KANSAS CITY, Mo. — A militia group with ties to an extremist movement that has engaged in terrorist activity has adopted part of a highway in the Kansas City area.
The Original Three Percenters of Missouri adopted a section of Interstate 70 at the Interstate 470 interchange in Kansas City, the Missouri Department of Transportation said. Signs bearing the group’s name recently appeared along a stretch of highway after the group applied and was accepted into the program.
The Adopt-a-Highway program allows volunteers to help clean up trash along Missouri roadways, MoDOT spokesperson Linda Horn said.
When a person or group adopts a portion of the highway, one sign is placed in each direction along the adopted section of the road.
The Three Percenters is a militia organization that believes in citizens mobilizing against tyranny, according to the Anti-Defamation League, a national anti-hate organization. According to the ADL, the group has a track record of criminal activity — from weapons violations to terrorist plots and attacks.
The Southern Poverty Law Center calls “Three Percenterism” a common belief that falls under the larger anti-government militia movement. Similar groups are active in several states including Missouri, Illinois, Minnesota, Nebraska, Ohio and Georgia, among others, according to the SPLC.
The militia group could not be contacted for comment because they do not appear to have a public information page online.
The right for any group to participate in Adopt-a-Highway programs is protected by the First Amendment, Horn said.
In 1999, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the program was protected as free speech after the Ku Klux Klan applied to adopt a section of highway in St. Louis. The KKK was kicked out of the program in 2001 because it failed to clean up the portion of highway it adopted.
Missouri started its Adopt-a-Highway program in 1987. Now, more than 5,300 groups with over 50,000 volunteers work to keep about 6,400 miles of Missouri highways clean, Horn said.
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