Neo-Nazi Group To March Through Toledo Neighborhood

Neo-Nazi group to march through Toledo neighborhood

http://www.ohio.com/mld/beaconjourna...e/12835011.htm

Associated Press
10/8/2005

TOLEDO, Ohio - A neo-Nazi group will march next week through a Toledo neighborhood that they say has been beset by gang violence that threatens white residents.

City officials are meeting with residents to urge them not to engage members of the National Socialist Movement. But the group said it's not looking for a fight.

"Police say that they would like to have a heavy presence, but I don't think that's necessary," said Bill White, a national spokesman for the organization and unit leader for the movement's Roanoke, Va., chapter.

He said he believes any violence that occurs during the Oct. 15 march will be started by residents or radical members of other groups that attach themselves to the movement's supremacist causes.

The Lucas County Sheriff's office has pledged extra support for the Toledo Police Department. Police Chief Mike Navarre said the department plans to be out in force to keep residents and marchers from clashing.

WilliAnn Moore, president of the Toledo National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, said she worries the march will exacerbate an already tense situation. She's urging black youths to ignore the demonstrators.

"I have already talked with some of the members of the religious community and the regional director of the Ohio Civil Rights Commission and we will be doing something proactive so this doesn't turn into some kind of race war," she said.

Interest in the event has grown, and expected attendance has ballooned from a couple dozen local marchers to 50 or 60 members from six states, White said.

The group has not applied for permits to close streets. Navarre said members will have to stay on the sidewalk during the march.

Members says the neighborhood has been overrun by two gangs, the Dexter Boyz and Stickney 33, and violence has threatened the white community.

"It just seemed that Toledo was an area where there was a real need for something like this to let police officials know that the fact that this is against whites doesn't mean it's not racial," White said.

A white resident's complaints about gang violence caught the group's attention, White said. Thomas Szych, who allegedly waved a gun at a group of young black residents, filed the complaints, which Navarre said were exaggerated.

Szych said he did not solicit the group's support, and he doesn't expect that it will alleviate the racial tensions.

"I'm not against what they're doing, but I think what they're doing will create more havoc for the residents in the neighborhood," he said.

The group holds several such small rallies every month and hosts large gatherings a few times a year, White said.