An unwelcome sight has returned to Waterloo — flyers bearing white-supremacist terms and calls to join skinhead-type groups. Lieutenant Rich Carter says no charges have been filed, though a man seen putting out flyers last month was picked up on an unrelated outstanding warrant.
That man was picked up for a probation violation, and has since been released. Carter says the city and county attorney are still researching what charges may be filed in connection with the flyers. He says it’s apparently illegal to place materials on cars on public property, and charges could be filed for that offense. Police confirm the leafletting stopped while the unidentified man was jailed and resumed once he was set free.
Carter says he doesn’t think the materials reflect the way people feel in the town of Waterloo. In the last ten years or so he says there have been a few isolated incidents but no serious community problem with what the cop calls “out-and-out in-your-face type racism.”
The flyers were reported in October, then calls stopped. Now they’ve resumed and Lieutenant Carter says people are complaining about finding the flyers on their cars. As far as authorities are concerned, he says, it’s a public nuisance. “Obviously it stirs up trouble in the community, and we’ll follow whatever laws are in place to see that it doesn’t happen.” City officials say charges are likely to be filed.