COLUMBUS — Hate groups are recruiting more young people in Ohio through the Internet, direct mailings and music, and some watchdog groups claim the state could become the new national headquarters for Aryan Nations.

        The Ohio leader of Aryan Nations was arrested July 5 at his home in Delaware County, just north of Columbus.

        “It's kind of a wake-up call to people living in central Ohio that these groups do exist,” Sheriff Al Myers told the Columbus Dispatch.

        Danny William Kincaid was charged as a felon in possession of firearms and a pipe bomb. He pleaded not guilty to firearms charges Friday. His trial was scheduled for Aug. 27.

        The arrest followed a 13-month investigation of Mr. Kincaid, identified by the FBI as a leader in the national white-supremacist group. According to court records, Mr. Kincaid sold more than a dozen weapons to a federal informant.

        National hate-group watchdogs have identified dozens of white-supremacy organizations from Cleveland to Athens.

        “There is a high amount of activity in Ohio,” said Mark Pitcavage, national fact-finder for the Anti-Defamation League, a New York-based group that monitors hate-based organizations.

        The Anti-Defamation League, the Southern Poverty Law Center in Alabama and the Center for New Community in Chicago have monitored more than 50 extremist groups in Ohio and more than 600 nationwide, including Aryan Nations, National Alliance, the neo-Nazi National Socialist Movement and factions of the Ku Klux Klan.

        Hate groups are having suc cess by using a multimedia approach to recruiting.

        “The single biggest trend is white-power music, and the biggest threat to the public safety in Ohio is probably the National Alliance,” said Devin Burghart, whose Center for New Community lists activity from 360 hate groups in the Midwest.

        The white-power National Alliance is attracting members, said Erich Gliebe, editor of Resistance Magazine and producer of Resistance Records, a Parma-based company that sells hate music.

        “We have a pretty strong following in the Cleveland area,” he said.

Boycott aims for lasting effects
Lynch explains his boycott stance
Citizen gripes bypass panel
Over-the-Rhine under the gun and in fear
OTR businesses struggle to woo back customers
Man severely beaten; 5 others shot
RADEL: Fountain of peace
Drawings heal effects of riots
First Unity Day lunch planned for today
Bad drivers leave costly mess
Ky., Ohio government Web sites honored
Congrats
Dance group taps into variety
Franklin schools plan bond-issue vote
Hamilton has plans for bridge
Home safety checks offered
Kentucky Digest
Local Digest
Odd history on display
Oil suppliers work on image
You Asked For It
AbioCor surgery a 'home run'
Ohio State veterinarians working without licenses
Poverty, legal quirks blamed for prison racial disparities
Web ups hate group membership