By Carrie Pond
Dawson – An Alabama-based civil rights group's civil suit against a division of the Ku Klux Klan in Dawson Springs heads to court today. The Southern Poverty Law Center and 16-year-old Jordan Gruver are seeking compensatory and punitive damages stemming from a 2006 assault on Gruver at the Meade County Fair. The attack occurred when five Imperial Klans of America members attacked the teen, who is of Panamanian descent, while allegedly recruiting members for the Dawson Springs-based organization. Two of the five men were found guilty in the attack and spent two years in prison. One of the defendants in the suit, Klan Imperial Grand Wizard Ron Edwards, denies inciting an attack and says the two men acted on their own. Jury selection begins in Meade County, and the trial is expected to last through the end of the week.