Police to Monitor Rally

Los Angeles Police Department anti-gang officers plan to monitor an advertised skinhead recruitment rally at Sunland Park and Recreation Center on Saturday, authorities said.

The flier, found at nearby Verdugo Hills High School, advertises a recruitment effort “for white men and women” who wish to “fight for a white America” with a group called the Valley Nazi Skins, Officer Jay Roberts said Wednesday.

Although police do not expect a big turnout for the rally, the LAPD’s special enforcement unit will be deployed as a precaution, Roberts said.

“I’m guessing it’s going to be an absolute big nothing, but I’d rather be embarrassed and prepared than have a bunch of jerks out there starting fights,” Roberts said.

The fliers came to the attention of park and school officials about three weeks ago.

The dean of students at Verdugo Hills High School had used the flier to illustrate why students should attend another event scheduled Saturday--a “Stop the Violence” concert in the school auditorium to benefit a pro-diversity group, Youth for Positive Change, said Principal Cheryl Dellepiane.

The dean attached the flier to promotional materials for the concert, said Dellepiane, who did not know where he got the poster.

Mark Gross, assistant director of Sunland Park, said staff members became aware of the flier at about the same time, and referred the matter to police.

The flier may be of particular concern to residents of the Sunland-Tujunga area, which has been seen in recent years as being inhospitable to minorities.

In 1999, a 22-year-old Tujunga man pleaded no contest to attacking a 14-year-old Asian boy and using racial slurs against African Americans at Verdugo Hills High. And in 1998, two white supremacists were arrested for allegedly planting a number of fake bombs in front of homes and businesses where minorities lived and worked.