The only possible plus to the city of Tomball, Texas, getting into bed with the Ku Klux Klan would be that the Klan bring their own sheets. Everything else is a negative, as well as the subject of a lawsuit taken by three protesters who say police denied them access to a KKK-run exhibit in a municipal building because organizers didn't want minorities around.

The Knights of the White Camellia rented out the city-owned hall on June 11 and invited the public to come learn the history of the KKK. Several hundred protesters gathered outside the event; three decided to see what the Klan had to offer. Corey Irving, an African-American, Rona Smith, a Jew, and Christina O'Toole, who's neither, say police, by refusing them entry, were enforcing the Klan's segregationist policies. O'Toole believes the city shouldn't offer floorspace to "any organization that promotes hate or racism."

While police deny blocking anyone from entering the exhibit, city manager Ben Griffin offers a more ironic defence, arguing that the rules for renting out public halls mandate "not discriminating" against particular groups.

» Scott Saxon