A Ku Klux Klan group that has sponsored a cross display on Fountain Square during recent Christmas seasons did not apply for a permit and won't be represented this year, city officials said.

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        All space available for holiday displays on the square has been booked, said Fannie Nicholes, assistant to City Manager John Shirey.

        The Church of the American Knights in Butler, Ind., sponsored last year's cross in Cincinnati. The Rev. Jeff Berry, that organization's national imperial wizard, said on Monday that his group will apply for a permit to sponsor a cross for the 2002 Christmas season.

        Mr. Berry said opponents encourage other organizations to reserve all the available permits and space, to crowd his group out. “We will have one up there next year,” Mr. Berry said in a telephone interview.

        His organization has declined to pay a $17,500 bill from the city last year for providing police protection against protesters.

        Mr. Berry said he doubts that such bills are presented to other display sponsors. Cincinnati lawyer Scott Greenwood, who went into federal court in 1993 to win the right for another Klan group to sponsor a Christmas cross over Cincinnati's objections, said Monday that he doubted the city's demand would withstand court scrutiny. City officials decided on their own to spend the money on police protection, but not because the Klan sponsor requested it, Mr. Greenwood said.

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