Racist paper lands in Costa Mesa yards

An undetermined number of residents on Fordham Drive in Costa Mesa’s College Park neighborhood received what was likely an unexpected delivery Thursday night ? a white supremacist newspaper.

The White Patriot Leader, with a post office box in Springfield, Mo., was found in some driveways on Fordham Drive, though it’s unclear how many residents received the paper.

At least 16 homes on Fordham in about a six-block area between Princeton Drive and West Wilson Street had the papers lying in their driveways at midday Friday.

Jeff Diercksmeier, a resident of the 2300 block, said he found the paper around 9 p.m. Thursday night.

Diercksmeier, at least, was not interested in seeing any more of the paper.

“That’s just vile. That has no place in our community,” he said.

He checked down the street all the way to Fairview Drive and saw a number of the papers, he said.

“You could tell that they had been thrown to all the houses, and that’s got to be 150 houses at least,” he said.

He’s lived on the street for 10 years and doesn’t remember ever getting similar literature, he said.

The paper’s front page reads “Invasion!” in large type across the top and features photos of people marching, apparently from recent immigration-related rallies.

Inside are articles by the paper’s publisher, Glenn Miller, and well-known white supremacist leader David Duke, and a recommended reading list that includes “Mein Kampf” and “The Turner Diaries,” a novel the FBI believes inspired the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing.

Several residents on Fordham, a quiet residential street where some people had their front doors open, said they did not receive the paper, and it did not appear to have been thrown in driveways on the streets that cross Fordham.

“I’ve never seen anything like this. It’s kind of a surprise,” said Ronald Sanchez, who has lived on Fordham Drive for four years.

The paper delivery was less of a surprise to Mark Potok, director of the Southern Poverty Law Center’s Intelligence Project, which monitors hate groups. Potok said white supremacist groups often spread propaganda the same way, though he hasn’t heard of literature drops specifically in Costa Mesa before.

Costa Mesa has drawn national attention because of the City Council’s controversial plan to train police for immigration enforcement, and Potok said that’s likely the reason the paper was distributed here.

“Some hate groups may suspect that they have sympathizers in Costa Mesa, and they’re looking for them.”

Tina Anjozian, a neighbor down the block agreed. She said she’s never received a paper like that before, and at first she didn’t notice the one lying near her porch Friday.

“I would remember that,” Anjozian said. “I’ve been here nine years.”

Costa Mesa Mayor Allan Mansoor, who has been praised and criticized for spearheading the immigration plan, said he hadn’t heard anything about the papers, and he doesn’t know why someone would deliver them in the city.

“Certainly, it’s not something we want in the community, but it sounds like an isolated incident,” he said.