Messages promoting the Ku Klux Klan were distributed to homes in the town of Newnan, Ga. on Sunday morning. Paper print-outs stuffed into small plastic bags weighed down with rocks were left next to newspapers outside houses in the Churchill Park subdivision of the town. The message on the recruitment flyers said, “Neighborhood Watch: You can sleep tonight knowing the Klan is awake!”

A sketch of a hooded KKK member appears above the proclamation, and a further invitation to use the organization for community support.

Members of the Churchill Park homeowners association tried to remove the offensive materials from driveways when they were discovered, but could not before the flyers resulted in widespread outrage among residents.

WATCH FOX NEWS ATLANTA REPORT ON KKK FLYER

KKK Recruitment Flyers Left at Newnan Homes: MyFoxATLANTA.com

“We do not approve of anything like this and sure don’t want you in our neighborhood,” Billie Duykaa of Newnan told Fox 5 Atlanta.

According to the local news station, subdivision leaders contacted police, but were told the materials are not against the law.

The leaflet contains the phone number and web site of the Traditionalist American Knights of the Ku Klux Klan. Its leader, Frank Acona, told Fox 5 that he did not put out the flyers, but confirmed that the materials originated from his organization. He does not know who distributed them, and claims he has received support for the handouts.

“I’ve had hundreds of calls to the Traditionalist American Knights hotline thanking us for the flyers we put out, telling us they appreciate us, and that makes it all worthwhile,” Acona said.

Acona also claims the handbills are not meant to intimidate, only educate.

African-American Newnan resident Elaine Beasley is ”[a] little shocked in this day and time because of the neighborhood that we live” by the distribution of the racially divisive flyers.

“You should be able to work and live without fear,” she said.

Follow Alexis Garrett Stodghill on Twitter at @lexisb