Redmond business owner puts torch to message of hate left in her store



REDMOND, Wash. -- A black Redmond business owner burned a KKK robe Tuesday that she says someone left in her store as a message of hate.

"Thanks to all the people who stand up to racism and who are here for the right reasons," said Leona Coakley-Spring. "It's just not right. In this day and time, it's not right. We should just love one another."

At her Redmond consignment shop, she said, a white customer months ago left a bag that included several dresses but also a traditional white robe, worn by members of the Ku Klux Klan, along with a hood and a rope.

Police tracked down the 25-year-old man who dropped the bag off. He said his father gave him the garments to sell, after cleaning out a friend's home in Tacoma. Prosecutors decided there wasn't enough evidence to bring charges.

Many in the community rallied in support of the woman who moved here from the Bahamas for a better life. Now that life will no longer include the business she worked so hard to build.

"I don't feel safe anymore," she said. "I don't feel good about it anymore. I have to let it go. And I think it's so unfair, that I worked so hard to do that and now it's all gone."