsoring organization must pay for replacements.

Any group sponsoring a litter pick-up must clean the roads twice a year. They must be a recognized organization, but it is usually a Boy Scout troop or civic organization.

Deafness

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prostock19

Unfortunately, the things that they do bad greatly outweigh the good that they do. But, they have a right to do, say, and believe in what they want as long as it doesn't hurt someone else. Most of these groups do something like this just to cause some commotion. They just like to have the "attention" that it gets.

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Fly Free

or we can always litter their stretch of the road MUCH more than the other roads adopted and let them do the massive clean up

VamPyroX

If you don't want them to do it, do it yourself.

In this case, if the people don't want this group to do it... then they should adopt more highways themselves.

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mspottedhorse

We had a similar problem in our area with the KKK. They tried to adopt a highway and it was denied. They sued and it was ruled in their favor. The county then decided to drop the program entirely. They told business that adopted that they would still appreciate volunteers picking up trash but the KKK killed the program. Here is a Related Story

kuifje75

Read carefully the last few sentences:

Destroy the sign repeatedly and make them pay a lot, if they want to keep being recognised as the cleaner. LOL

The*Empress

why adopt a highway? Do they get money for doing so, for picking up trash?
why would anybody pay for a highway to clean it up?
Or do they volunteer and just clean the highway?

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mspottedhorse

Its a volunteer program. What happens is a sign is placed on the highway that says 'Adopted by Joes Dry Cleaners'. Its an advertisement for the company. In turn, the employees volunteer to pick up trash each month along their portion of the highway. It is a great program.

The*Empress

Oh that is neat. Thank Mspottedhorse

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Dennis

They don't pay for the sign. The city/county/state does. Messing with public property isn't a smart idea.

The American Nazi party has every right to contribute to society as you do. As long as they don't use their contributions to further illegal activities, I'm happy that they're making our environment a cleaner place.

Steel X

at least we could just make fun of the nazis picking up trash on the highway.

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kuifje75

The first sign is not paid for as it is a volunteer program, but if the sign gets destroyed, the city will not pay for another one. So, if someone destroys it, the Nazi party will have to pay for a second, third, fourth, etc sign.

The KKK sign in my local hometown in NJ got destroyed instantly and nobody could do anything about it. KKK paid for another one and it got destroyed again. Now it says "European Americans." European Americans, my ass.