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12/24/2008

&-Klansman
A

L~AF~oN
may
- sue for contract
(AP) -Brian Tacken whites and two blacks. Their deci- ordered by the top Klan leader in the
torched a Kentucky church when he sion was unanimous. Vassel said he area, who was angry his church had
was a Ku Klux Klan leader in 1991. didn't know if members of the board been taken over by an outspoken crit-
Now a businessman, Tacken calls the were aw-are of Tacked's past when ic of the Klan, Tackett told The AP in
arson a mistake and plans.to sue a making the decision. The board's a telephone interview Monday.
Mississippi county if he's denied a attorney would not comment. "Since I was basically the enforcer
lucrative con-t due to his criminal Tackett accuses Evans, the county for the Klan at that time, it was
part. engineer, of using the Klan affiliation thrown on me to do something. They
T ~ k e t wrote
t a letter last week to to "enflame" black members of the told me exactly what to do and ... I
the Coahoma County Board of board in the predominantly black did ahat I was supposed to do,"
Supervisors, threatening to file a fed- Mississippi county to steer the con- Tackett said.
em1 lamuit if they don'l award him hact to another company, allegedly Tackett said he was just a young
the mnkact on a water line project owned by Evans' friend. Evans and and impressionable man \rho fell in
The letter, a notice of intent to sue, is the board president did not immedi- with the w n g crowd, but has since
h e k t legal step in filing a civil ately respond messages Monday. turned his life around and left the
lamuit. "Although Mr. Tackett has had no Klan.
Tackett believes the board illegal- contact with the Klan and has not "I'm not a bigot or racist in any
ly passed over his $670,355 bid on been in any trouble whatsoever since way," he said. ''It doesn't have any- 1
&. I0 for another company's high- 1991 ... Mr. Evans felt this informa- thing to do n<th my ability to do
er bid of $769.355. tion was useful to prejudice certain work as a contractor. Bottom line is,
County officials, ho%ever, say the individuals in their decision in this I don't have anything to do with the
decision w a b a e d on ~nformat~onmatter," Tackett said in the Dec. 13 Klan."
about each company's work history letter, which was obtained by The Tackett said in 2004 he took over
and references that were checked by Associated Press on Monday. as president of Tackett Excavating
county engineer David Evans Tackett, 39: spent nearly 12 years
Tacken's fwmer Klan fillation behind b m for burning the Barren
and lengthy prisonsentence "did not River Baptist Church in Bowliig
lnc., which operates in Mississippi,
K ~ t u c k yand Tennessee, and ,ys
.foundd byhis father in 1975. The
?s
even m e up hh e a u p e ~ s o r s ' d i s ~Green, Ky. Tackett was the grand compmy was accredited by the-
,2u&m,Q %lIi*mmty admiis&or dragon, or the second m c o m q n d . e k i n e s s Bureau in June and h
Daniel Vassel. of the Kentuckv Kniehts of the Ku
The board is made up of three Klux Klan. H; said t h e arson was
a sahsfactorv rating. -
-. accordine to the
.- -