Kootenai County Task Force on Human Relations Scrapbooks 1992 by Molstead Library at North Idaho College

Exan discloses death plot Infonnant: Activists, synagogue targeted 0 1992, The Spokesman-Rcvicw/ Spounc Chronklc

By Bill Mortin Staff writer

SUNDAY FEBRUARY 16, 1992 $1.25 VOLUME 6, NO. 40

A group of skinheads and white supremacists with ties to the Aryan Nations plotted the assassinations of two civil rights leaders and the firebombing of a Spokane synagogue, says a former FBI informant. Marshall Mend of Coeur d'Alene and Bill Wassmuth of Seattle confirmed that the FBI warned them of the myrder plot last fall. The terrorism, which the informant says was planned for Feb. I, was scuttled in late Oc- .......- - - - . . . -... tober when immigration agents / moved to deport two skinhead members of the group who were from Italy and Canada, federal authorities say. Federal agents confirmed Friday they ~ew of the plot but would not elaborate on details provided by the informant, Dan Bordner. The group secretly organized last summer in North Idaho and called itself "The Bob Mathews Brigade" in honor of the man who 1oo C.... lv... ll .. rlg"""h..ti leader formed the Aryan domestic terror- Marehall Mend: ist group known ~ The Order in 1 "bought another life 1983, Bordner said:' The FBI monitored the seven- insurance policy." member group for about three months, including recording some conversations and conducting surveillance. But no charges were brought because the assassination and firebombing plot never got beyond talking stages, agents said. Authorities suspended their investigation late last year after determining that Bordner - a mail-order minister who performed Kevin Coe's prison wedding in 1986 may be unreliable. Mend, who is Jewish, is a prominent Realtor and civil rights leader in Coeur d'Alene. "I took it as a serious threat," be said of the FBI warning. " I even bought another life insurance policy." Wassmutb is a former Roman Catholic priest from Coeur d'Alene who now beads the Northwest Coalition Against Malicious Harassment in Seattle. He was the target of an assassination plot in 1986 when an earlier Aryan splinter group known as The Order II detonated a pipe bomb at bis Coeur d'Alene home. No one was injured and four Aryans were convicted. Bordner, 36, said he was a Ku Klux Klan leader in Aorida who became anÂˇ FBI informant after he began attending the Aryan Nations church last July, using the alias of Dan VonReinhard. The paid informant said be Please see PLOT: A18

was given the code name " Bullwinkle" by the FBI.

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"I decided that the enemy of the Jew is an enemy of mine," Bordner said. Once he befricnded the Aryans, Bordner said, he was invited to a secret meeting hosted by Floyd Cochran, who was a public spokesman for the Aryan Natiom. The group, which included three skinheads and two teenage girls, gathered at Cochran's rural cabin south of Silverwood, he said. ''The first thing we talked about was the assassinations of Marshall Mend and Bill Wassmuth," Bordner said. He said the group also discussed burning down Temple Beth Shalom in Spokane. The meeting concluded with a cross-burning in a secluded gravel pit adjoining Cochran's property, the infonnant said. Bordner identified those at the meeting as Cochran, 35, a New York native; Daniel Joshua Sim.1, 20, a Canadian skinhead convicted of assault in Edmonton, Alberta; Ricardo Stocchino, 29, an Italian skinhead; Michael Bryan Barr, 19, a California slcinhcad; Annette Brown, 19, Barr's girlfriend and the daughter of convicted Order member Gary Yarbrough; and a IS-year-old girl whose father has tics to the White Aryan Resistance (WAR) in Portland. Bordner says members of the group met a halfdozen times at Cochran's cabin from August through October. Cochran called the meetings after criticizing Aryan Nations founder Richard Butler for being only a propagandist. Brown, who has attended the Aryan Nations church, said Friday she and Barr went to Cochran's cabin for a series of gatherings. But she. said she heard no discussions of assassinations or fircbombings. " It was just a bunch of friends gathering together to talk, like any church group would do," she said. "Why would I want to go and assassinate anybody that didn't do anything to me?" Brown said both the FBI and Butler have asked her about the group's discussions. "Like I told them, I don't know anything about this," she said. She said Barr is her boyfriend and is recovering at his mother's house in Las Vegas from an au~ mobile accident. He could not be reached for comment. Wayne Jones, deputy chief of staff for the Aryan Nations, said Friday he had heard rwmrs that Cochran had formcd a group but neither Jones nor Butler knew its purpose. Jones said he didn't know Cochran's whereabouts. Without being provided a name, Butler said Friday that a man known as Dan VonReinhard was the latest FBI informant in the Aryan ranks. He didn't know VonRcinhard's true name is Bordner. "We asked him who he was working for and he admitted it was the FBI, that he was a government snitch," Jones said. "He was trying to cause some problcm.1 for Floyd Cochran and our church," Butler added. " Floyd Cochran is 100 percent with us and we're I00 percent behind him.' Bordner was convicted of check forgcry in 1978 in western Washington and served time in prison. In an attempt to avoid jail, he said, he feigncd mental illness and spent time at Eastern State Hospital. After that, he formed the Orthodox Christian Naziritc Church and performed the 1986 wedding for rapist Kevin Coe.

Photo by Paul Wodehouse/Edmonton Suri

Daniel Jo1hue Sima, 20, • Canadian 1klnhead 11 on the run after en e11ault conviction In Edmonton, Alberta, end deportation proceeding, In the United Statea.

He said he decided to become an FBI informant after realizing bis racist beliefs were wrong. Bordner was dropped as an informant late last year after agents determined some of his facts were embellished, bringing bis credibility into question. There also were concerns he may have become too active in the conspiracy. Bordner, however, said bis relationship with the FBI soured when he retained an attorney to try to get more money from the FBI so he could relocate. Federal agents said Bordner's work as an inform· ant triggered immigration proceedings against Sims and Stocchino. Stocchino was deported to Italy in November because his passport bad expired. according to agents of the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Ser· vice. Sims, a Canadian citizen with U.S. immigrant status, fled North Idaho and now is believed to be living in Murfreesboro, Tenn., federal law enforcement sources say. Sims was convicted in Edmonton in 1990 of as· sault for a skinhead attack on former radio broad· caster Keith Rutherford, who was blinded in one eye. Because of the attack, Rutherford is suing Sims, the Aryan Nations and Butler for $2.5 mil· lion in Edmonton. Rutherford says he was targeted for the attack because he worked on a series of radio broadcasts in Canada in the 1960s that identified Nazi war

criminals hiding in the country. Before Sims began serving a one-year prison sen· tencc in Canada, he fled to the United States and sought refuge at the Aryan Nations, about IO miles north of Coeur d'Alene. After the brigade broke up, Mend and Wassmuth were told by the FBI that the threat had cased. "I have no reason to doubt what the FBI told me, that it was a real threat," Wassmuth said. "But as quiclcly as they told me about the threat, they backed away from it, and said they didn't think the informant was totally reliable." Mend said he learned of the threat in October, shortly after several of his real estate signs, bearin@ his photo, were defaced with anti-Jewish graffiti. On one billboard, a knife was punched through his eye. Kootenai County sherifrs deputies at the time blamed the vandalism on juveniles and said it had no racial overtones. Although FBI agents talked to Mend and Wassmuth, leaders of Spokane's only synagogue apparently were never warned. "We were not contacted about this, as far as I lcnow," said synagogue president Paul Tanners, who called the possibility of violence "chilling." "We are aware of who our neighbors arc," Tanners said. "Whenever there is a reason to be extra vigilant, security precautions arc taken."

A4 NORTH IDAHO NEWS NETWORK Friday, Feb. 14, 1992

Coalition's rantings couldn't stand debate .If you. a~e like so many of us in the w~te m_aJonty cornmuruty, you are tired ?f listenmg to the persistent liberal rantings of _the "Human Rights Coalition" and their band of stooge mouthpieces who h~~e set themselves up as pseudoauthonties to speak for, and in behalf of the glorified "pluralistic and multicultural" Panhandle communities. Take notice. I propose that you assist us in organizing a live, uncensored, televised debate between a panel of legitimate conspiratologists and the local and state professional coalition propagandists. That would be such fun. We could explore such juicy items as: What genuine role does the Jewish Anti-Defamation league play in their operation? Where does the heavy funding and administration planning really come from? Why do their goals and objectives always seem to parallel those of the Council on Foreign Relations (Marxist/Zionist Communism is not dead)? How are their efforts assisting in laying the groundwork for King George's New World Order? We could ask so many fun questions about their involvement in the desegregation of our community, pushing the Martin Luther King holiday debacle and protecting gay and lesbian rights and the pro-choice abortion issue. Maybe Tony Stewart, with his powerful celebrity status, could put this together and further the coalition's cause by enlightening the local masses with some inside truths that the press always seem to avoid. So come on, coalition and all you good patriotic folks out there. Help us show the public who really runs the coalition and what process is served by their secret agenda and media rantings. It shouJd prove to be an enlightening and fun time for all.

RJCHARD F. MASKER Hayden Ltke

Rural cabin targeted as

Aryan camp Not enough evidence found to bring paramilitary charges By Bill Morfin Swf'writer

Kootenai County deputies went looking for an Aryan paramilitary camp one day after federal authorities apprehended a skinhead who was linked by an infonnant to a plot to kill two civil rights leaders. .· ,, Kootenai County Prosecutor r.· Bill Douglas confirmed Tuesday . that an Idaho search warrant was served Oct. 23 at a rural cabin west of Cbilco Estates, where Aryan Nations official Aoyd Cochran was living. Cochran was part of a group of seven people that an FBI informant says met at the cabin . and discussed the alleged assassination plot and firebombing a Spokane synagogue. Deputies found paper targets depicting Jews, and spent .22caliber casings at the cabin, Cochran said one person familiar with the search of Cochran's property. The targets were riddled with bullet boles. Douglas said investigators did not find enough evidence to bring a felony charge under Idaho's law that bans paramilitary training. The group of skinheads and white supremacists - who called themselves "The Bob Mathews Brigade" - was formed last August, according to FBI informant Dan Bordner. The FBI monitored the group for about three months, but the terrorism. planned for Feb. l, never got beyond the talking stages, Bordner and FBI agents said. No federal or state criminal charges grew out of the investigation, and authorities say none arc envisioned. lnunigration agents apprehended an Italian skinhead, Ricardo Stoocbino, in October and later deported him ~ cause his passport was expired. Authorities suspended their investigation late last year after determining that their informant may be unreliable and because the Aryan group eaentially bad disbanded. But in October the FBI did warn the two alleged tatgets - Marshall Mend, a Realtor from Coeur d'Alene, and Bill Wassmuth of Seattle. Mend's real estate signs in North Idaho were defaced with anti-Semitic graffiti last summer about the time the ,: _.,.- _ T·::_r···-

Please see ARYAN SEARCH: A3

property damage, injury or death. "The purpose of the search was to disoover evidence of paramilitary activity, which we believed was going on" at Cochran's cabin, Douglas said. Aryan group was meeting. "The second purpose was to have a chilling effect on A reward was offered but the vandalism crime was not such activities if they are being carried out or planned in solved, said Mend, who is Jewish and a founding member the future," he said. of the Kootenai County Task Force on Human Relations. Sworn testimony from Sherifrs Lt. Gary Cuff in a se"Do I have to wait until I get killed before somebody cret proceeding before Kootenai County Magistrate A.H. gets arrested?" Mend said Tuesday when told about the Parisot led to issuance of the warrant. paper targets. Prosecutor Douglas said he couldn't publicly comment "1, for sure, don't like being an assassination target and on what led to issuance of the search warrant because it I also don't like those people still running around I ~,'' was done in cl<*ld court to protect the identity of an informant and details of an on-going investigation. he said. Idaho's 5-year-old paramilitary training law makes it A copy of the warrant was given to Cochran, 36, who illegal for two or more people to conspire to " injure, op- was at the cabin when Cuff and other sherifrs deputies press, threaten or intimidate any citii.en" on the basis of showed up on the afternoon of Oct. 23. the race or religion. Cochran, who had been a public spokesman for the ArThe law defines paramilitary training as a gathering of yan Nations, left North Idaho a week after the search was one or more people for the purpose of training, instructing carried out, Douglas said. Cochran is now believed to be in Âˇ or practicing any technique or means capable of causing T e ~.

Aryan search

WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 19, 1992

Cops find shells, targets; downplay racist threat By RIC CLARKE Regional editor

COEUR d'ALENE - Kootenai County Sheriff's deputies found spent .22 cartridge casings and bullet boles in targets with racist caricatures at a Chilco home where the assassinations of a Coeur d'Alene Realtor and former Coeur d'Alene priest allegedly were planned last October. FBI agents had been investigating tips from an informant at the time of the alleged scheme to kill Realtor Marshall Mend and Bill Wassmuth of Seattle and to bomb a Spokane synagogue. Yet despite the evidence, the county's chief of detectives said Tuesday he does not believe a serious situation existed. "When everything was said and done, the threats weren't as great as they originally appeared to be," said Lt. Gary Cuff. "But there's always the potential."

.. when everything was said and done, the threats weren't as great as they originally appeared to be. But there's always the potential. " - Lt. Gary Cuff The evidence was among a host of items law enforcement officers hoped to find in the log borne so they could charge Aryan Nations spokesman Floyd Cochran and six other alleged conspirators with violation of the Terrorist Control Act, said Cuff. Also listed as "fruits of the crime" in a search warrant served on Oct. 23 were military training manuals on the use of firearms, explosives, incendiary devices, sniper tactics, night operation, land navigatian, small arms training, escape and evasion and pho-

tographs and records of paramilitary activities. Cuff said officers did not find enough evidence to file charges in the raid that was linked to an FBI investigation of the alleged murder and firebombing plot. Federal agents monitored the group for about three months until one of its meQJbers was deported to Italy by the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service. Cuff said county officials accompanied federal agents when they See RACIST, Page 14

Kootenai County Sheriffs deputies raided this Chilco home last October hoping to find enough evidence to convict Aryan Nations spokesman Floyd Cochran and six other for allegedly planning to kill Realtor Marshall Mend and BIii Waumuth.

-Photo by CHRISTIAN MURDOCK

RACIST

Continued from Page 1

seized Italian skinhead Ricardo Stocchino for having an expired passport. Stocchino's deportation and the FBI's investigation of the alleged assassination conspiracy resulted from information provided by federal informant Dan Bordner. Cuff said his skepticism also is based on the reliability of Bordner, who he referred to as a "mercenary informant." "The information he was pro-

viding to the FBI was unreliable," Cuff said. "He was an informant for money." Bordner, 36, is a Washington felon who attempted to avoid jail time for check forgery in 1978 by feigning mental illness. He also formed the Orthodox Christian Nazirite Church and performed the prison wedding of rapist Kevin Coe in 1986. He reported to FBI agents that Cochran met with his co-conspirators about six times in his log home near Chilco Estates north of Coeur d'Alene. The group called itself the "The

Bob Mathews Brigade" in honor of the man who formed the Aryan terrorist group called The Order or the Bruders Schweigen (Silent Brotherhood). That group murdered Jewish radio talk show host Allen Berg in 1984 in Denver. A Bruders Schweigen training booklet was listed on Cuff's search warrant among the items be hoped to find in Cochran's home. The Brigade's alleged targets play key roles in the Northwest Coalition Against Malicious Harassment. Wassmuth heads

the coalition. Mend, who is Jewish, is an outspoken civil rights leader. Mend had complained to the sheriff's office just prior to the Chilco raid that bis real estate signs had sustained race-related vandalism. Cuff said Tuesday that he believes the damage was neither race related nor committed by the former members of the Bob Mathews Brigade. "The evidence didn't support that," he said. "That could just as easily have been a disgruntled customer."

l ~

THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 20, 1992

Assault rifle tale targeted by informant By RIC CLARKE Regional editor

COEUR d'ALENE - About two weeks before an alleged assassination plot was foiled by police, one conspirator bought an assault rifle from a Hayden Lake pawnbroker to commit the crime, a former FBI informant said Wednesday. Informant Dan Bordner said alleged Aryan Nations terrorist Michael Barr showed him the Chinese semi-automatic rifle shortly after he bought it on Oct. 4, 1991. Bob Tacke, owner of the Kodiak Trading Post near Hayden, confirmed Wednesday he sold the rifle to Barr for about $130. Barr and fellow conspirator Ricardo Stocchino were to use the gun to kill Coeur d'Alene Realtor Marshall Mend on Feb. 1â&#x20AC;˘ Bordner said in a telephone interview from Spokane. Former Coeur d'Alene priest Bill Wassmuth now of Seattle was to be killed by a 15-year-old female member of the terrorist group on the same day, he said. "They had already started stalking Mend," to determine his daily routine, Bordner said. 'The 15-year-old was beaded for Seattle to check out Wassmuth." Bordner blasted the FBI Wednesday for abandoning an investigation into the alleged

Barr and fellow conspirator Ricardo Stocchino were to use the gun to kill Coeur d'Alene Realtor Marshall Mend on Feb. 1, Bordner said in a telephone interview from Spokane. plot He also demanded that fede ral agents produ ce secretly recorded tapes of the group's meetings that would prove there was enough evidence to charge the alleged conspirators with terrorist crimes. "If they come out with those tapes (the FBI) is going to have to do a lot of backpedaling to do and prove they were not all screwed up," he said. Mike Dillon, special agent in charge of the FBI in Idaho, declined to respond. The five alleged terrorists have close ties to the white supremacist Aryan Nations Church near Hayden. They named the splinter group the Bob Mathews Brigade in honor of the man who formed the Aryan terrorist group The Order or the Bruders Schweigen See RIFLE, Page 13

Continued from Page 1

(Silent Brotherhood) in 1983. That grou p murdered J ewish radio talk show host Allen Berg in 1984 in Denver. Mend and Wassmuth play key roles in the Northwest Coalition Against Malicious Harassment and are outspoken champions of civil rights. Mend is also Jewish. FBI agents monitored the Brigade led by Aryan Nations spokesman Floyd Cochran for three months before federal officials captured alleged would-be assassin Stoccbino of Italy and deported him on an immigration violation on Oct. 21. No charges were filed against the alleged terrorists who were meeting at Cochran's borne in Chilco because the plot never advanced beyond the talking stage, FBI agents said. Federal officials said they also abandoned the investigation because Bordner proved to be an unreliable source. But Bordner maintains it was the FBI that was unreliable. Federal officials pulled him off the case midway throug h the investigation, he said, because they couldn't afford to continue the ir backup surveillance for him. But they went ahead with the immigration raid on Stocchino, he said Bordner said members of the

THE HANDLE -

_ FRIDAY, FEB. 28, 1992

PAGE-Bl

Migrant worker's truck vandalized Hate-crimes law may be used if suspects caught, police say By J. Todd Foster Staff writer

COEUR d'ALENE - Vandals who spray painted "Go Home" on a Mexican national's pickup truck could be prosecuted under Idaho's bate-crimes law, police said Thursday. A Coeur d'Alene busin~ that employs the migrant worker also was victimized late Wednesday or early Thursday by fluorescent orange graffiti. The vandalism apparently is retaliation against Progressive Forestry Services Inc., which bas hired 18 migrant workers mostly from Mexico and South America for tree-harvesting jobs at the U.S. Forest Service nursery, officials said. More than 1,600 area residents have signed a petition urging lawmakers to prohibit federal jobs, even contract work, from going to non-U.S. citizens. "We have 1,600 suspects and maybe more," said Coeur d'Alene Police Capt. Ken Timmons. The Kootenai County Task Force on Human Relations denounced the vandalism Thursday as malicious ~ment, which, if proven, is a fel-

ony with a maximum jail sentence of five years and a $5,000 fine, Timmons said. "That's tragic," said task force Chairman Tony Stewart. ". . . It's a violation of the law and it's also wrong. We aJI must live together in harmony and respect the dignity of all other persons." Monoel Mosqueda, 35, has been pulling tree seedlings since Sunday so he can send the money home to a wife and five children in the Michoacan region of Mexico, be said.

"I was surprised. I went out to my truck this morning and I said, 'What happened here?' " said Mosqueda, who speaks little English. Mosqueda, who is staying at a local motel, quickly used gasoline to wash the orange paint off his 1979 Ford pickup. He plans to sleep under the truck's camper top to protect it from further acts of vandalism. His supervisor, Randy Humbert, said Mosqueda's Mexico license tags must have given him away. "I'm very concerned that we have this kind of attitude in our community," Humbert said. "I wish people were more understanding."

Forest Service employee Amy Kiesbuy, who started the petition drive against migrant workers, said the vandals went too far. "This really makes me mad. It sends the wrong message," she said. ''This is not a racial issue. We just think these jobs ought to be done by local people." Wade l.abaric, owner of Progressive Forestry Services, said he arrived at his office Thursday morning to find "Mexican Forestry" painted on a garage. He bought a gallon of white paint and coated over it before notifying police, l.aharie said. "It's pretty disheartening, it really is," he said. Idaho's hate-crimes law, enacted in 1983, outlaws ethnic terrorism, intimidation and harassment, Timmons said. Police first must determine if the two incidents arc related and whether they fit the bate-crimes definition, he said. But Timmons said "the climate of what's been going on in Coeur d'Alene would at least superficially indicate" that the vandalism was related to the workers' nationality.

OPINION

PAGEB6

TUESDAY, MAY 12, 1992

TliE SPOKESMAN-REVJEW

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WIiiiam Stacey Cowles, Publisher Christopher Peck, Managing Editor Shaun Higgins, Marketing and Sales Director

G. Douglas Floyd, Editorial Page Editor Robert D. Fairchild, Business Manager

EDITORIALS

North Idaho learned • • not to ignore racists Tradition tells us that the West has locally. Kootenai County is a place of tol, room for all persuasions, that it is a place erance, a place where children learn to refor people to be and let be. spect those different from themselves. But when strangers come bearing a Here are some principles that have bemessage of hate, it's time to set aside trad- come clear to human rights leaders in ition. Two young skinhead leaders have Coeur d'Alene. , moved to Colville, intending to recruit folConfrontation is a no-win situation. lowers to their racist beliefs. They give the Dueling protest marches don't get it. Inpeople of Colville a tough choice: tradition stead, those who support human rights or action. ·should organize and plan their own agenIt's easy to imagine the questions Col- da. , ville residents are mulling over. Why make It's important to teach children the · a big deal out of this? Wouldn't it be bet- principles of human rights. Schools don't - ter to ignore them? need the burden of another "subject" to For answers, they have no further to teach. But among both children and look than North Idaho. If there is any- adults, there are opportunities to acknowlthing the people of Kootenai County have edge the day-by-day good deeds that go on · learned about human rights and hate in in the name of human rights. ' the past 10 years, it is this: Good people Activity emphasizing human rights can must act. send racists in search of a new hometown. The Kootenai County Task Force on Helena was able to do that when a racist Human Relations has done the modern- group popped up from California. The day equivalent of writing the book on task force that emerged in Helena not only fighting racism. Members finished a video- discouraged that group, but grew into a tape last summer on the community's re- statewide organization. action to the white supremacist Aryan NaWhat's the right thing for Colville to do tions. From North Carolina to Alaska, the about the ambitious young racists who've video is in demand. Requests for copies come to town? The people of Colville will come from across the nation. choose their own path. But we hope they Because of the courage and hard work take to heart the lesson learned in Coeur of dozens of North Idahoans, the Aryan d'Alene. Nations remains a muted aberration, Good people must act.

Stevens County leaders move to counter' influx Âˇo f hate groups Thursday, May 21 , 1992, Spokane, Wash.

By John Craig Safi' writer

Public officials and businta leaders in Stevens County, where two leading white supremacists have just moved. are mobilizing against hate groups. Working with the Colville Chamber of Commerce, county commissioners have scheduled a public meeting June 4 to get advice from the Kootenai County Task Force on

Human Relations on how to go about fonning a similar organization. "It was kind of spontaneous combustion," Commissioner Tom McKern said. "We had members of the public, elected officials and others contacting us." He said the concern is based in part on news reports that the county has become home to state Aryan Nations leader Justin Dwyer and skinhead recruiter Elii.abetb Bullis. Re-

ports about two other groups with

questionable histories also are a factor, McKern said. In one case, a group's activities have reopened public discussion of an October 1989 visit to Colville by a white supremacy pastor who distributed anti-Semitic leaflets. The Colorado minister, Pete Peters, was invited to the area by local Christian Identity followers, and his messages have been broadcast by a Colville radio station. Peters once was pastor to manben of The Order, including founder Bob Mathews of Metaline Falls. After Mathews' death in a shootout with authorities, other Order members were oonvictcd in 1985 of various crimes, including murder, bombings. robberies and counterfeiting. McKcm said be would be "very surprised" if the June meeting doesn't I~ to formation of an organization

similar to the Kootenai County Task Force on Human Relations. The 7 P;DL r_nectina will be at the Fort Colville Grange hall, just east of Colville on state Highway 20. . "We ,ft.d a need." he said. "We Just don t know how to go about iL" ~ addition to attractina elected officials ~ t the county, he said the ~ti-bate movement baa "a stron, buy-m by the business community and the service clubs." "It's a community effort," Commissioner Fran Bcstcnnin agreed. '.

So was the Kootenai County T~ Force on Human Relations, w~ was fonned after a Jewish restaurant owner in Hayden Lab. Idaho, was victimized by anti-Semitic graffiti. Hayden Lake is the home of an At,yan Nations organization that bu brought the region adverse nation'i' publicity. .

DAHO

EDITIO

THEHANDLE SATURDAY, JUNE6, 1992

PAGE 81

Hundreds turn out to oppose hate groups Colville will form rights task force By John Craig StaJT writer

COLVILLE, Wash. - Stevens County made a standing-room-only statement against hatred Thursday night. About 375 people of all ages and from all walks of life packed the Fort Colville Grange Hall to learn bow deflate organized hate groups. They formed an extra column of chairs in the aisle, lined the walls, clogged the foyer and spilled into the

parking lot. "We started with about 10 people,'' said Marshall Mend, a Kootenai County Task Force on Human Relations board member, told the residents. "Imagine what you can do with what you've got." More than I00 people signed sheets expressing interest in forming their own task force. Barry Lamont, executive director of Northeast Washington Rural Resources, a regional social service agency, agreed to call another meeting to organi7.e the volunteers. Kootenai County Task Force members were invited to share their experience be-

cause of concerns here about the recent arrival of the Washington Aryan Nations leader and a top regional skinhead leader. Audience questions also indicated concerns about another group that has formed a new church. Kootenai Task Force President Tony Stewart said supremacists often try to disguise themselves. "But it doesn't take long and, from certain talk and actions, you will know what they arc." Many in the hall didn't recognize Aryan leader Justin Dwyer, who sat quietly at the back of the hall with several companions. But the contingent was watched by about a dozen uniformed and plain-clothes sherifrs

deputies who guarded the building. County commissioners and the Colville Chamber of Commerce called Thursday's meeting after enlisting the support of municipal, civic, religious, scholastic and business leaders throughout the county. Along with the leaders who turned out Thursday came ordinary citiz.cns ranging from those with white hair to at least one with spiked hair. Almost all were white. In addition to a row of high school seniors, Colville school Supt. Richard Cole spotted parents from both sides of the district's debate over sex education. Stewart praised Stevens County resiPtease see RACISM: B2

CONTINUED: FROM 81

Racism dents for their quick response to the arrival of Dwyer and his girlfriend, skinhead recruiter Elizabeth Bullis. "We waited until there were incidents," he said, citing death threats against two young boys of mixed race. The Coeur d'Alene-based task force was formed in December 1980 after a Jewish restaurant owner became the victim of anti-Semitic harassment. The restaurant was in nearby Hayden Lake, where Richard Butler bas his white supremacist Church of Jesus Christ-Christian (Aryan Nations). Stewart recommcndcd what he said bas been a succeaful policy of avoiding confrontation, but reacting strongly when people arc victimi7.cd by hate groups. "You set your own agenda." He said the Kootenai task force bas sponsored public events to promote tolerance, and bas worked quietly behind the scenes to comfort victims of bate crimes. It also bas lobbied succeafully for stronger laws

against hate crimes and paramilitary Âˇ activities. ' "Don't forget to have fun," Jeanne ' Givens, a task forcc member said. She advised the community to spon- Âˇ sor events such as fun run being plaMed in Coeur d'Alene to promote harmony. The seeds of intolerance won't take root "if your community is growing something else," Stewart advised. :

NORTH IDAHO NEWS NETWORK Saturday, June 6, 1992 A7

NORTH IDAHO/ REGIONAL

Hundreds-- -gather to denounce ~- ----------------=-:=__~

hate groups

COLVILLE, Wash. (AP) - About 375 people concerned about the recent arrival of a white supremacist and a young skinhead gathered at a standingroom only meeting to discuss how to counter hate groups. Participants who met at a grange hall Thursday night formed an extra column of chairs in the aisle, lined the walls, clogged the foyer and spilled into the parking lot.

More than 100 people signed sheets expressing interest in forming their own task force to deflate whi te supremacists. Stevens County commissioners and the Colville Chamber of Commerce called the meeting after enlisting the support of municipal, civic, religious, scholastic and bus iness leaders throughout the northeastern Washington county.

~~~

Participants agreed to call another meeting to organize the volunteers. Many in the hall didn't recognize Aryan leader Justin Dwyer, who sat quietly at the back of the hall with several companions. The group was watched by about a dozen uniformed and plainclothes sheriff's deputies who guarded the building. Dwyer moved recently to the area with a young skinhead recruiter.

Meeting organizers invited Kootenai County Task Force members to relate their experiences in dealing with white supremacists in North Idaho. "We started with about 10 people," said Marshall Mend, a Kootenai County Task Force on Human Relations board member, told the residents. "Imagine what you can do with what you've got." Kootenai Task Force President Tony Stewart recommended avoiding con-

frontation. but reacting strongly when people are victimized by hate groups. "You set your own agenda,'' h e advised. He said the Kootenai task force has sponsored public events to promote tolÂˇ erance. and has worked behind the scenes to comfort victims of hate crimes. It also has lobbied successfully for stronger laws against hate crimes and paramilitary activities.

A 12 NOnTI I IDAHO NEWS NETWOnK WP.dnesd;:iy,

July 8,

1992

Aryan spokesm an 1 thrown out ,' fil es harassment charge Compound official denies break-up resulting thrrals. Staff write r IIM y tho ug hts Frankl in downplayed th ,, By Ml\nv COLLISON

II AYD EN LAI< E - An /\ryan Nation spokesman said h<· wns thrPa tr n r d hy two 111r111IH·rs of the group after lwi11g "1111 01\'ll out" or the t:0111· pound I\ londay. Floyd l'nchrnn, 35. Coeur d'AIPnP, r,•ported ren·iving lwo tckphone threa ts at hi s 111otrl Mn11day where he was lak r 11 by an Arya n Natio n tnP111h<'r that afternoon. nn-ordi11~~ to a Coru1· d'Alene polkr rrp111 I. Cor hra11 hns been a "public i11ronn;1 tinn officer" for the Ch11rrh of J1's11s Christ of Cl11 islian 11, yan Nation nt diff1•n•n t li111t•c: ovrr the last two y1•;ir,. Ilic_ d1•parlt1r<' rnmes about a w1•1·k aft c•, t ftp resignal inn of lh n·1• lop , ya n Na tion ofridals i11 \\';1-;hi11.~to11. induding slal1· lt•ad f' t Jnstin l>wy<'r, Thr /\ssoriati•d l'rf'..-;s has report1·11.

A 1·11111pP11111l offirial, howevn. cf l' lliP<f tft (• lf ppart11re or l'orhran. llwy('r and other 111P111IJ<'rs c:ignaf..-; a rift in the whit<• Slllll"C'11tndst group.· "111• (Cnd1ran) chos<> to n'sign nnd k·ave for pernom,1 reasons," said Ca rl Franklin. r hid or st,1ff for the Aryan Nntion. C,wltrnn'c: resignation was 1111 rdatl'd tn the dcpnr l11re or th 1· \\1;1shi11gton offitials, Franklin s;1id. C11chnin. howeve r. to ld policP ht' wnc_ asked to leave 1111' 1·0111po1111d nnd was clriv1·n into Cor ur cl'/\l e ne 1\1 onday.

weren't exactly in line with th eirs." - Floyd Cochran, former public information officer for t he Church of Jesus Christ of Christian Aryan N ation

Two diffcr<'nt Ary.in Nation me mbers th en trl<'phoned Cochran and told him to leave the are.1, he said. '[fo, formrr spokcs111c1n said in a telrphone inl ervif'w TtH'sday he w;is "thrown out" by 1·otnJH1t111rl offici;ils b<>cnusp lw wns showing "friend)inrss" and "a S(' II S(' of humor."

importance and irnpact of tlH' r ece nt re~ig11:1tions 011 th<' wh ile suprp111arist group. People reg11l:1rly jnin ;mcl l<'aV<' the organization. hr !-aid. '"iVe hnv<' ;1 t11rnnver all tllf' tillle, like ;1 gov<'rn111ent joh." Franklin said. ''Vi-;inns clrn,ngP or ideas chnnge." lk degcrilw d lh(' t11rn11vn and lllC'lllbC'rs· rltang('!- in id<'a"' as "human naturr.'' Dwyer 111 ovrd from Poulsbo, Wa sh ., to ColvillP, Wash., shortly bdor<' I fi,, announcem<>nt of _hi!- regignatiun . Dwy<'r c_;i i,l h<• ha!-n't givf'n up his lwlids in whit(' separatism ancl pl:111s lo 111ovr to South Carolina. Brad Willia,11'-'. 1hr Aryan Nation Waghi,. gln n src n, i1,· chief. and John ~he pp:irii. the group's 1,·adN in ~v<'-:t ern Washingto11. reportedly quit t h r · same• lim e as Uwyer. Dwyer was linl«'d lo ski nhead yot1lh and had n·n11it1·cl grveral new 111P111llf'rs for 1111' group from Wnc:: hing ton . Il l' said he quit b<'cansc of a disagreement with t hr Aryan Nations· rcrrn ilm<'nt lllf'lh· ocls. In the pa st. !-plint e ring among Aryan Nntion mr111b<'r'has prcn' clcd :wt..-; nf viol('fll'I' by factions - s11c- h as Tlw Order and The <1, dPr II - nr people assuci~tkd with tltP

"My thoughts W<'n' n't exact ly in line wit h lhcirs." lw sr1icl. Franklin att rib11t c·d tlw rrsignations to diat1J!t' S in C11rhra11·s and olhc>r former 111 r 111b1•rs' idPas. "II<' had other int t·rC'sts c.:omc up: hr fe lt he had to clo il." Franklin said of Cochran's ckparlurc. Police arf' invl'stigating the allrged threats against Cochran. 'We are looking into the rnall<'r as a hnrassing telephonr call complaint." sa id Coeur cl'Alt' ne police Capt. Carl Bergh. "This will be followed up likP any other call.'' A detective has been assignf'd lo look into the allegations. Bergh said. T<>lephonc hnrass111 cn t is a group. niisdPnH·anor rhargc. T he rt'sig11ntions come /\rcorcling to the police report, bf'fore an ann11al ,·,111f<'rr11rr Cochran told policf' hf• lwd also sc hedul l'd thi c_ w,•ck1•11cl at rontacled the FBI nbout his ejec- - the Kool <' nai Coun ty ro111 tion from the compound mid the po1111rl.

A4 NORTH IDAHO NEWS NElWORK Wednesday, July 1, 1992

3 Aryan Nation leaders resign in Washington SEATILE (AP) -Three state leaders of a white supremacist group have resigned in a disagreement over recruiting practices. Justin Dwyer quit last weekend as the head of Aryan Nations in Washington state, the Seattle Pos t-Inte lligencer reported Tuesday. Brad Williams, the group's state security chief, and John Sheppard, th e leader for Western Washington, also resigned. Ar yan Nations spokesman Floyd Coch ran acknowledged that Dwyer was closely linked to skinhead youth and had recruited several new members from Was hington for the white supremacist group. Skinheads were sought to revitalize the aging membership of Aryan Nations, sources told the Postlntelligencer. Dwyer, a Colville resident, said Sunday he quit the Aryan Nations because he disagreed with their recruitment methods. "There could be a lot more understanding of yo uth and women, " Dwyer said without elaborating. Cochran said othe r group leaders were surprised at the resignations. "We're trying to get a handle on it now, " Cochran said from his home in no r t hern Idaho. "Naturally we are not going to roll up the carpet and go home. We'll handle things from here." Aryan Nations is the political arm of the Church of J esus Christ Christian, which teaches that Anglo-Saxons, not Jews, are the "chosen people" of God. The group, based at a guardÂˇ ed compound at Hayden Lake, wants to create a homeland in the Pacific Northwest that excludes blacks, Jews, Asians, Hispanics and others who don't

fit the definition of Aryan. Dwyer said he plans to move to South Carolina, but is not giving up his beliefs in white separatism. Colville residents held a meeting to oppose Dwye r, a selfavowed racist who moved to the town from Poulsbo a few months ago. Pressure from human rights activists in Colville could be a major reason for Dwyer's resignation, said Pastor Carl Franklin, who has been des ignated to assume leadership of Aryan Nations. Such pressure, Franklin said, "hurts a lot of our leaders in the field." A Portland, Or e., po lice expert o n the r adical right wing movements said the resignations could s plinte r the white supremacist group, splitting it in small groups that would be difficult for police to track.

Camping for

N Students explore cultural Âˇdiversity at weekend retreat By Isamu Jordan Lewis and Clark

bout a year ago, eight Lewis and Clark High School students from varied backgrounds were chosen to attend the Multicultural Training Camp at Camp Lutherhaven, an experience which led to creation of the school's R.A.C.E. (Racial And Cultural f.quality) forum. School counselors chose students who were unique, came from diverse backgrounds, and who likely did not know each other - Carmelita Brown, Barry Canton, Ryan Melcher, Aaron Nelson, Kristin Relyea, Aaron VanDyken, Jerry Willia~ and Alexis Birdtail. At camp, accompanied by Vice Principal Pam Scott, they joined students from Rogers, Coeur d'Alene, Lakeside and Plummer high schools, making a total group of 30 to 35 kids. The camp is sponsored by the Spokane Christian Coalition along with the Kootenai County Task Force on Human Relations. Its purpose is to "promote multicultural awareness, respect, peace and harmony among all people." The experience, which since has been named CAMP PEACE, lasted from Friday evening to Sunday evening. "J didn't really know what to expect when I found out that I was selected to go to this camp," Kristin Relyea recalls. "I had a lot of insecurities about it, but thanks to the orientation and these things called icebreakers, I met lots of people. "We were introduced to our camp facilitators, and Rev. John Olson (of the Spokane Christian Coalition) set us on a common ground in terms of what the purpose of the camp was and dictionary definitions of key terms we would be dealing with, like ethno-violence and racism." Camp activities were very intense and tested the students' ability to compromise with each other even with their diversity. The activity that had the greatest impact on Relyea was "An Experience in Choice," a workshop in which students involved became a high school human relations team. Each Please see CAMP: 86

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Camp member had to pick seven imaginary members. After a break, the whole team gathered, and their task was to establish consensus regarding which of the 22 students would be included. The lesson students learned is that you can't judge someone until you meet them, know them and learn about them. Judgments can't be made by looking at their outer shell. Another exercise, called the "BafaBafa" assignment, was a cross-culture simulated experience in which students split up into two different cultures, Alfa and Beta. One culture is described as touchy, friendly, family oriented and happy. The other culture is totally different. Alfas and Betas arc exchanged throughout the group, and haveÂˇ to live in each other's lifestyles. Relyea said the " Bafa-Bafa" exercise made her feel isolated and confused. From her perspective, that was its purpose, . "to learn bow confused and isolated one fccls when exposed to a different culture and )low hard, but also bow needed, cultural diffusion can be." Next, students watched a video , called "Eye of the Storm" that was made in a small midwcstern town in the late 1960s about a second-grade teacher who wanted to teach her students a lesson about racism. She told them the kids with blue eyes were smarter, and later, at recess, blueeyed kids were teasing brown-eyed kids and making them feel bad. The next day, the teacher said that browneyed kids were smarter, and the results were the same: The kids who had been told they were better mistreated the others. The lesson was that when people think they are better than someone else for whatever reason, it causes all sorts of problems and even destroys friendshi~. In an exercise called "Simulated

Experiences," students had to prepare a response to seven different probl~ to prepare them for things that might occur once their human relations team went to work at their school. For example: "One of your fellow students bas attacked your multicultural

That weekend's experiences led to creation of the RA .C.E. forum . team for its work at your school. You' re not sure who bas done this, but an Hispanic doll which is defaced bas appeared in the locker of one of your team members, and some graffiti bas appeared on campus. How would you respond as a team?" That weekend's experiences led to creation of the R.AC.E. forum, w~ sole objective is to promote multicultural human-relations skills at Lewis and Clark. The focus bas been on increasing student awareness of multicultural issues, building a sense of trust and opening the lines of communication regarding multicultural issues, and providing a group of trained students to discuss multicultural concerns. The R.A.C.E. forum, which has grown to include more than the original â&#x20AC;˘camp participants, has been a learning experience for teachers as well as students, said Vice Principal Pam Scott. " I've learned that it is alright for me to ask a black student bow they feel about the word 'nigger.' "The students are also keeping a checks-and-balance system with the staff," Scott said. "We bad an incident a while back where a history teacher here spent two a~d a half weeks on World War IL yet only two days on the civil rights movement. Our students had some feelings about

that and they shared them with the teacher. He wasn't aware of bow be was neglecting so much of our history. He now spends a week and a half on civil rights.'' Scott said some of teachers have talked with individuals on the R.A.C.E. forum about how to approach books that are required in the curriculum but which have offensivc tenm in them. "With books like 'To Kill a Mockingbird' and 'The Adventures of Huck Finn,' our English teachers now know they have to discuss the word 'nigger' and send the message to their students that it's only a book. Instead of just reading the books and waiting to sec if someone will be offended and then dealing with it, now we nip the problem in the bud before any damage is done." Next year, the main focus of the RAC.E. forum will be to promote racial relations. Students and staff involved want to be prepared to deal with problems before they arise. Students also will take the lead, giving teachers advice on bow to handle certain situations among their peers. The overall diversity of the forum, which students said should be kept track of using a grid, will enable the group to see how different people perceive problems, Scott said. "It should open the lines of communication between staff and students," Scott said. "This way, we can talk about different pcrocptions on if it is OK to ask a student how they feel about an issue or situation without offending them, causing any tension or hurting the student's feelings.'' Next year, the R.A.C.E. forum will have Lewis and Clark students select a motto that spcab out against racism. It will be in all the teachers' room,, on signs in the halls and on a specially designed T-shirt to help get the word out about who the forum's members are and what they are all about.

Camp inspired thought, discussion Everyone knows what the word "prejudice" means, but its meaning was broken down to students from three Spokane high schools and two in North Idaho when they joined together at

differences, we had one common goal: to help lead the way to a world with understanding and respect for all people. We wanted to start programs in our schools to help other teens deal with putdowns or racial jokes. But we also wanted to see what the root of bate is, and why some bate so much that they could kill a person just because of the 1 color of their skin or their beliefs. A game was used showing how we go into a setting where a group of people has different customs, language and beliefs, and how we judge with little knowledge or understanding of them. Also, when we do judge, the negative is always easier to point out about !l group's beliefs, customs and language. Another learning activity showed bow we can make snap judgments or stereotype a person with no more than a little paragraph telling their opinion. With only that information available,

CAMP PEACE. May 29-31 at Twinlow Camp in Twin Lakes, Idaho, they discussed, CECILIA LAMEBULL shared and learned how to promote Shadle Park awareness and respect for people from different cultures and backgrounds. The students involved came from North Central, Shadle, Ferris, Lakeland and Post FaJls. They also came from different backgrounds, ethnic groups and religious beliefs. With all our

Photo by Peggy Federici of Hamson. Idaho

Students from vartoua high achoola attended CAMP PEACE this year.

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THE SPOKESMAN-REVIEW AND SPOKANE CHRONICLE

GUEST COLUMNS Guest columr:is of up to 900 words are invited. A copy of guest column guidelines will be sent upon request. We reserve the right to edit.

LETTERS Combat racism with education I am responding to some of the letters Tuesday on racial hatred and white supremacy. I am a former public spokesman for the Church of Jesus Christ Christian Aryan Nations. Âˇ ~ way to combat ra~m, be it instituttonaliz.cd or by an outside pressure group such as the Aryan Nations, is through education and also learning what and bow they are presenting their points of view. If a person is educated and well equipped in their verses and also in the ways of mankind, it would cut down on the anwnt of racial problems we have. I apologi:ze to the people of the Colville for going to their area in June and spreading hatred. Again, the way to fight hatred is through education, to start with our young people in kindergarten that we are all God's children, that we were all created equal in the eyes of the Lord. FLOYD COCHRAN Post Falls, Idaho

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ASHEVILLE CITIZEN-TIMES

LOCAL NEWS SECTIO N

Speaker tells of long fight against Idaho hate groups By Andy Gross STAFF WRITER

Soft-spoken, genUe and eloquent, Tony Stewart is an unlikely trench warrior. Yet, by his own admission, Stewarl, a native of Gr:\ham County, has foug~t an ongoing and vocal battle against hate groups m Idaho. "It's very import.ant for any community that faces a probl~m with hate groups to recognize it and speak out. Hale groups don't go away because you wish them to go away," Stewart said. Stewart, 50, is a political science professo1 at Not'th Id~ho College. Educated al the Western Carolina Unhersity and the University of Tennessee, Stewart is the president of the Kootenai County Task Force on Human Relations. Stewart. said the group was formed after white supremacists groups in Idaho harassed a Jewish family and a multi-racial family in two separate incidents. Tony Stewart Stewa1t appeared at the YMI Cultural Center in Asheville to introduce a 90-minute vjdeo the task force has produced, and to share his expertise ab~ul how communities can best. combat. the efforts of white supremacist organizations in the area. Stewart spoke before a group of about 20 people, including two deputies from the Buncombe County Sheriff's Department.. Stewart. said his impetus for battling hate groups came from a deceptively simple principle. "I have never understood why any individual would prejudge a person because of race, religion or color." The group of concerned people who came toge~er on t.hal December night. in 1980 Lo comfort thenÂˇ victimized neighbors has matured inlo a group of 260 t.hal has forged valuable coalitions wit.h clergy, law enforcement oflicials, educators and civic leaders. According to Stewart, Ute gro11p's activism and presence in Idaho, helped law enforcement agents break up and arrest a dangerous group of white supremacists known as Order One.

(m Thursday

July 9, 1992

** According to Mary Harayda, a member of People Recognizing Individuality, Diversity and Dignity in

+ See

Hate

on 7>age 38

+ Continued from page 1B Everyone - PRIDE - one of three Asheville groups that sponsored Stewart's appearance, his visit to Asheville is timely. In the past two years, various white supremacist organizations have stepped up activities in Western North Carolina and in Asheville and surrounding counties. Two organizations, the Southern Aryan Warriors and the Confederate Knights of America, distributed fliers in Buncombe County in 1991. In February, concerned Buncombe County residents held a forum in reaction to the growing presence of a group of skinheads who had reportedly been assault,. ing black teen-agers and gay men. Harayda said the presence of groups like skinheads, Aryan nation and the KKK, give extra relevance to Stewart's appearance in Asheville. "We're still real concerned by those groups. (Some members) of the groups were marching in the Family Values Day Parade they're a threat," Haradya said. Beside building coalitions designed to promote humanism and defeat unwarranted prejudices that fuel hate groups, Stewart said communities cannot engage in a conspiracy of silence when hate groups such as the Klan, Aryan Nation or other white supremacist. groups des~end on a city.

VOL. 85 NO. 350

JULY 20, 1992

1 SECTION 18 PAGES

25 CEN ~

North Carolina turns to N. Idaho Stewart teaches anti-hate tactics By AMY CABE Staff writer

COEUR d'ALENE - North Carolinians troubled by racism looked to North Idaho this month for some advice. Three human rights groups from the city of Asheville called upon activist Tony Stewart of Coeur d'Alene to explain local efforts at combating hate crimes , ,- r 1 and prejudice. Tony Stewart "They were trying to learn what happened here," Stewart said on Saturday. 1bey wanted to know the story of the people of North Idaho."

Discouraged in their own efforts at eradicating racism, Asheville groups had discussed disbanding. But a look at North Idaho's tactics has them energized, Stewart said. "It was one of the most rewarding trips I've ever taken on behalf of human rights." The Kootenai County Task Force on Human Relations came together in 1981 - initially a small group of residents who gathered in suppor t of their victimized neighbors. The group now boasts 250 members and celebrated its 10th anniversary by producing a 90-minute documentary. There have been 60 requests for copies of the tape, and one of them came from Asheville. After watching the task fo rce's efforts unfold on video, groups in that western North Carolina town wanted to know more. So Stewart packed his bags and headed to his native state. He had grown up in Graham County, N.C., an area where prejudice prospered. About 20 percent of Asheville's population is African-American, Stewart estimated. See STEWART, Page 7

STEWART Continued from Page 1 That community has become a frequent target of harassment and intimidation by skinheads, the Ku Klux Klan and the Aryan Nations. "Since I was a child," Stewart said, ;'I had always been puzzled

by individuals prejudging other individuals.... I always perceived that to be so wrong." Years later, while teaching political science at North Idaho College, Stewart banded together with others who wanted to set their own agenda rather than react to hate groups. The task force's method. he says, has been a success and one

that can easily extend beyond North Idaho. "l think it is a model that is just as appropriate in Asheville as in Coeur d'Alene," Stewart said. During talk shows, in interviews and in talks with residents of Asheville and nearby Black Mountain, the tactics Stewart described were applauded. he said. He explained laws against

hate crimes, the different categories of such crimes and how communities can deal with them. Stewart told people to speak out against prejudice, to stand up for freedom, equality and justice and to set an agenda of their own. "I left with the very distinct impression that they said, 'Yes, this is the way to proceed,"" Stewart said.

JEITA FRASER/ ITIZE ·TIMES

A group of concerned citizens pthered Wednesday afternoon outside the Artlngton Street home of MIiiard "Mitty" Owens to express their outrage It an apparent racially motivated attack against Owens Tuesday night. The group denounced hate crimes and sought ·ways to better protect themselves and their neighborhood In the future.

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Police still investigating alleged beating By Andy Gron

Emory said the investigation to identify and find Owens' alleged assailants is continuing. In the aftermath of the alleged beating of a "We are making progress. We don't have a black man that was apparently racially motivated, definite suspect, but we expect to bring this invesAsheville Police Sgt. Bob Emory said the incident tigation to a conclusion within days. We have nuis being treated seriously and is under investiga- merous leads to pursue," Emory said. tion. "Lack of manpower affects us in every area of Millard "Mitty'' Owens said he was investigat- crime. We do take hate crimes seriously, they're ing the sound of breaking glass near his home on certainly not ignored. There aren't that many of Arlington Street Wednesday night when he was al- them in relation to the total crime picture," Emory legedly taunted and then punched twice by two said. Emory has been the Asheville Police Departmen he described as skinheads. Skinheads are white supremacists known for their shaved heads ment coordinator of hate crime activities since the and sometime violent behavior, particularly toward post was established about five months ago. blacks and homosexuals. + See Beating on page 6B STAFF WRITER

Beating + Continued from page

Emory.said the creation of the position of a hate crimes officer was mandatory in order for the Asheville Police Department to maintain its accreditation. In response to the alleged attack, Owens organized a Wednesday afternoon rany that drew about 100 people. .. "I feel good," Owens said Thursday. "There's been a lot of support, a lot of attention being given to the issue. I think the police are taking it seriously and will follow up on it," Owens said. Owens said his neighbors have organized a block watch that is likely to continue for several nights, and that he is "taking precautions." Owens and others at the rally condemned hate crimes and urged Asheville Police to step up their efforts in combatting future incidents, including the possible formation of a task force. Emory said he did not think a task force on hate crimes was warranted at this point. "Generally, as a department, (we) form a task force when there

are discernible patterns and dramatic increases. That has not been the case with hate crimes," Emory said. Emory oversees a staff of 10 detectives, but said in terms of gathering intelligence on alleged hate crimes he's essentially operating alone. According to Emory, since March there have been approximately 30 reported cases which have been designated as hate crimes. Emory defined hate crimes as a crime against a person or the property of a person singled out because of race, sexual orientation, religion or gender. It is up to the police officer answering the call to make a determination if an offense is a hate crime, Emory said. Such cases are then sent to his attention for investigation by the reporting officer's supervisor. Emory said the majority of the casesÂˇ reported in the last four months were either assaults, robberies or reports of vandalism against homosexuals. "It would be nice to have someone devoting more time to this than I can devote, Emory said, in explaining he wears a number of law enforcement hats. Bob Smith, executive director

the Asheville Buncombe Community Relations Council, who is advocating a united approach to fighting hate crimes, said he learned several other incidents had occurred in the Arlington Street area. "We have found that there have been a number of incidents of similar hate crimes and violence near where he (Owens) lived. (It's) not as isolated as we like to pretend it is," Smith said. Owens said there had been at least two other racially-tinged incidents in the area of Arlington and Charlotte streets in the past month. Emory said he was not familiar with previous reports of hate crimes on Arlington Street. He said he was aware of a core group of 12-18 skinheads in Asheville, but said he did not think the Arlington Street area was being singled out by that group. "Arlington is a street where you do experience vandalism. It's no more indicative of an area of concentrated hate crime activity than any other. "If there is an identifiable area (for hate crimes) it's downtown Asheville at night," Emory said.

T/M..c~ s

Rally + Continued from pQJJe

18 Owens said he saw a group of six white people on Arlington Street. Owens characterized two of the men in the group as skinheads from the way they were dressed. Sldnheads are white supremacists known for their shaved heads and military-style attire. Owens said he recognized a neighbor from across the street, and asked them a question about the broken

.,;Jass.

Owens said one of the men said, "what gives you the right to ask a white man a question?" According to Owens, each of the two larger men punched him, bloodying his lip. Owens said he then scrambled to his feet and called the

police.

Owens said Asheville Police Officer Randy Higgins who responded to his call for help, was initially not very supportive, but later became more interested Âˇart.er a black youth happened to pass by the area and mentioned he too had been harassed by a group of white youths. According to Owens, when he and Higgins spoke with the neighbor, she said Owens was hit because he was black. Asheville Police Capt. Lee Carver attended the rally and said the department keeps statistics on hate crimes. "We do have skinheads in Asheville; we've known it for a while," Carver said. Carver said the department categorically condemns these types of incidents, but must proceed cautiously in investigating these cases.

Kootenai County Ta~I< Force On l-1uman Re lation~ <:c1111111i111·d ,., 1l11· l'li111i11wiu11 ·~/ 1·1l11 1ic.

PRESS STATEMENT FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

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CONTACT PERSON: TONY STEWART PRESIDENT KOOTENAI COUNTY TASK FORCE ON HUMAN RELATIONS

On Monday, August 24, 1992, the Kootenai County Task Force on Human Relations Board of Directors met in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho and issued the fol l owi ng s tatement regarding the incident in nearby Boundary County:

1) On behalf of the Kootenai County Task Force on Human Rela t i ons members, the people of Kootenai County and the people of good will everywhere, we wish to extend our heartfelt and deepe s t sympathies to the family of William F. Degan who was killed on Friday, August 21 . William Degan, a brave officer, gave his l i fe in the line of duty. 2) We understand the events unfolded as follows: (a) Mr. Randy Weaver was indicted in December, 1990 on Fede r a l charges of possessing, altering and selling such i l legal firearms as sawed-off shot guns . (b) Mr . Weaver was arre sted on these charges on January 17 , 1991 . (c) Subsequently, he was released and was to appear a t a Fede r al court hearing in February, 1991 but he failed to do so . Then Mr. Weaver issued a public warning that he would phys i call y re sist any at tempt to arrest him . (d) At thls point , all the ingredients for the tragedy we have just experienced were i n place. 3) This is not a case of civil rights or harassment. Yet, some g r oups and individuals have attempted to make this incident into a political statement. This sad set o f facts and the tragic dea th o f Officer Degan has nothing to do wit I, the beliefs of Mr. Weave r or Mr. Kevin Harris no mat ter how pass io11ately they embrace those belief s. Acting in defiance of Federal authorities and violating Federal cour t orde rs which concern themselves with routine Fede ral procedural ma tt ers is not a statement of political belief or an act of political conscience. Our Nation is a nation gover ned by the rule of law. These laws must a pply equally to all---no one i s ab11ve the law . Any attempt to make this tragedy i nto a political event to advance the cause of any group, racist or non- r a cis t, will itself be a tragedy and will demean the life of Officer William Degan and his assignment to enforce the laws of the Nation. It is our hope that Mr. Weaver and Mr . Harris will peacefully surrender to the appropriate a uthorities and avoid a ny furthe r tragedies.

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Task force: Siege Âˇisn't political By KEITH ERICKSON Staff writer

COEUR d'ALENE Tragically, a federal siege in Boundary County is being falsely associated with racism and politics, a human rights group said. The Kootenai County Task Force On Human Relations staged a press conference Monday to cast a new focus on the violent fugitive confrontation near Naples. "What has happened on the mountain does not have to do with political views, but the law," task force president Tony Stewart said. "If our system is going to survive, we all must respect the laws and the judicial system." Stewart urged fugitives Randy Weaver and Kevin Harris to surrender "and have their day in court." Weaver has maintained a self-imposed exile in his remote cabin since failing to appear in court on federal weapons charges 18 months ago. ..Photo by KEITH ERICKSON More than a dozen board members of the human rights . Tony Stewart, center, president of the Kootenai County Task Force On Human Relations, and group approved a media state- Marshall Mend, right. were among the task force members who attended Monday's press conment just before the 20.minute ference. press conference.

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"This is not a case of civil rights or harassment. Yet some groups and individuals have attempted to make this incident into a political statement," the release said. Stewart declined to answer questions specific to federal agents' handling of the siege or whether he believed Weaver has been treated fairly by the

supremacists to the area, Stewart (Weaver saying) 'I'm going to law. thumb my nose at the judicial "A man is innocent until said. proven guilty. (But) nobody who Stewart also declined to say system.'" is charged with a crime can fail to whether he believed Weaver is a The statement added, "This make their court date," he said. racisl The fugitive has, however, sad set of facts and the tragic "We're here today to defend our been labeled a white supremacist death of (U.S. Marshal deputy) judicial system." by his supporters and adver- William F. Degan and a second person has nothing to do with the A study by the group indicates saries. the nationwide attention the "We're not here to pass beliefs of Mr. Weaver or Mr. Weaver situation has thrust on judgment ... It is not a question of Harris, no matter how passionateNorth Idaho will not attract white political be liefs, but one of ly they embrace those beliefs."

. . . . ents fmd ho of ~Âˇtive's son f'- 2~ - 'f2-

Death of 13-year-old incites rage of crowd By Bill Mortin,

J. Todd Foster and Jess Walter Staff writers

NAPLES, Idaho - Federal agents surrounding the cabin of mountaintop fugitive Randy Weaver found bis 13year-old son shot to death and lying next to the boy's rifle in a shed. Th,e news of Samuel Weaver's death enraged an already volatile crowd gathered Monday at the base of Ruby Ridge, where 200 federal officers braced for 30-degree weather and the possibility of snow flurrie.s Monday night. As the standoff with Weaver entered its fourth day, FBI Supervisor Gene Glenn said agents found the body of Samuel Weaver on Sunday night as they moved cl~r to the cabin, tightening the security perimeter. Weaver, his wife Vicki, and a possibly wounded friend, Kevin Harris, have refused rcque.sts to surrender, Glenn said. The Weavers' three daughters, aged 8 months to 14 years, are also in the cabin. FBI agents are within a "stone's throw" of Weaver's cabin, but continued to use patience out of concern for Weaver's wife and children, Glenn said. Even though Vicki Weaver and the children have said they will fight by Weaver's side, agents are treating them as hostage.s. The standoff began Friday morning when deputy U.S. Marshal William Degan, 42, was gunned down and killed. When the marshals fired back, Samuel Weaver was apparently killed, Glenn said. "This is so sad," said the boy's

t appears as if ''I Samuel Weaver was t

killed during the initial exchange of gunfire." OENEOLENN, FBI aupe,vtaor

grandmother, Wilma Weaver, who waited in Jefferson, Iowa, for word about the family. " I don't understand why this bad to happen." Harris is charged with first-degree murder and Weaver with assaulting federal officers during the gun battle on Ruby Ridge. According to court documents filed Monday to support the charge.s, six deputy marshals were watching the Weaver cabin when they saw Randy and Samuel Weaver and Kevin Harris. All three were armed, the documents said. The marshals tried to leave the area, the documents said, when Weaver and Harris "began, with the aid of a dog, to pursue the deputy United State.s marshals, and opened gunfire on them." The documents say "Degan did halt and identify hirruelf as a United State.s marshal and ... Kevin Harris did immediately turn a rifle upon . . . Degan and did discharge a bullet." Toe bullet hit Degan in the ster-

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Please see STANDOFF: A4

CONTINUED: FROM A1

Standoff

Before the standoff, Weaver was charged only with a federal firearms offense, selling two sawed-off shot· _guns to a govcmme~t inf~- He had remained at btS mountatD ~ doubt since January 1991 after failipg to appear in federal court on the charge. Glenn said it was not clear whether the teenager died in the shed or whether bis father placed the body there after the shooting. Harris may have been shot, exchanging gunfire wi~~ f~ral agents on Saturday, authontics said. However they could not confirm the report. ,: 'At Randy Weaver's ~nts' h~ in Jefferson, Iowa, the fanuly sat qu,-

Weaver's direction hit another marshal Arthur D. Roderick, penetrating bis ~hirt but not injuring him, accord· ing to the documents. Word of the young boy's death added fuel to the rage of demonstrators gathered at a r~dbl~ about five miles from Weaver s cabin. Most, siding with Weaver's anti-govcmmcnt views, ~ve been taunting authorities since Friday. They got meaner . ~onday an~ their outrage at authonties turntd vt· cious. Jackie Brown said she hoped Weaver's family would kill more federal agents. " I. hope they get a d~ more " she said through streanung tears' minutes at\er Samuel Wcaver's death became public. Authorities at ·the roadblock have requested ad~ti~ ban~s a~ portable identification equipment ID the event violence erupts. Boundary County commis.,ioncn appealed for restraint. "We urge residents to continue remaining calm until the situation is resolved and all the facts arc known," they said in a writ· ten statement. Tires were slashed on a number of patrol cars · outside the Boundary County Sbcrifrs Department Sunday night, but authorities said they could not connect the vandalism to the Naples siege. An autopsy on Samuel Weaver was scheduled but the results weren't known late Monday. "It appears as if Samuel Weaver was killed during the initial exchange of gunfire, but that can't be definitely stated until the autopsy is complete," Glenn said. · ''Samuel's death is a tragedy, as is the death of Deputy Degan. I cmpba· size WC arc taking and will take every reasonable precaution to avoid further los., of life or · injury," said the top FBI agent in Utah, Idaho and Montana. "However, it must be understood that Harris and Weaver have been charged with serious crimes and they pose an immediate danger, not only to law enforcement officers, but to the community as well," GleM said. · Weaver and others in the house have refused to answer an FBI telephone, dropped outside the cabin, or respond to requests relayed over a bullhorn to surrender.

ctly in their living room as information trickled in slowly from news reporters, family fricnds and sympathizers. When she beard from a reporter that Samuel Weaver bad been killed, his grandmother, Wilma Weaver, sighed and set the telephone ~ She said her grandson was a qwct and serious boy who loved bis lifc in the woods. , "We have 16 grandkids and hes the only one who would have bad the Weaver name," she said. " I was just writing him a letter to tell him that and tell him how proud I was of him. I guess I won't mail iL" One of Weaver's three sisters visited the family three weeks before t~ siege began and said Weav~ and htS family were ready for anything. "He knew this was corning," said bis sister who didn't want her name used. "He wasn't afraid of it. He's standing on something be totally be· licves in." Weavers' oldest daughters - aged 1O and 14 - arc said to be crack shots. A Montana man said Monday be was in the Weaver cabin last summer "when the family took a vote whether to stand with dad or not," be said. "We'll not leave you, dad," the man quoted the children as saying. He and six other men from Noxon, Mont., near the Idaho border, were on a togging road where the federal command post easily could bc·sccn. They refused to give their ~~· saying they fcarcd fedcral retaltat,on for being Weaver s u ~ - . . Weaver's cabin is ltSted ID bis name at the Boundary,County Treasurer's Office, indicating be owns the wooden structure and 20 acres, together appraised at $21,076. ·

Weaver hasn't paid property taxes, however, since 1988 and would have faced losing bis house and land to the county at the end of 1992. With interest and penalties, be owes nearly $850, courthouse rcoords state. Residents aren't concerned about bis tax delinquency. Although many residents refuse to discuss their feelings about the Weavers, the family's supP,Ortcrs arc becoming increasingly vocal. It's the same county that a decade ago embraced spy and traitor Christopher Boyce, who lived in Bonncn Ferry after selling secrets to the Soviets and escaping from prison. Some Weaver allies grabbed clubs and chased away a Red Cross truck delivering them food Monday, said volunteer Sylvia Lyon of Spokane. "I'm scared," said Red Cross volunteer Karl Erbacbcr, also of Spokane.

Before the truck left, both volunteers said they would serve meals to anyone, including baby food to Weaver's infant daughter. "We treat everybody equal," Erbachcr said. "We don't take sides. We can't afford to. We're the Red Cross.'' A Coeur d'Alene human rights I group stre&,ed Monday that the Weaver situation is not based on the man's white supremist beliefs, but. bis violation of federal gun laws. The portrait of Weaver painted in some media reports by fricnds and acquaintances as a folk hero willing to die for bis beliefs is in error, leaders of the Kootenai County Task Force on Human Relations said. "This is not a case of civil rights or harassment," task force President Tony Stewart said in a prepared statement. "This . . . has nothing to do with the beliefs of Mr. Weaver or Mr. Kevin Harris no matter how passionately they embrace those beliefs."

Staff writer Kevin Keating also contributed to this report.

OPINION

PAGEB4

WEDNESDAY, AUG. 26, 1992

TuE SPOKESMAN-REVIEW WIiiiam Stacey Cowles, Publisher Christopher Peck, Managing Editor Shaun Higgins, Director of Marketing and Sales

G. Douglas Floyd, Editorial Page Editor Robert D. Fairchild, Director of Operations

:EDITORIALS

·Lawmen have duty • • to carry out JUSt1ce •

The tragedy that has unfolded on North ' Idaho's Ruby .Ridge since Friday has · unleashed strong emotions among many bystanders - both those at the barricades and those who are following the siege at a distance. Primary is the grief over two lives lost. Samuel Weaver, dead at 13, should have been yearning for everyday pleasures: tomorrow's adventures with his best friend or a trip to the North Idaho Fair. But living in isolation because of his father's distorted beliefs, reportedly living armed and ready to shoot - that is no life for a child. Now his chance to explore his own choices in life are gone. Gone with a bullet. U.S. Marshal William Degan, who died last week in the standoff against Samuel's father, fugitive and white supremacist Randy Weaver, lived more than 2,000 miles away, but the government summoned him among 200 federal law officers. Degan was everything an American citizen can hope to be. His wife and two teenage sons will mourn him; his neighbors and colleagues will mourn him. Beyond the grief, things get cloudy. There are urgent emotions - bewilderment, skepticism and, in some quarters, anger at the heavy federal force; compassion and fear for Weaver's wife and children. In ways ranging from phoning congressmen to threatening a second American Revolution, onlookers have demonstrated

their concerns. Before people act on emotion, though, they need some answers: What really happened when gunfire erupted on the hillside near Naples last Friday? Why have the federal agents resisted letting Weaver's friends try to communicate with him? Does apprehending Weaver justify the magnitude of the effort and the cost to taxpayers? Weaver sympathizers have heaped verbal abuse on the federal agents. They object to the effort to pry Weaver out of his cabin, arguing that he hurt no one before this nightmarish confrontation began. They have urg~d the feds to leave Weaver alone with his family and his twisted hatred. We suggest some clear thinking on this point: Weaver chose to act outside the law. He is wanted on a federal weapons charge after allegedly attempting to sell a sawed-off shotgun and then jumping bail. Authorities have had him under surveillance for months, hesitating to move in because of the risk to Weaver's family. To imply they should just walk away from Weaver and their duty - reflects a poor· understanding of the way a civilized society governs itself. Ours, while not perf~ct, is a nation of laws. The alternatives, history shows us, are grim.

Nationa.l Repoti tltbe Nrur Uork~imt~

Fugitive in Idaho Cabin

Plays Role of Folk Hero By TIMOTHY EGAN Special to The New York Times

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NAPLES, Idaho, Aug. 25 - To hear t he support er s of Randy Weaver tell it, the man holding off nearly 200 police officers and Federal agents from .his mountaintop cabin here is not the violent racist depicted by the authorities. But rather, as with other notorious fugitives who have found refuge in this remote wilderness just south of the Canadian border, he is a folk hero. In the five days since a deputy Unitcd SUlles marshal, William F. Degan, and Mr. Weaver's 13-year-old son, Sa muel, were killed m a shootout, crowds of people have been steadily harassing the officer s who are trying to detain the fugitive. He has vowed to die, and LO take his three daughters and his wife, Vi cki, with him if necessary. M r. Weaver, who is wanted on a Federal gun charge, has holed up in his cabin since January 1991, when he fai led to appear in court. The Federal authorities have kept the cabin under surveillance, hoping, they said, to arrest him without a confrontaUon. They did not stop visitors, who regularly brought in food and other supplies. Retreat and Reinforcements

On Friday, the authorities said, six agents approached the cabin and were met by Mr. Weaver and family members. Gunfire erupted, and Mr. Degan was shot dead. The other agents were pinned down for several hours before they could retreat. Only then did they put up a roadblock and call in reinforcements. The Federal Bureau of Investigation would not say who fired lirst. Every day the same scene plays out. About three dozen angry men, women and children, many of them Mr. Wea ver 's neighbor s, scream "Traitor! " and " We'll get you!" at the local police officers as they arrive at the roadblock two miles from Mr. Weaver 's cabin. The crowd kicks police cars and shouts obscenities at the Federal agents, most of them outsiders, who are manning the roadblock. The agents said they did not know about any casualties among the Weavers until Sunday night, when they found Samuel's body. The agents waited a day to announce Lhe boy's death. After the announcement late Monday, the crowd at the roadblock became enraged, screaming "Baby killer!" at the officer s and urging retaliation. Federal agents said Samuel, who was armed, was killed Friday Jn the 1111tial exchange of gunfire that led to the death of the 42-year-old deputy marshal, Mr. Degan.

Even beyond the continuing confrontat ion al the roadblock, there is evidence of considerable support in Idaho for Mr. Weaver and other fugitives who have taken on the Federal Government. White supremacists, although disavowed by virtually every politician in the state, continue to flourish in Idaho; the headquarters of the Aryan Nations, a radical neo-Nazi group, has been based 60 miles south of here, at Hayden Lake, for more than a decade. Refuge for Fugitives

In recent years Claude Dallas, a man convicted of killing two game wardens, and Chr istopher Boyce, who sold American military secrets to the Soviet Union, found refuge in the sparsely populated woods of Idaho and had numerous supporters. In a curious way, Mr. Weaver's sympathi1.ers seem to mirror gang members in South-Central Los Angeles who have made heroes of young men who vowed to kill police officer s. Both gr oups reject the authorities as outsiders who are harassing the locals for racial or political reasons. "Randy Weaver just wanted to be left alone, but the Government went after his properly, after his firearms, and now they're paying for it," said Chuck Sandelin, a Baptist preacher who has lived in northern Idaho for 20 years and who was at the barricade this week shouting his support for Mr. Weaver. "That man, Randy Weaver, is a patriot, not a criminal." Carolyn Trochmann, a f riend of the Weavers who has been bringing the family food for the last year, was also at the barricade, along with several of her children. 'f'm Proud of Randy'

When she last visited them, a month ago, all the Weaver children except the baby were armed, Mrs. Trochmann said, adding, " I 'm proud of Randy, and I hope he doesn't surrender." The Weavers' baby is 9 months old; the other girls are 12 and 16 years old. Like other suppor ter s of Mr. Weaver, Mrs. Trochmann expressed lillle sympathy for the deputy marshal who was killed. She said the agents "pr ovoked" the killing by trespassing on Mr. Weaver's property, 20 acres of thick forest on a mountaintop just outside this hamlet of 130 people. The cabin is in Boundary County, which has only a single black family among its 9,000 residents, according to the 1990 census. The area, with its deep lakes, forests of larch and Douglas fir,

and cold Lrout streams. seems at first glance to be a sort of American Eden. But, just as ii attr acts people drawn to its natural beauty, it has also attracted criminal s and racists whose views seem lo be tolerated. A Swiss couple, Lorenz and Wasiliki Caduff, moved their family here, at the base or the mountain where Mr. Weaver lives, seven months ago. Mr. Caduff, a Swiss chef, said they thought they had found paradjse. They planned lo raise their three children here. But the surface beauty masked some jarring peculiarties about the community, Mr. Caduff said. " What 's going on here?" he asked. "In Switzerland we saw the Wild West on Lelevision, but I thought that was a fantasy. Now it's happened right in front of us. It's very scary. My wife is screaming, ' I want to go back to Switzerland I '" The quiet little resorl purchased by the Caduffs at the base of the mounlain where Mr. Weaver is sur rounded has become something or an armed camp, with helicopters buzzing overhead.

neighbors and friends. " We read from the Bible, laughed, played games," Mrs. Trochmann said. "They were living one day at Lime, and were not the least bit afraid to die." Five 'Skinheads' Arrested As evidence of the kind of support Mr. Weaver has gener ated, local contractors who, over the weekend, offered to take gravel up to the muddied road used by the Federal authorities to approach Mr. Weaver's cabin were hooted at and threatened. And today, Mr. Glenn said, officers arrested five "skinheads" who were found bringing rifles and semiautomatic weapons up a back road toward Mr. Weaver's cabin. In recent years Mr. Weaver frequently expressed views that blacks and whites should not live together, even in the same county, and that Jews were behind a " new world order," according to friends. Mr. Weaver, a native of Iowa, moved to Idaho nine years ago and worked sporadically at odd jobs. When he arrived here a violent faction of the Aryan Nations, the Order, was plotting a series or bank robberies and terrorist acts from their headquarters near here.

Gene Glenn, an F.B. I. agent who commands the law enforcement officer s here, said the authorities were "within a stone's throw" of the back of Mr. Weaver's cabin, which Is bordered by sheer cliffs. The agents have used armored personnel carr iers and helicopters to get close to the cabin. They said they are using a listening device that allows them to hear conver sations, and even the baby's cries, in the cabin. But they said they did not want Lo stor m Lhe cabin for fear of harming the children. Mr. Glenn said he considered the Weaver children " hostages" to their father, an Army veteran. An arrest warrant has been issued for Kevin Harri s, 24, a friend of Mr . Weaver, in the death of the deputy marshal. Mr. Harris has lived with the Weavers for the last nine year s. His mother, Barbara Pierce, said her son had been informally "adopted" by the older man. Over the last 20 months Mr. Weaver was able LO survive in his isolated cabin in part because of the generosity of

Leader Died In Shootout Robert Mathews, the leader of the Order, l ived like Mr. Weaver in isolation just to the west of her e, in neighboring Washington State. After a shootout wi th F.B.1. agents, Mr. Mathews was tracked to a home on Pugel Sound, where he died in a seige with lawenforcement officers in 1984. Mr. Mathews is still considered a hero by some people here. While many people here disagree with Mr. Weaver 's racist views, they agree with his defiance of the Federal Government, which owns about 80 percent of the land in Boundary county. " IL is totally erroneous to think that the people of Idaho are all a bunch or racists," said Bob Miller, the managing editor of The Bonners Ferry Herald, the weekly newspaper of county's largest town. "While people do not condone Weaver's beliefs, there is quite a bit of support for his stand against the Federal Government. People think he was set up." (;:: human r ights group, formed severa l years ago to coun ter racist organizations, has been trying this week to defuse the image of Mr. Weaver as a folk hero. " This is not a case of civil righ1s or harassment," the group, the Kootenai County Task Force on Human Relations. said in a statement. "If our sy.stem is to survive, we must respecL lhe laws and the judicial system.':.)

NORTH IDAHO NEWS NETWORK Thursday, Sept. 17, 1992 A15

Human relations group plans to discuss Bo Gritz COEUR d'ALENE - The Kootenai County Task Force on Human Relations will hold a press conference today to discuss the arrival of presidential candidate Bo Gritz. Gritz is scheduled to speak in Spokane Friday through Sunday and a rally bas been set for today in Coeur d'Alene by his supporters. "We want to explain to the residents of the area who Bo Gritz is," said Tony Stewart, the coalition president. Stewart said coalition board members, local politicians, several World War II veterans and others would participate in the conference. Gritz played an instrumental roll in ending the 11-day standoff between Randy Weaver and bis family and authorities. "We want to be another voice," Stewart said. The coalition will discuss Gritz' platform and offer a summary of an investigation the coalition launched into Gritz' background. The press conference will begin at 11 a.m. and will be held in the Kootenai Room at NIC.

FRIDAY SEPTEMBER 18, 1992 SO CENTS 110TH YEAR, NO. 811

IDAHO EDITION

Rights group denounces Bo Gritz Staff writer

Gritz, 53, reached in Missoula, said Stewart and his fellow task force members are the bigots.

COEUR d'ALENE - A civil rights group Thursday issued an impassioned plea for voters to reject the "racist, neo-Nazi" beliefs of Populist Party presidential candidate Bo Gritz. Gritz may be the most-decorated Green Beret from the Vietnam War and the negotiator who unlocked the stalemate with fugitive Randy Weaver, but he's also a hate broker, said Tony Stewart. president of the Kootenai County Task Force on Human Relations. The group called a news conferencc at North Idaho College to issue an "open letter to the voters of the Northwest." even though Stewart called Gritz's campaign a joke.

" I've never been a racist," he said. "Ye shall know them by their works. What I see in the Tony Stewarts of the world is all the hate they accuse others of." About a doun Gritz supporters and campaign workers sat mostly quietly through the barrage of task force charges, only oocasionaJly interrupting Stewart, who would not yield the floor. "You can call your own meeting later," said Stewart, at times nervous and at others raising his voice over those of Griu's supporters. Stewart had no hard evidence-from a two-week investigation of Gritz but repeated statements at-

By J. Todd Foster

tributed to Gritz over the years and from the 11Âˇ day Weaver siege in Naples, Idaho. A photograph and videotape from the Ruby Creek Road roadblock where ne<rNazi skinheads and other Weaver supporters congregated during the standoff showed Gritz pcrforming the Adolf Hitler's Sieg HeiJ salute. The salute came after Gritz returned from the mountaintop cabin of white separatist Weaver af. ter succcssfully negotiating an end to the 11-day standoff in which a federal marshal and Weaver's wife and son died. Weaver, a former Green Beret. told his Special Forces comrade to do the salute for the skinheads. Gritz said Aug. 31. A few days earlier, Gritz compared the ne<rNazis to "young MaPlease see ORITZ: A4

THE SPOKESMAN-REVIEW

Friday, Sept. 18, 1992, Spokane, Wash .

COl(TINUED: FROM A1

its leadership. Gritz said be doesn't espouse all of the views of the Populist Party, but found the group to be a ''vehicle" for rines." a run at the presidency. Âˇ Gritz on Thursday denied giving Party foundcr Willis Carto pubthe Nazi salute, saying be was waving lished the anti-Semitic Spotlight tato the skinheads, whom be called in- bloid, Stewart said. Executive comstrumental in Weaver's surrender. "I ntittcc member Joe Fields "believes just raised my band to get their atten- Hitler bad the right idea." Sergeant tion." at Arms K.A Budinsk leads the At the time, Gritz clearly indicated Northwest Knights of the KKK. bis raised band was a "salute" and Carto quit the party in 1989, Gritz that the skinheads "will know what it said, adding that some Populist bemeans." liefs have been an "albatross" for Stewart made several comparisons him. between Gritz and Hitler. In the Sept. 2 edition of the Seattle "From the moment Adolf Hitler Post-Intelligencer, Gritz was quoted declared war on the United States in as saying, "I'm a white separatist." 1941 until the present time, the Nazi Gritz said Thursday his words bad salute bas stood as a symbol of mur- been taken out of context. He actualderous contempt for the United ly told the reporter that be lives 50 States ... miles from the "nearest bread and ''This type of action by a presiden- milk" and, thercfore, could be tial candidate is an insult to every perceived as a separatist, Gritz said. American veteran who defended this Idaho Gov. Cecil Andrus and U.S. country in World War II." Rep. Larry LaRooco sent letters in Gritz is running on the Populist support of the task force's message. Party ticket, just as ex-Ku Klux Klan "Let the word go forth from here leader David Duke did in 1988. Gritz again today that Idaho and her peowas even Duke's vice presidential ple reject the merchants of bigotry running mate for a time, Stewart and that we steadfastly bold to the said. proposition that all persons have a ''Today's Populist Party is a haven right to dignity, respect, and the for Klansmcn and nco-Nazis," Stew- brotherhood that American stands art said of the 8-year-old group and for," the Democratic governor wrote.

.Gritz

Staff photo by Blair Kooistra

Tony Stewart of the Kootenai County Taak Force on Human Relations dlsplays a photo of Bo Gritz apparently giving the Nazi salute.

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Candidate Gritz: Eliminate i·n come taxes Ex-Green Beret colon el outlines his platform by video at Cd' A rally COEUR d'ALENE- Presidential candidate Bo Gritz outlined his platform in a video shown at a rally Thursday in Coeur d'Alene. Another video showed Gritz talldng to supporters of federal fugitive Randy Weaver during the recent ·standoff with authorities. "I want to know what kind of guy this is," said Lonny Hall, Gritz' Northwest representative. Hall said Gritz will be in Spokane today through Sunday. G ·t In the platform video, ri z Gritz blamed the country's economic problems on the federal deficit. He described money as "the lifeblood" of the economy. He called for dissolving the federal reserve system to deaJ with the debt "It allows a cabal of private bankers to control the currency

and credit of the United States," Gritz said. The federal reserve requires the country to pay interest on its own money, he said. His first act as president would be to order the issuance of $450 billion in United States notes to replace fed· eral reserve notes, Gritz said. The country would be relieved from having to pay interest on the debt, he said. He also called for elimination of the income tax. · 'The country was hoodwinked .io, 1913," he said. The constitutional amendment that authorized the income tax in 1913 probably wasn't legitimately ratified by the states, he said. The constitutional amendment that shifted the election of U.S.

·.,,

See GRITZ, Page 16

Group blasts Gritz' party as a haven for neo-Nazis By AMY CABE Staff writer

COEUR d'ALENE - Populist party candidate Bo Gritz, a folk hero to some North Idahoans, represents a party that's a haven for Klansmen and neo-Nazis, a human rights group says. Gritz insulted veterans by giving a Nazi salute. He aJso chose an Oregon campaign manager that ridiculed homosexuals, compared racist skinheads to young Marines and once shared a political ticket with former Louisiana Klansman David Duke, the Kootenai County Task Force on Human Relations said during a press conference Thursday. "His connections are questionable," said Russell Wright, a member of North Idaho College's Human Equality Club, which hosted the press conference. Gritz's campaign staff rebutted information collected by the task force. "(Gritz) has a deep dislike for

Gritz chose an Oregon campaign manager that ridiculed homosexuals, compared racist skinheads to young Marines and once shared a political ticket with former Louisiana Klansman David Duke... - Kootenai County Task Force on Human Relation•

Nazis," Charlie Brown, national chairman for the America FU'Sl Coalition, responded from his Mid~ burg, F1a., office. See HAVEN. Page 16

AUS NORTH IDAHO NEWS NETWORK Friday, Sept. 18, 1992

GRITZ

federal law enforcement officials and Gov. Cecil Andrus, Hall said. Continued from Page 1 Another video segment showed Gritz telling Weaver's supporters that the fugitive's wife had Senators from state legislatures to popular vote been killed. Gritz told them to, hold hands was also to blame for the country's economic before telling them "the good news and the bad problems, he said. news." Gritz said the two major political parties were A state of emergency order signed by Andrus essentially the same. authorized martial law in Boundary and Bonner Federal authorities at the Weaver standoff counties for six days, Hall said. didn't allow Gritz to participate in negotiations The governor's order allowed anyone to be until he presented a citizen's arrest order for arrested by federal authorities, he said.

IUIIIN Continued from Page 1 The candidate's father, a World War Il pilot, was killed by Nazis, Brown said. "You could stick a branding iron on him and he wouldn't do anything Nazi." Gritz showed natural leadership when he coaxed fugitive Randy Weaver out of his secluded cabin near Naples last month, Brown said. Dozens of law officers surrounded Weaver's cabin and tried to negotiate his surrender after a shootout claimed a U.S. marshal. Weaver's wife and son also died in the 11-day siege that called attention to Gritz. Brown said he chose Gritz's campaign staff, and it doesn't include any members of the KKK. Furthermore, when Gritz agreed to become a vice presidential candidate in 1988, he expected a different candidate to get the presidential nomination and dropped off the ticket once Duke was nominated, Brown said. Gritz adopted Eurasian children and gave no Nazi salute to skinheads gathered near Weaver's cabin, Brown said. But the task force disagreed, showing pictures of Gritz doing what appeared to be a Nazi salute, and saying that action showed contempt for the United States. Jim Shepperd, a World War II veteran and Coeur d'Alene native, said he found

Gritz's actions bothersome. But while Brown denied that Gritz gave the salute, Lonny Hall, northwest regional representative for the campaign, said Gritz promised Weaver he would give the salute on his behalf. Either way, the task force has a responsibility to speak out against bigotry, task force president Tony Stewart said during the press conference at NIC, which was attended by about 40 people, including some Gritz supporters. Gov. Cecil Andrus and Rep. Larry LaRocco, D-Idaho, sent letters supporting the task force's efforts. "The voters will reject any candidate who gives the Nazi salute, who praises racist skinheads, who runs on the ticket of a party made up, in part, of Klansmen and ne<rNazis and who admits to being a white separatist," the task force said. "Today's Populist party is a haven for Klansmen and neo-Nazis," Stewart said. In response, Brown said that during a gathering in Las Vegas last fall, a nonpolitical group invited third party leaders such as the libertarians and the Populists to devise a united platform and find a single presidential candidate to support. The America First Coalition that stemmed from the meeting chose Gritz as its candidate though some third parties chose to support others. That doesn't mean that Gritz supports each party's platforms, Brown said, and "You can't always choose your supporters."

W~N®Ir(ll)~~ IF®rr&m~~ ~ PO Box 18640, Asheville.z. NC 28814 (704J 669- 667·1 Se pt embE'r 19, 1992 John & JoAn Galbreath Swannanoa Valley Ministerial Association and Church Women Un ite d

Re : Kudos to the "Swannanoa Valley Is For Everyone " Booth at t he Sourwood Festival De ar J ohn and JoAn, Our organization wants to congr~tulat e and thank the Swannanoa Valley Ministerial Association and Church Women United for the exc ellent:' booth you all nad at Black Mountain ' s Sourwood Festival. Enclosed is a phot o we took. while visiting the boo t h. came ra ran out o f film or we would have taken more!

I regret t hat

t he

I am sending a copy of the photo to Tony Stewart and th e Koont enai County Task Force on Human Relat ion s. They will be as pleased t o see your effort s as we are. Your organization ' s presence at the Fest i val adds one more i mportant brick to efforts to build a firm foundation for tolerance i n our area and sends a message to white supremacists that the people of t he Swannanoa Vall ey stand for love and harmony not hate. We hope that you all will consider making the booth an annual event so that that presence is i nst it utionalized and fixed i n the public ' s mind . Please share our appreciation a nd congratulations with your organizations and the volunteers who made it possible . · Best wishes,

1~ Monroe Gi lmour Coordinator

enclosure P . S . You ' ll be glad to know that the Mountreat Town Council passed a strong r e s o lution against hate crime activity at the ir September meeting .

The Seattle Times / Seattle Post-Intelligencer

Sunday, September 20, 1992

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Bo Gritz under attack from human-rights group Associated Press

COEUR D'ALENE, Idaho Populist Party presidential candidate Bo Gritz, who was in the spotlight recently for helping end a northern Idaho standoff, has come under attack from a human rights group. The Kootenai County Task Force on Human Relations accused Gritz 011 Thursday of giving a Nazi salute to whitesupremacist "skinheads" gathered at the standoff between fugitive Randy Weaver and U.S. marshals at Weaver's remote mountain cabin. The task force also claimed that Gritz, a highly decorated veteran of the Vietnam War, has

compared skinheads to young Mannes and once shared a political ticket with former Ku Klux Klan Grand Wizard David Duke. "His connections are questionable," said Russell Wright, a member of North Idaho ColIege 's Human Equality Club. Gritz's campajgn staff rebutted the accusations. Gritz "has a deep dislike for Nazis," Charlie Brown, national chairman for the America First CoaHtion, said. Gritz's father. a World War II pilot, was killed by Nazis, Brown said. "You could stick a branding iron on hlm and he wouldn't do anything Nazi," Brown said. He said that when Gritz

agreed to become a vice presidential candidate in 1988, he expected a different candidate to get the presidential nomination and dropped off the ticket once Duke was nominated. Brown denied that Gritz gave a Nazi salute to skinheads at the standoff, and praised the candidate for his leadership at the scene. On Thursday, the task force showed pictures of Gritz giving what appeared to be a Nazi salute at the standoff. Lonny Hall, northwest regional representative for the Gritz campaign. said Gritz promised Wt>aver he would give the salute on his behalf.

11uman rights group critical

~~.?.,~ritz \\~ COEUR D'ALENE - Populist candidate Bo Gritz represents a party that is a haven for Klansmen and neo-Nazis, says a human rights group with the backing of two Idaho leaders. Gritz' staff rebutts all

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Gritz insulted veterans by giving a Nazi salute. He also chose an Oregon campaign manager that ridiculed homosexuals , compared rac- Gritz ist skinheads to young Marines and once shared a political ticket with former Louisiana Klansman David Duke, the Kootenai County Task Force on Human Relations said during a press conference Thursday. "His connections are questionable," said Russell Wright, a member of North Idaho College's Human Equality Club, which hosted the press conference. Gritz's campaign staff rebutted information collected by the task force. "(Gritz) has a deep dislike for Nazis," Charlie Brown, national chairman for the America First Coalition, responded from his Middleburg, Fla., office. The candidate's father, a World War Il pilot, was killed by Nazis, Brown said. "You could stick a branding iron on him and he wouldn't do anything Nazi." Gritz showed natural leadership when he coaxed fugitive Randy Weaver out of his secluded cabin near Naples last month, Brown said. Brown said he chose Gritz's campaign staff and it does not include any members of the KKK. Furthermore, when Gritz agreed to become a vice presidential candidate in 1988, he expected a different candidate to get the presidential nomination and dropped off the ticket once Duke was nominated, Brown said. Gritz gave no Nazi salute to skinheads gathered near Weaver's cabin, Brown said. But the task force disagreed, showing pictures of Gritz in what \ appeared to be a Nazi salute.

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COEUR d ' ALENE- Populist candidate Bo Gritz represents a party that is a haven for Klansmen and neo-Nazis, says a human rights group with the backing of rwo Idaho leaders. Gritz insulted veterans by giving a Nazi salute. He also chose an Oregon campaign manager that ridiculed homosexuals, compared racist skinheads to young Marines and once shared a political ticket with former Louisiana Klansman David Duke, the Kootenai County Task Force on Human Relations said during a press conference Thursday. "His connections are questionable," said Russell Wright, a member of North ldahQ College's Human Equality Club, which hosted the press conference. Gritz's campaign staff rebutted infonnation collected by the task force. "(Gritz) has a deep dislike for Nazis," Charlie Brown, national chairman for the America First Coalition, responded from his Middleburg, Aa., office. The candidate's father, a World Warn pilot, was k:lled by ~ azis, Brown said. ~

SEPTEMBER 29, 1992 SO CENTS 110TH YEAR, NO. 96

IDAHO EDITION

Gay man says police ignoring attack Officer: Lack of evidence,

not discrimination at work By D.F. Oliveria Swrwriter

COEUR d'ALENE - A gay Spokane man complained Monday that Coeur d'Alene police are ignoring an unprovoked Sept. 5 attack on him at Ci!Y Beach. The 3~year-old hairdreaer said he has suffered headaches and coughed up blood after being punched and kicked in the head after a cruise on the Mish-an-Nock. The assailant shouted imults about the man's homosexuality. The man, who asked that his name not be pub-, lishcd to prevent retaliation against his family,, wants the matter treated as felony malicious. haraumcnt rather than miademcanor battery. But police Capt. Carl Bergh pointed out that Idaho's strong h a ~ law doesn't oovcr discriminatioo based on sexual orientation.

''That's the real weakncs., with our law," said Tony Stewart., president of the Kootenai County Task Foroe on Human Relations. "This man's injuries are the same as an African-American. But he doesn't have the same rights to be protected." According to Bergh, the man provided only the slightest shred of evidence about the attack since he didn't sec his assailant. The victim reported only that the attacker wore a blue-and-white striped shirt. ''There's not a great deal to work with," Bergh said. "We have a limited number of investigators. We tend to work cases with known leads fint. This case didn't have good leads." But the victim said he was waiting for the police to contact him for more informatioo. There were also witncucs, he said. Bergh questioned why the man failed to contact his d t after the initial report. choosing i n s t e a ~ the matter with Coeur d'Alene attorney Sue flammia, the Spokesman-Review, and Spokane human-rights activists.

"I don't understand his motive," Bergh said. The blond man has shoulder length hair. He has an inch-long gash above his right eye as a result or the attack. He said he had attended the Sept. 5 cruise with his companion of eight yean, another man and three women. The attack occurred shortly after the Mish-anNock docked at City Beach about 10:30 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 5, after a t~hour cruise sponsored by Spokane radio statioo KZZU. The man said he was talking to one of the fcmales in the party when someone punched him in the eye, knocking him down, and then kicked him twice. The same man also slapped the fcmalc, and had shoved and punched the man's oompanioo before leaving the cruise boat. His companion suffered a deep, triangle gouge on the left side of his

nose. The man said his assailant called him "a faggot" as he threw the punch. Please see ATTACK: A12

CONTINUED: FROM A1

Attack "I felt like I was raped,'' he said. "I've known a lot of people this has happened to." Wimes.,es described the attacker as in his early 20s, about 6 feet tall, weighing 175 pounds. The attacker had short black hair as well as the striped shirt and a blue baseball cap. Apparently, the assailant was part of a group of six men who were overheard on the ship commenting about the alleged victim and his companion. The victim said he doesn't have insurance to cover the $600 in medical bills incurred during his brief stay in

the Kootenai Medical Center emergency room. He also said he neeck further treatment for bis injuries. The state's malicious harassment laws were strengthened in 1987 to allow vicilim to seek civil damages. It enables them to recoup medical expenses, attorney's fees and punitive damages. The law applies to race, color, religion and national origin - but not to sexual orientation. Human-rights activists in Washington have tried unsucceasfully to lobby the Washington Legislature to expand their state's h a ~ laws to include sexual orientation.

344-0772 LEWISTON MOHNING

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fHtJman relations task force attacks Gritz for Nazi salute Associated Press

COEUR D'ALENE - Populist Party presidential candidate James (Bo) Gritz, who was in the spotlight recently for helping end a northern Idaho standoff, has come under attack from a human rights group. The Kootenai County Task Force on Human Relations accused Gritz on Thursday of giv\

ing a Nazi salute to whitesupremacist Skinheads gathered at the standoff between fugitive Randy Weaver and U.S . Marshals at Weaver's remote mountain cabin. The task force also claimed at a news conference that Gritz, a highly decorated veteran of the Vietnam War, has compared Skinheads to young Marines-;nd

once shared a political ticket with former Ku Klux Klan Grand Wizard David Duke. "His connections are questionable," said Russell Wright, a member of North Idaho College's Human Equality Club, which hosted the press conference. Gritz's campaign staff rebutted info'rmation collected by the task force. Gritz "has a deep dislike for Nazis," Cha1·1ie Brown, national chairman for the America First Coalition, said from his Middleburg, Fla., office. Gritz's father, a World War II pilot, was killed by Nazis, Brown said. "You could stick a branding iron on him and he wouldn't do anything Nazi," Brown said. He said that when Gritz agreed to become a vice presidential candidate in 1988, he expected a different candidate to get the presidential nomination and dropped off the ticket once Duke was nominated. Brown denied that Gritz gave

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a Nazi salute to Skinheads at the standoff, and praised the candidate for his leadership at the scene. Dozens of law officers surrounded Weaver's cabin and tried to negotiate bis surrender after a U.S. marshal was killed in a shootout last month. Weaver's wife and son also died in the 11-day siege. The standoff ended after Gritz talked Weaver out of the cabin. On Thursday, the task force showed pictures of Gritz giving what appeared to be a Nazi salute at the standoff. Lonny Hall, northwest regional representative for the Gritz campaign, said Gritz promised Weaver he would give the salute on his behalf. Either way, the task force has a responsibility to speak out against bigotry, its president Tony Stewart said during the press conference at the college, which was attended by about 40 people, including some Gritz supporters. _/

THE SPOKESMAN-REVIEW

REGULATING CAILE Sen. Slade Gorton tells why the cable television regulation bill has his support and will get his vote. IUUTCOLUIIN,A17

q _2. ':/,- 'f~

Community n~unity to end hatred Isn't Spokane outraged at the violent, racial attacb that have embarrassed and tamiabcd our city's reputation? It's time to be out.raged. Past time, in fact. People in the city need to demonstrate some resolve and say, ..This isn't lbc way we want our place to be." Yet, I don't see it Instead, I hear the privileged speak of the need for better burglar a1anm and more cops. and explain why they wouldn't think of living in certain neighborhoods or CHRIS sending their children to cer- PECK tain schools. Managing editor But who is taking coocn:te, public action to rally this city to action against racist violence and in support of a sense of community? This isn't about black vs. white, or rich vs. poor. It's about forging a sense of c:ommunity rather than seeing a sense of community crumble in the face of tragic events perpetrated by a twisted few.

In the 1811 few monlhl Spokane has been lbc hate crime capital of the Northwest. We have seen whites shooting blacks; blacks pulling whites from their cars; survivalists, kooks, and crazies all profeasing their profound apsnclatioo for s ~. Chris Alan Lindholm offered only the most recent reason for the people of Spokane to get off their duffs and fight fhe image that Spokane is the new capital of hate crimes. A couple of weeks ago Lindholm rode the bus from Texas to the northwest to visit a n~Nazi friend. When be arrived at the Spokane Greyhound tcnninal Lindholm saw a man and a woman, one black and one white, standing at a change machine. He nonchalantly pulled out a gun and pumped half a dozen slug., into them and left them for dead. That happened in our little oasis of sanity and good will. Lindholm got off the bus here because he had N~Nazi friends in the area. We were a destination spot for somebody with a twisted, hateful view of the world.

I suspect S ~ is getting a reputation for such activttics. So do others. "WbcncYer I have the opportunity to travel someplace and tell people I'm from Spokane, I get asked, 'How can you live out there with all those Aryan Nations types?' " acknowledged Dorothy Webster, Spokane's assistant city manager. And Bo Gritz, the bombastic white separatist who is running for president on the misnamed Populist Party ticket recently picked up pn the region's reputation u a place conducive to bigots. When be was in North Idaho dwing the tense siege at Randy Weaver's mountain cabin Gritz suggested he'd movc to the Inland Nortbwcst, purportedly for the scenic amenities. When pe?ple like Gritz and Lindholm begin as.10Cl8ting the Inland Northwest's beauty with their twisted views on race and tolerance then voices of reason need to form a choir of opposition. I hear only a few, solo voices. One comes from the Kootenai County Tuk Force on Human Relations. When Gritz wu in Idaho egging on the skinheads the Coeur d'Alene-based tuk force sent out the word about Gritz' intolerant past. Thll yNr wa mark the I0-ycar anniversary of the Kootenai County Tuk Force on Human Relations. A review of the decade's aocomplisbments of this group shows what can be done when principled, everyday people decide they won't be intimidated by thoac who are fueled by hatred and bigotry. In the last l Oyears the Kootenai Country Task Force on Human Relations convinced the Idaho Legislature to pass the toughest anti-hate crime legislation in the country. The task force organized a powerful coalition of busineu, political and community groups in North Idaho to take a public stand against the Aryan Nations Church and its followers. The tuk force helped Colville, Helena, and dozens of other Northwest communities organii.c grassroots opposition to racism and violent hate crimes. The task f<RC was there. Bcfore any of this could happen, a handful of people had to outraged and take responsibility for their own community. "For the tuk foroe to work, people thcm1dvcs had to usume respomiblity for what wu going on in our community," said Norm Gissel, a Coeur d'Alene attorney who has been active in the Kootenai Count[ Tuk Force on Human Relations for most o its l Oyears. '1t has to be a grassroots nxmment," Gissel explained of the early days of the tuk force. "A movement begins with an emotional and intellectual commitment from people and gives them a sense of responsibility for what happens." Right now, I think many of Spokane's movers, shakers and opinion makers are hoping somebody else will do what needs to be done to bring this city out from behind a cloud of doubt about its ability to be tolerant and respect civil rights. We have a city human rights commission, a citi1.ens review board for the police, numerous support groups for blacks, and gays and other 'different' grouPS.

Instructor shares views after African trip.

CAMPUS NEWS, Page 22

North Idaho College's Student Newspaper

Gritz racistâ&#x20AC;˘ Task Force announces 1

by Jeff Selle Assistant News Editor Kootenai Counry Task Force on Human Relations fulfilled its duties last Thursday by informing the public of a possible racist movement taking place in the area. Tony Stewart, president of the KCTFHR, held a press conference Thursday September 17, in the Kootenai room of Student union Building to expose the questionable racist ties of presidential hopeful and Populist party presedenlial candidate Bo Gritz. Stewart provided four reasons for the task force's decision to take a stand against the Gritz campaign in a letter composed by the task force. According to the letter, Gritz gave a NÂľi salute during the Randy Weaver stand-off, praised the racist Nazi Skinhead group, is running on the Populist party ticket and Gritz is a self- proclaimed White Separatist, the letter said. " We are not taking his candidacy seriously. He will not be the president in 1993, but every voter should know these facts," Stewart said. "If he has been able to fool cenain individuals, it is our responsibility to point out what his platform is, and what his associations are." Stewart showed a picture of Gritz apparently giving a salute used by the Nazis in World War II to a crowd in Naples, which included Neo-Nazi Skinheads, during the Weaver stand-off in early September. "The Nazi salute has stood as a symbol of murderous contempt for the United States, its constitution, its people, its flag, its character, its institutions, and its military forces that have fought so hard, and died so bravely in the defence of our country," the letter said.

In a soundless video account of the stand-off, Gritz also appeared to give the salute to a group of Skinheads standing at the back of the crowd. Stewart's presentation did not go un-opposed. Lonny Hall, claiming to be the Nonhwest director of the Gritz campaign, yelled for Stewart to tum up the volume of the video account so that people could hear what the candidate said during the salute. Stewart refused to increase the sound and told Hall to hold a press conference of his own. Stewart continued to give more support to the allegations by quoting a Spokesman Review story printed Aug. 30. He said the story reported Gritz comparing the Skinheads 10 young marines, and was directly quoted saying ''The Skinheads are doing a great job." Stewart explained that the Skinheads had been

see STEWART Page 5

STEWART from Page 1 Former World War II veteran Jim Shepard expressed his observed giving Nazi salutes and directing obscenities toward law enforcement officials when children were present, and the concern with the Gritz campaign. He spoke about how he was compelled to do something about the Neo-Nazi movement in fact that some of the Skinheads were arrested for concealing North Idaho after a friend of his was harassed by the Aryan rifles, including one fitted with a bayonet. Âˇ Nations. Stewart said Gritz is running on the Populist Party ticket, Shepard said that he couldn' t face the thought of telling his "which is a haven for Klansman and Neo-Nazis." He said it was founded in 1984 by Willis Carto, publisher of Spotlight grandchildren that he sat idly by while something happened to his friend. That was the beginning of his stand on racism, an anti-semitic tabloid. The party is comprised of many other well known racists he said. he said. Such as Joe Fields, who believes Hitler had the right Shepard said that he heard about Gritz at a convention in idea. K. A. Budinsk, who is the sergeant of arms for the Indianapolis a few weeks ago. Populists in the state of Washington and a well- known "I heard about Bo Gritz after reading his pamphlets. I advocate of White separatism as well as a leader of the thought this guy was great. He had an outstanding war record, Northwest Knights of the Ku Klux Klan; David Duke, exand after the war I understand he received several masters' wizard of the Ku Klux Klan who was the Populist presidential degrees," Shepard said. candidate in 1988. Gritz was Duke's running mate for for a Shepard said that he could not understand why Gritz wasn' t short time. speaking at the convention instead of him. After returning Gritz's campaign manager in Oregon, Richard Flowers, home, he realized Gritz was affiliated with the Neo-Nazis, he was quoted in the Aug. 27 - Sept. 2, issue of the Willamette said. Week saying, "The Bible says to stone them (homosexuals), "Again, what am I going tell my grandchildren? I don't but I'm not sure we could get away with that in today's want to tell them I sat idly by without doing something about society, but you really wouldn' t need to shoot many of them this guy." Shepard said, "I don' t know exactly what we can to get the point across." do, but I know I want to do something." In the Seattle Post-Intelligencer Gritz was quoted saying, "I am a White Separatist."

CAittPUS NEWS

The NIC Sentinel

Page 5

Gritz supporters respond by Lori Vivian News Editor Campaign supporters of presidential cadidate Bo Gri12 held a press conference in response to accusations made earlier in the afternoon by the Kootenai County Task Force on Human Relations Sept. 17 at 7:30 pm in the Kootenai Room. The crowd listened to Lonny Hall, who introduced himself as Gritz.'s Northwest Regional Representative, speak in defense of Gritz.. Although. when Gritz. was laier questioned on Lonny Hall's position as a campaign manager, he said that Hall wasjust helping out. Gritz said that Hall was doing a very good job. but there was "just a little misunderstanding." Approximately 100 people from the surrounding communities attended the press conference. The majority of the audience was senior citizens with a few young fami lies thrown in for good measure. Hall showed a video in response to the silent video that Stewart had played earlier. Hall said that Stewart had run a "Kangaroo Court" that afternoon. "Stewart never turned up the volume on that video, I told him 10 let the people hear Bo, but he [Stewart) wouldn't listen." Hall said. Hall told the audience that they should call down to NJC and say 'we would like to take another look at what's being taught down here. and the man who put on this program.' In response to the KCTFOHR's accusations that Bo Gritz. was a neo-nazi, Hall said Gritz. wa~ being persecuted by the media At the end of the meeting, in response to audience questions, Hall said, "We told them let's get the country back in shape first, then we will worry about what color everybody is and what religion they ought 10 be and everything else.''

KCTFHR accuses Gritz of Nazism, white separatism

photo by Jeff Selle Robert Mertens sells T-shirts to support the Gritz campaign efforts in North Idaho.

• According to Bo Gritz, human • rights groups are the cause of it by Jeff Selle Assistant News Editor Bo Gritz, Populist Party presidential candidate, claims human rights advocates unfairly labeled him as a racist during a press conference held September 17. Tony Stewart, president of the Kootenai County Task Force on Human Relations1 held the press conference last week to denounce Gritz by providing evidence of his racial ties. Gritz said that the group and the press have used "code words" in an attempt to categorize him as a racist. "They make their money off of racism, hatred, bigotry, bias," Gritz said "What if there wasn't any hatred, bigotry and racism? They wouldn't have a job.'' Gritz said groups like Stewart's create trouble. He said if there isn·1 any racism prevalent, these groups "take their spoons and stir it." ·'The only hatred I have experienced in the political arena has been groups like Stewart's.'' Gritz said. He said such groups seem 10 "ooze·· and "espouse·· hatred. He said.without it, they would be without a job or income. They have no seeming social purpose. They use "code words" 10 stigmatize people into specific groups with specific beliefs, and he said that

"[Stewart is] an anal orifice. If he would have been there, he would have known what he was talking about, but he was probably sitting in a nice warm house somewhere seeing how he could write up more trouble ." . . . Bo Gritz

they would be better off to run for political office because they act like politicians. "I think they should be given a sack of concrete, so they can bury their heads in it. Then then they would have some social purpose. We could use their back sides for bicycle racks," Gritz said. The press has tried to trap him into a racist category by using their"code words," Gritz said "IJ these guys (reporters) would ever get a thing accurate, maybe they should get some kind of journalistic award other than a hot fudge enema." The task force said that Gritz was quoted in an Oregon newspaper saying that he was a "White Separatist." Gritz denies the fact that he is an actual White Separatist and claims that the media quoted him out of context. Gritz said that he was jumping on a reporter for calling Randy Weaver a White Supremacist because weaver had rejected the Aryan Nations. He said the reporter corrected himself and called Weaver a White Separationist. Gritz asked the reporter, "Am I white?"' and then he told the reporter that Weaver lived within three miles of the nearest bread, and then he told him that he himself lived 50 miles from the nearest bread and milk. So. he said, J guess you could call me a White Separatist, but you can't call Weaver that. ·'Maybe there is something wrong with me wanting 10 live away from the city. ls it unAmerican 10 not have a 7-Eleven within walking distance?"' Gritz said. He said that the newspapers tried to•label him as an Identity Christian using the same tactics. Gritz said that maybe some of these people

should read his book before placing judgments on his racial beliefs. He said that in his book there are testimonials by several friends from many different races, creeds and religions. "I don't care what your color, creed, sex, age, disability or whether you're handsome or ugly. It makes no difference; you're American. We are all part ofone family," Gritz said. Gritz said be didn't have the same religious beliefs as Randy Weaver, who held up in his cabin in Naples, for 11 days attempting to avoid prosecution for selling illegal firearms to federal agents. But Weaver is still an American, He said Weaver did not deserve to be treated the way he was; that is why Gritz felt he should help him, not because of his religious beliefs. He said, "As far as the "puke-heads" that run around and do this hate work they ~o--calling themselves human dignity--if one of them gets in trouble they can call on me 100. as a mailer of fact, they beuer keep my telephone number." Gritz explained if the government isn't restored 10 a constitutional government, the human rights advocates would be needing somebody to stand between them and the New World Order because they are not going to have the rights they have now under a global system of government.

"They make their money off racism, hatred-, bigotry and bias. What if there wasn't any hatred, bigotry and racism? They wouldn't have a job. ----Bo Gritz

Gritz could not understand how anybody could call him a racist when he has adopted two Vietnamese children. According to Stewart, this is not proof that he is not racist.after all, he said, Hitler's best friend was Jewish, and that did not stop him from attempting to annihilate the race. "Somebody told me Hitler was a Jew, so what's the point?" Gritz said, ''He is full of shit- in one word. Sorry, but when I' m speaking about this person (Stewart), I'm using the proper language." Stewart said that Gritz was quoted in the Spokesman Review comparing the Skinheads, present at the Weaver stand-off, with young Marines. Gritz said, "What an anal orifice. If he would have been there, he would have known

see GRITZ Page 5 Presidential candidate Bo Gritz signs books at the Preparedness Expo in Spokane, Wash. Gritz is presently travelling across the United States to present his platform and gain support for his campaign. what he was talking about, but he was probably sitting in a nice warm home somewhere seeing how he could write up more trouble:Âˇ When he was talking about the Skinheads, he was joking with them, he said. He said that their hair cuts reminded him of the Marines. Stewart showed a picture and a video account, at the press conference, of Gritz giving the seig heil salute to a group of Skinheads at the end of the Weaver stand-off.. Gritz said the Skinheads helped to get Weaver down off the mountain, and after Weaver agreed to come down, he asked Gritz to give them a special salute for holding a vigil and praying for his family. "When I got to the bottom of the hill, before I forgot about it, I was looking for these three Skinheads. Tspotted them in the very back, and I raised my hand like I do so many times to make a point, and I said, 'Hey, you guy, thank you for the letter you wrote because the letter helped to get Randal out. He asked me to give you all a special salute for keeping the vigil for him.' It's my mannerism because I am a military person;Âˇ Gritz said "If I wanted to make a Nazi salute, it would be done properly. I'm a soldier I'm not going to make an improper or sloppy salute to anybody. My purpose was I wanted to say thanks.'' In the video Gritz said, "By the way he (Weaver) told me to give you guys a salute. He said that you know what that is." The video showed the skinheads in the back of the crowd return Gritz's salute with a seig heil salute and a thumbs-up sign. Stewart exposed the fact that Gritz ran for vicepresident under David Duke, the presidential candidate, on the Populist Party ticket in 1988. Gritz is now the presidential candidate for the Populist Party, which Stewart calls a haven for Klansman and Neo-Nazis.

Accoring to Gritz he was nominated and accepted before he knew that Duke was going to be running mate. As soon as he found out about what Duke stood for it only took him five days to decide to drop off the ticket. Gritz said that groups like Stewart are so far behind the times they still think that Willis Carto, publisher of the Spotlight an Anti-semitic tabloid, is still the head of the party. He said that Carto hasn't been active in the party since 1989. "I haven' t had anything to do with the party since 1988,'' Gritz said, "Until Don Wassel (the new leader of the party) asked me to be their candidate in 1992" Gritz said the only way he would agree to run as the Populist candidate was if he was allowed to write the entire platform; they agreed, so he ran. "If you look at the platform,. you can see that none of that is the Populist party; every bit of it is Bo Grits,'' He said. Gritz said that he is only running on the Populist ticket in five states. He said that he is running on the independent ticket or representing the America First Coalition in 42 other states. The Populist party is "belly-up," Gritz said '1 haven't heard from the leader of the party in five months." '1 have this feeling that they are ka-pul. Pass the word on to the ADL and Stewart. What are they going to do now? Maybe that is why they are latching on to me because they realize the party under Cano is bellyup at this time," he said. (This story was wrimen by both JeffSelle and Lori Vivian. )

.OPINION TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 3, 1992

PAGE 86

THE SPOKES.MAN-REVllEW WIiiiam Stacey Cowles, Publisher Christopher Peck, Managing Editor Shaun Higgins, Director of Marketing and Sales

G. Douglas Floyd, Editorial Page Editor Robert D. Fairchild, Director of Operations

:EDITORIALS

Storm rising in Idaho :over homosexual rights : : Idahoans have worked doggedly lo erase .the hatred that splashes over from the region's neo-Nazi racists and replace it with 9pen-minded tolerance o~ those who are .different from ourselves. · Incidents like the tragic Randy Weaver ~tandoff c.in lend to cast North Idaho in a :distorted light, nationally. But the truth is apparent to people in the Northwest: Idaho, "particulariy North Idaho, has become a gutsy 'champion for human rights. People who have given time and energy to this cause have learned the power of education and of a positive agenda lo offset an agenda of hate. : Well , the troops had better rest up, l)ecause :mother campaign is brewing over human rights in the Gem St ate. ; Homosexuals, not racial or religious mi,norities, would he the target this time. : A one-time organizer for Oregon's contro~ersial anti-gay initiative, Kelly Walton, moved to southern Idaho last year. Recently, ))e suggested that it would be a cakewalk to '.gather the 33,000 signatures needed lo put a · ~imilar anti-gay constitutional amendment on A/1 e 1994 ballot in Idaho. , : We think Walton could go to a whole lot of work only to learn that a majority of people 1h Idaho believe in "live and let live." · TI1e people of Oregon are voting on

Measure 9 loday. The measure directs governments to discourage homosexuality and it defines the practice as "abnormal, wrong, unnatural and perverse." The effects of the amendment, if it should pass, are unclear. Gay and lesbian teachers might be pulled from public schools. Discrimination against gays would be legal. Walton's interest in a similar effort in Idaho apparently has been sparked by legislation the American Civil Liberties Union wants to introduce in Boise next year. The ACLU hopes the state will protect homosexuals froin discrimination in the job market and in housing. AJso, the ACLU would include gays under cove rage or the malicious . harassment law and repeal the state's law against sodomy. These are not the most radical ideas being debated today for and by homosexuals. Nor could they be considered free or debate, themselves. No one should assume the ACLU will have an easy job pursuing this agenda in Idaho's Legislature. But the murmurings about an anti-gay initiative are troubling for a state which has grappled for years with ideas of racism. We hope Idahoans will be qui~k to reject this new message of intolerance.

THE HANDLE FRIDAY, NOV. 13, 1992

THE SPOKESMAN-REVIEW

Anti-racist panel spreads message

~ ~~

via videotape By D.F. Oliveria Staff writer

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PAGE B1

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A Ku Klux Klansman begins recruiting neighbors in your Wisa>nsin town. Who do you call for information to fight the seeds of bigotry he's planting? Your high school government class in southern Mississippi wants to research racism in the United States. Who do you call? Like d07.CDS of others, Patricia Hunt-Perry sent out an S.OS. to the Kootenai '----'__.____...., County Task Stewart Force on Human Relations when 103 Klan sympathizers rallied near her borne in New York's Hudson Valley. The task force responded by sending her its bow-to documentary on oombatting racism: "Stand Up to Hate Groups by Saying Yes to Human Rights." "It's so neat that we've been able to share the work we've done around the country," task force President Tony Stewart said Thursday. "The fccdback bas been very encouraging. Some communities arc creating their own task forces. They're not reinventing the wheel." The task force has sent frce oopies of the 90-minute film, completed .in June 1991, to 82 organiz.ations, oommunities, researchers and even television producers throughout the nation. The film documents the first seven years of Kootenai County's struggle against racist activity. Others who have received the free video include: Keith Greenberg of the

television show "America's Most Wanted," producer Mark Shaffer of "Street Story," the Raoul Wallenbcrg Committee of the United States, and the Western North Carolina Citizens for an End to institutional Bigotry. Hunt-Perry, a New Jersey professor of oonflict resolution, received her oopy of the film Thursday morning. "The film's well-known and enthusiastically received," Perry said. She said she learned of the documentary from a friend of a friend who put her into contact with the Southern Poverty Law Center. The center pointed her to Stewart, a North Idaho College instructor. In Hattiesburg, Miss., a town of 45,000, high school senior Emily Lundin said her government class was "shocked by all this action from hate groups in Coeur d'Alene" and amaud at bow well the town united to fight it. "We thought not of the prejudice in our country ooncentrated in the South," she said in a telephone interview. " It was kind of a learning ex~ rience to see that it's everywhere. It's kind of depressing, actually." In Janesville, Wis., Margo Lindeman of the Janesville Human Rights Task Force learned of the video from childhood friend Judy Adams, a North Idaho College instructor. The newly formed task force viewed and discussed the documentary last month. The town of 52,000, just north of Beloit, received "a black eye" when a Ku Klux Klan leader moved to town and started recruiting, Lindeman said in a telephone interview. "We wound up on the Geraldo (Rivera) show," she said. "It was ridiculous. We're not that kind of town."

Rights grOup will vote on gay protection SATURDAY, DEC. 5, 1992

THE HANDLE

ALIOTODAY: IDAHO DIGEST, 82 COMMUNITY CALENDAR, B3 IDAHO INDEX, 87

Change may also include women, disabled By D.F. Oliveria Staff writer

COEUR d'ALENE - Human-rights leaders here will be asked Tuesday to include homosexuals, females and the disabled on their list of groups who need protection from bias. Members of the Kootenai County Task Force on Human Relations will vote on the p~oposed bylaw changes at their annual meeting. Task force President Tony Stewart doesn't expect the proposed revisions to cause problems. In Stevens County, Wash., an attempt to place homosex'Uals on a similar list has created a major rift in a new human-rights group there. "Our first responsibility is to protect someone who's been maliciously harassed,'' Stewart said Friday, noting that a serious gaybashing incident was reported in Coeur d'Alene just this fall. The task force meeting is scheduled for 7 p.m. Tuesday at the U.S. Forest Service's Fernan Ranger Station, 2502 E. Sherman

Ave.

The meeting also will include an election of officers and a panel discussion of hate crimes by representatives from the Kootenai County Sheriffs Office, Coeur d'Alene Police Department, federal law enforcement, and the Anti-Defamation League of B'nai B'rith. The bylaws of the local task force now say that the organization opposes discrimination

PAGE 81

based upon race, color, religion, ethnic origin, and creed. A bylaw sub~mmittee consisting of Stewart, Jeanne Givens and Ginny Delong . proposed to add gender, disability, and sexual orientation. A Sept. 5 attack on a gay couple at City Park prompted the inclusion of "sexual orientation" in the changes, Stewart said. 1n the incident, a 30-year-old Spokane hairdresser was kicked and hit in the face after a Mish-an-Nock party cruise. The victim told The Spokesman-Review that he suffered headaches and coughed up blood for weeks after the attack. Coeur d'Alene police have identified the assailant and plan ta file charges against him this month, Capt. Carl Bergh said Friday. The victim told the newspaper be wanted the matter handled as a felony under Idaho's malicious harassment law. But the law doesn't cover sexual orientation. Earlier this fall, a 4th District Court judge struck down the law as unconstitutional. Attorney General Larry EchoHawk is appealing that ruling to the Idaho Supreme Court, Stewart said. The task force bylaws will parallel those of the Northwest Coalition Against Malicious Harassment.

.OPINION TUESDAY, DECEMBER 8, 1992

PAGE B4

TuE SPOKES.MAN-REVlEW WIiiiam Stacey Cowles, Publisher Christopher Peck, Managing Editor Shaun Higgins, Director of Marketing and Sales

G. Douglas Floyd, Editorial Page Editor Robert D. Fairchild, Director of Operations

Kootenai task force expands If members agree, the Kootenai County Task Force on Malicious Harassment is going to spread its wings wider, offering protection to homosexuals, women and the disabled. How can you cheer such news as this, knowing that it wouldn't be happening if it weren't for people hurting other people, acting out of hatred and ignorance? That said, we applaud the courage and energy of task force members. Task force leader Tony Âˇ Stewart said the more encompassing bylaws will simply reflect formal concern with issues the task force already has begun to work on. The potentially controversial issue of harassment of gays and the unhappily widespread violence against women - these two areas alone could stretch a lesser organization to the point of ineffectiveness. But from an organizational view, the timing for this move is good. ln its fight against racial and religious harassment, the task force has gained much esteem locally

and nationally in its ll years. Its founders are still locaJ heroes and the group has both a diverse leadership and a solid membership. Without any membership drive to speak of, the task force includes about 240 individuals and organizations. Sadly, the region still needs this watchdog. But the Aryans who would have blockaded the Panhandle into a white homeland are still dreaming, and Kootenai County goes on growing, welcoming diverse newcomers and educating others about the benefits of a positive statement for human rights. Just one suggestion for task force members, though. Why not stretch its arms wide, but drop from the bylaws the laundry list of the affiicted? No matter how many specific groups are brought in, someone will always be left out. At the bottom of it is, after all, respect for other human beings. Period. No colors, no labels.

Editorials represent the collective thinking of this newspaper's editorial board. Editorial writers are John Webster, Marny Lombard and Doug Floyd.

NORTH IDAHO NEWS NETWORK Wednesday, Dec. 9, 1992 AS

Task force ·backs gays, women COEUR d'ALENE - The Kootenai County Task Force on Human Relations voted unanimously Tuesday night to add gays, women and disabled people to its list of people needing protection from bias. Task force members approved changes in the group's bylaws by a voice vote at its annual business meeting. Bylaws of the group previously opposed discrimination based on race, color, religion, ethnic origin or creed. Jeannie Givens, who headed a committee writing the proposed changes, said the group wanted "to be in national sync" in its position on discrimination and violence. "Our county has always been a leader in the human rights area,"

she said. Givens cited the need for new amendments by pointing to a reported incident in Coeu r d'Alene last summer where a man told police he was beaten up because he was gay. Task force mem ber Bob Brown voiced his support for the changes by noting the Reaganappointed U.S. Supreme Court had upheld a lower court's decision that the miUtary couldn't discriminate against groups of people such as gays. If the Reagan court can recognize gays, so can the Kootenai County task force, Brown said. Task force president Tony Stewart said the decision will send a message that violence and intolerance will not be condoned

Bonner forms rights group SANDPOINT - The Bonner County Human Rights Task Force has been formed, said the Rev. Mary Robinson Mohr, task force president. "There has been vandalism, circulation of hate mail, especially targeted at persons of color,'' she said. 'There has even been some verbal harassment." Harassment seems to be on the increase in Bonner County and a group dedicated to the rights of all people is needed, said Mohr. "We want to be an advocate for people who are victims of harassment," she said. "We also want to be an agent to educate the community and create a climate of respect for the dignity of all persons." in North Idaho. "Idaho is too great to hate,·· Stewart said in repeating the words of a Boise clergyman. Stewar t didn't believe the

additions would cause a rift in the Kootenai County group similar to one that occurred in a Stevens County, Wash., task force over the same issue.

TtESPCIKE8MAN-REVIEW

Wednesday, Dec. 9, 1992, Spokane, Wash.

IDAHO DIGEST FROM WIRE REPORTS

Rights group giVes-gays, WOriien~biaS protection By D.F. Oliveria Staff writer

COEUR d'ALENE - A humanrights group voted unanimously Tuesday to add homosexuals, women and the disabled to its list of people who need bias protection. After two brief comments in favor of the changes, Kootenai County Task Force on Human Relations expanded the preamble of their bylaws to include the three categories. Âˇ In Stevens County, Wash., a similar proposal by a new task force to put homosexuals in the bylaws has created a schism that threatens the group's existence.

Prior to her motion to endorse the changes, former Idaho legislator Jeanne Givens said Kootenai County residents needed to send "a strong, loud, clear message that we support human rights for all individuaJs." A crowd of about 70 braved a winter travel advisory to attend the annual meeting of the task force, including Aryan Nations leader Richard Butler, who arrived by himself and made no comment during the discussion of the changes in the bylaws. In Jier remarks, Givens pointed out the proposed changes mirror the task force's approach to human rights.

The organization already has helped a victim of a September gay-bashing incident at Coeur d'AJene's City Beach as well as a disabled person who was taunted last summer. Task force President Tony Stewart didn't appear surprised by the unanimous vote. "This community has faced a lot over the past 12 years," Stewart said in a brief interview. "I believe the residents of North Idaho are as sensitive to the issue of malicious harassment as any community in the Northwest." The Kootenai County task force didn't run into the same controversy

over the homosexuality issue as its Stevens County counterpart because of its track record, Stewart said. The local task force has gained the confidence of the community in responding to the threat of white supremacism and incidents of hate crimes, Stewart said. As a result, North Idaho legislators from both parties have backed human-rights legislation, turnouts to events like the Martin Luther King Jr. celebration are good, and schools here have programs to discourage bigotry. "We had no idea a problem would develop in Stevens County," Stewart said.

Kootenai County Task Fo,c.e-ÂˇOn ~uman Relations Commircell

rh e eliminmion of <'lhnic. rocio/ onll religious uiolence and inrimidarion

December 15, 1992

Mrs . Karen M. Degan C/0 Joe Moy Chief of Retirement and Benefits Branch MAYR

Dear Mrs. Degan : On behalf of all the members of the Kootenai County Task Force on Human Relations, I wish to extend our deepest sympathy to you and your sons on the tragic death of your husband, William F. Degan. Our community will always remember your husband for his defense of our Nation , its laws and the principles of democracy . Your husband is truly a hero. The Kootenai County Task Force on Human Relations has been working since February 1981 to combat hate crimes and the message of hate groups such as the Aryan Nations . In June , 1991 we r e leased a 90 minute documentary detai ling our work on behalf of human rights . The documentary ends with a dedication to all those persons who have been victims of bigotry and hate. We want you to know that your husband is one of those special people to whom th~ documentary is dedicated . We wish to enclose a copy of the documentary for you and the family. Please accept our thoughts of care and concern . You and your family will always be in our thoughts as we continue the struggle for equality . With Deep Sympathy ,

h-?ift'~ D. Tony Stewart President

THE HANDLE THURSDAY, DECEMBER 10, 1992 PAGE 81

Bonner County forms humail rights task force. the idea that these people are our neigh- Mary Robinson Mohr, president of the bors, and we don't want people harassing task force. our neighbors." Weaver, a white separatist, was involved The task force is also creating a 24-hour in an 11-day standoff with more than 300 hotline for people to report incidents of law enforcement officers in Naples, Idaho. By Kevin Keating harassment. Panel members chose today Skinheads from across the country came Staff writer to announce the formation because it has to Naples to support Weaver, as did SANDPOINT_ What was just an idea b~en declared lnte!""ationa_l Human Richard Butler and other members of the Aryan Nations. a year and a half ago became a reality Rights Day by t~e ~mted N~tions. "The Weaver incident energized the today with the official formation of the County commissioners th~s week ~o Bonner County Human Rights Task declared Dec. 10 Human R1ghts Day m task force, but it was not the trigger to do it," Arndt said. Force. Bonner County. . Since Weaver's arrest, anti-Semitic The 20-member group plans to battle The idea for the task force began in discrimination in this county of 30,000 May 1991 after a forum in Sandpoint with graffiti has surfaced on a concrete highresidents and be advocates for those Bill Wassmuth. director of ihe National way barrier near Hope, Idaho. It read: harassed because of their race, color, Coalition Against Malicious Harassment. "Stop the Jew world order.'' Two separate "violently anti-Semitic" gender or sexual orientation. He urged about 300 residents to take a Even though white separatists have stand against and be aware of the white mailings were sent to Naples residents, made themselves known in the county oo supremacist and the Christian Identity Arndt said. a number of occasions, "Some (people) . · movements in the area. Racist flyers have also been left in are surprised (discrimination) happens ''This task force has been on the back mailboxes of some Sandpoint residents here," said Buzz Arndt. a board member burner since then. What brought it to the who have ethnic backgrounds, and some and organizer of the task force. front burner was the reaction to the verbal harassment and intimidating phone "We want ~o signify a presence that Randy Weaver incident and increased calls have been made to residents, Mohr resists'that kind of behavior and put forth harassment since the event," said the Rev. said.

Move was prompted by Weaver standoff

Arndt said there may have been a slight increase in reports of racial harassment since the Weaver incident, but said residents are also more aware of the problem. The goal of the task force is to educate the public in hopes the community will not tolerate bigotry. A victim support group has also been organized for those who have been targets of harassment. This is not a pro-gay stance," Arndt said. "The task force is not seeking to procure special rights for groups. We are here lo see their rights are not somehow infringed upon.·• The Kootenai County Task Force on Human Relations this week added homosexuals, women and the disabled to its list of people who need bias protection. A similar proposal in Stevens County, Wash., to put homosexuals in the bylaws created a schism in that county's group. To contact the Bonner County Human Rights Task Force, call 263-0275 or send inquires to 212 N. Fourth Ave., Suite 189. Sandpoint 83864.

A14

THE SPOKESMAN-REVIEW

Sunday, Dec. 13, 1992, Spokane, Wash.

I daho has Northwest's fewest hate groups By Jess Walter Staff writer

Quick quiz. Which Northwest state had the most white supremacist groups last year? Which had the only active Ku Klux Klan organization? If you said Idaho, you're wrong. Twice. Klanwatch counted 10 different bate groups operating in Oregon last year. It counted eight in Washington, including the KKK near Colville. In Idaho, there were two hate groups. And it's not just the Northwest. Last year, Klanwatch monitored a record 346 hate groups in 44 states 73 more organizations than the year tiefore. The most active groups were in Aorida, Colorado, Georgia, California and Illinois. None of the 25 murders blamed on those groups was inJdaho. "People are reauyÂˇsurprised to find that there are hate groups in their area," said Angie Lowry of KJanwatch, a nonprofit group operated by

the Southern Poverty Law Center in Montgomery, Ala. "They still think of these groups as being only in the South or in backwoods places" like Idaho. Certainly, there are still hate groups here. Last summer, one Aryan Nations member said, "the idea of a white homeland in North Idaho is alive and well." But many residents in North Idaho think the state's neo-Nazi reputation has been blown out of proportion. Some blame it on the media. "If a Nazi walks outside to check the weather here, he ends up being on the news," said Andy Dean, who lives near Sandpoint. Tony Stewart of the Kootenai County Task Force on Human Relations places more blame on The Order, the early 1980s white supremacist group from Idaho that bombed, murdered and robbed its way across the West. He said North Idaho's reputation was improving before last summer's standoff at white separatist Randy

Weaver's cabin. "The Order was maybe the most dangerous terrorist group that ever existed in the Northwest and it really imprinted an image around the country," Stewart said. "And the publicity last summer was certainly a setback." But Stewart said Idaho has made great strides in battling hate groups. He thinks people are becoming aware of the state's response to racist groups. The ll-year-old Kootenai County task force has been used as a model for similar groups across the country, he said. One of the first groups of its kind to actively fight racism, the task force's recipe of education, peaceful protest and public relations has been copied by people as far away as New Jersey trying to fight racism and malicious harassment. Just last week, a similar task force was formed in Sandpoint, 30 miles south of Weaver's house, to battle the presence of white separatist movements in the area. "They are not going to be allowed

to take over this area," said The Rev. Mary Robinson-Mohr, president of the Bonner County Human Rights Task Force. Experts like Idaho State University professor James Aho say separatists will continue to come to North Idaho and the Northwest. But skyrocketing property prices could keep them out of the places they've traditionally looked in Idaho: Kootenai, Bonner and Boundary counties. So they'll probably tum to places with fewer people and less expensive land, perhaps Shoshone County in Idaho or Stevens County in Washington. A human rights task force formed in Stevens County recently felJ apart because of the members' disagreement about protecting gay rights. That disappointed Stewart. " I really believe that in our lifetime, the image of North Idaho as home to these groups wilJ fade and many of these groups will disappear," Stewart said. "What won;t disappear in our lifetime is prejudice and bigotry, and we must continue fighting those."

P.E.A.C.E. People Everywhere Are Created Equal

Presented by The Kootenai Coont4 Task force on Human Relations, the Na>th Idaho CollEqe Popca>n forum, Coeur d'Alene and Post falls School D.strids, The Associated Students of Nor,th Idaho CollEqe and the NIC Human Equaht4 Club

• THE JANESVILLE HUMAN RIGHTS TASK FORCE • We wiJl be viewing and discussing a 90-minute videotape entitled:

"STAND UP TO HATE GROUPS BY SAYING YES TO HUMAN RIGHTS" A documentary by the Kootenai County (Idaho) Tuk Force on Human Relatiom.

WHER E:

WHEN:

ORTMA YER HALL TRINITY EPISCOPAL CHURCH 419 EAST COURT STREET JANESVILLE

9 :30 A.M . - NOON SATURDAY, OCT. 17, 1992

THE PUBLIC IS INVITED

w,sco " s; ~

Rights group hears.history of Aryan .Nations--- Church -

-Âˇ-

THE COEUR D'ALENE PRESS Tuesday, Feb. 16, 1993 A9

SANDPOINT - About 150 Nor th Idaho residents turned out Sunday at a meeting of the Bonner County Human Rights Task Force to hear about the history of the Aryan Nations Church in North Idaho. Coeur d'Alene atto rney Norman Gissel chronicled the progression of the Aryan movement to the area. Gissel is a member of the Kootenai County Human Rights Task Force and has researched the religious doctrine and political beliefs of the controversial Aryan Nations Church. The Kootenai County task force was

formed to counter attitudes whic h helped spread the reputation of the area as a haven for white supremacist groups. With Aryan Nations leader Richard Butler in the audience, Gissel said while serving in the armed forces in the south he became outraged over the way Americans treat fellow Americans. 'The shame and the horror over the separation of peoples in America has since been part of the guiding principles of my life to make s ure that every American citizen has an equal opportunity to live in dignity and peace with his fellow man," Gissel said.

____,

-- -

NORTH IDAHO Gissel said as a history major, he became interested in the emergence of the Aryan Nations and the Church of Jesus Christ Ch ristian , and how th is group moved to Kootenai County. "One of the great events of world history occurred in 1517 when Martin Luther pounded the 95 thesis on the church door in Whittenberg," Gissel stated. "What we have in Kootenai County is nothing more than a manifestation of that Protestant fracturing back in 1517." Gissel said as he understands, the Christian Identity movement began in England.

A central belief of the movement is that the Israelites described in the Bible are people of Aglo Saxon or European des.cent. This idea was exported to the Unite~ States just after World War II when 1t became recognized as the most pow~rful nation in the world. . Gissel said, " I have always main!amed that the Aryan Nations is the political _ai:m of the (;hurch of Jesus Christ Chrisban." . He said it is important to compare and contrast the Aryan Nations with the

Klu Klux Klan. The Klan has as its essential principle

basic Protestant values, Gissel said. "What is different and smart about this present Christian Identity group is that they are much wiser than the Klan of old, because they don't rely on the mainstream Protestant religion for their religious and moral support "What they have done essentially is that they have created their own religion, the Christian Identity religion," Gissel said. Gissel said, "One of the problems the Christian Identity people have is, how do you explain that we are alJ obviously human beings?"

Holocaust museum a reminde for the past, present and futur~ 1

By RAYMOND L. STONE

Nearly half a century ago, General Dwighl D. Eisenhower visited the Nazi concentration camp at Ohrdruf in Germany lo ensure that he would be an eyewitness lo a monstrous chapter in human history. ÂˇÂˇ1made the trip deliberately," he said, "in order to be in a position to give firsthand evidence of these things if ever, in the future, there develops a tendency to charge these allegations merely lo 'propaganda.'" Several weeks later, as part of the 325 Glider lnfantry Regiment, of the 82nd Airborne Division. I entered the concentration camp of Woebbelin, near the town of Ludwiglust, Germany. The camp was in absolute chaos. The Gem1an guards had left, and at least 1,000 prisoners had died of starvation the week the Americans arrived. In the barracks that housed far too many prisoners, the living lay next to the dying and the dead. The stench, the filth and the despair registered on the faces of the ljving will forever be etched in my memory. Today, as I sit in my office at City Hall overlooking shimmering Lake Coeur d'Alene and the beauteous vista of timbered hills beyond. the contrast with the images of horror so many decades ago could hardly be more acute. Yet, although Lhe images are remote in time and distance, the ugliness of the past is not confined to the past. The headlines that today speak of ''ethnic cleansing" and rampant nationaUsm in Europe bear the unmistakable echoes of jackboots on cobbled streets. And there is no comfort in the assumption that the hate exists only on distant shores. 111e woods north of Hayden Lake, just a few miles from here, remain home to the Aryan Nation, a small group

Guest opinion of neo-Nazi zealots, who attracted national attention some years ago when they bombed several houses and proclaimed their white supremacist philosophy. The people of North Idaho rejected this vile phllosopby and turned away from prejudice. refusing to let these outsider come into our area to poison our city and distort the principles by which we have lived our lives. We won a victory of sorts, but we cannot pretend that the battle is over. As a witness to the Holocaust in Europe and to the offshoot of Nazi sentiment that has existed near our community for the past 14 years, I am profoundly heartened that the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum will open in Washington soon. This museum will depict the events of 1933-45, and factually describe our own nation's role in first ignoring, and then battling, Nazism and its consequences. It will be a beacon that illuminates the events of the past, and warns us of the dangers that may again exist if we do not control the hateful impulses of ethnic stereotyping, prejudice and conflict. Why should we now care about the events that happened half a century ago in a Warsaw ghetto. or on the streets of Lyons; about the mother whose child was torn from her arms and taken to the gas chamber, or the little Jewish boy caught up in the maelstrom and condemned to a frightful death because of his religion? We must care because in the act of remembrance we affirm what is best about -indeed, what is essential about America: Our national commitment to individual freedoms, human lights and diversity. Because we will either remember the

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past or relive it, to paraphrase Geoq Santayana, we cannot afford to forge the Holocaust, particularly whlle co1 tending with those who maintain thi the event never happened. Washington is filled with memoric and monuments that eloquently rev, what we as a nation stand for. This n um will also serve as a permanent reminder of what we as a nation st,u against. Not all the battles against tyranny otry and oppression are fought on s global a scale as was World War fl. I this institution wilJ help explain why those battles must be fought, in wor deed, and whether the injustice is IJ4 trated by a European government 01 small band of fanatics wea1ing arm bands emblazoned with swastikas. 111ose of us who witnessed the H( caust have willingly borne a responi ty to ensure that the actions of a cot. gone mad are never forgotten. We h fulfilled that responsibility, but we c, "not continue to do so forever. The museum can. Long after the eyes of all the victiJ survivors and witnesses are closed, museum will help ensure that the eJ of the world remain open to the Hol caust and its lessons. It may seem paradoxical in light o museum's subject matter, but the 01 ing of the museum will be a momen hope, not despair. The generation ti survived the Holocaust and the one that followed will come together an, stand side by side. And by lighting t . beacon we will make a national commitnlent to bear witness now ar lbe generations to come.

Raymond L. Stone is the mayor of Coeur D'Alene and a recipient ofthe Eisenhower Liberation Medal. His OJ ions are his own.

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A4 THE COEUR D'ALENE PRESS Thursday, March 25, 1993

Group opposes anti-gay drive COEUR d'ALENE ....:.. The Kootenai County Task Force on Human Relations this week announced its opposition to a pro-Posed anti-gay initiative. The drive to place the initiative on the 1994 general election ballot is being waged by the Idaho Citizens Alliance. The task force's board of

directors Tuesday voted unanimously to oppose the alliance's signature-gathering effort, as well as to campaign against the initiative should the measure be placed on the ballot, task force presiden.t Tony Stewart announced Wednesday. "We will use the resources and personnel of our organization

to stand up to hate," Stewart said in a press release. Speaking on behalf of the board, Stewart urged citizens to refuse to sign petitions to place the measure on the ballot. In an opinion issued earlier th is month , Attorney General Larry EchoHawk ruled the initiative violated Constitutional rights.

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FRIDAY, APRIL 9, 1993 PAGE 81

ALSOTODAY: NORTHWEST, 82 IDAHO DIGEST, 84 IDAHO INDEX, 85

THE HANDLE Resort denies racist allegations By Susan Drumheller Scaff writer

COEUR d' ALENE - A black college student was kicked out of the Shore Lounge at Lbe Coeur d'Alene Resort last weekend for what he said appeared to be racist reasons. Don Stewart, a 30-year-old North Idaho College student, was escorted by security guards from the resort, and was met by Coeur d'Alene police. Police would not allow him nor his wife, who is white, to return to lhe premises. Larry Holstein, the resort's assistant general manager, said the couple was asked to

leave because of a prior incident. "We do not discriminate in any way or at any time," Holstein said. He said that last fall the couple stole a table from another group and -.wore at employees, and that Lisa Stewart slapped the doorman. Holstein did not give a date for the incident, and said he did not know whether police were contacted at the time. Lisa Stewart disputed Holstein's story and said it is inconsistent with the reasons the security guards gave Saturday night for kicking them out. " l did not slap the doorman. I cannot

believe these lies," she said. Stewart, his wife and two friends went to the Shore Lounge Saturday to hear the band One Up. The three women went straight to the restroom. Stewart asked the bouncer about the cover charge, then went to the men's room. When he returned to the lounge, he was stopped by five security guards who told him he could not enter. When he asked why, Stewart said he was told that he intimidated people in the club and that he had caused problems a week earlier. After his wife protested, they prohibited her from entering also, he said. "They escorted me and my wife outside," said Stewart, a muscular seven-year U.S. Army veteran who now attends NJC. "We've been through a lot in seven years,

but this was the ultimate," said Lisa Stewart, 24. After the guards said they had called the police, the Stewarts waited in front of the resort for officers to arrive, thinking they would tell the security guards to let the couple into the lounge. "I didn't do nothing wrong. And when the cops came, they almost arrested me for trespassing," Stewart said. The police checked Stewart's background, found no criminal history, but still would not allow the couple on the resort grounds. A police incident log from Saturday evening showed that police did respond to the resort at 10:06 p.m. to help remove an "unwanted subject." The couple had to wait across the street in the rain for their friend, Anne Trail, to bring

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her car out of the parking garage. From there they went to the Holiday lnn lounge. Two of the same police officers arrived soon after, they said. Lisa Stewart said one officer told her that Coeur d'Alene is "30 years behind the times." Police Capt. Carl Bergh confirmed that an officer made the comment that Coeur d'Alene is "behind the times." But the police did not ban the Stewarts from the resort or make,any suggestion that the incident was race-related, Bergh said. "There was no reason" to kick Stewart out, Trail said. "They may have gotten him mixed up with somebody else." Trail said the incident was embarrassing. Lisa Stewart called it humiliating, adding that Please see COUPLE: BS

Couple "nobody committed a crime." On Thursday, the Stewarts met with Coeur d'Alene attorney Janet Jenkins. The Kootenai 'County Task Force on Human Relations' victim support committee also is planning to look into the matter. The president of the task force, Tony Stewart (no relation), said the Hagadone Corp., which owns and operates the resort, has been supportive of human rights issues. "They have been energetic in trying to promote diversity," he said. Don Stewart was unaware that he could file a malicious harassment complaint with the police, but said he probably wouldn't because he doesn't trust them. Lisa Stewart claimed the police have harassed her and her husband since they moved to Coeur d'Alene

cords. The two are planning on two years ago. Once they stopped Stewart when transferring to Boise State Univerhe was walking to the grocery store, sity. saying he matched the description of Sharon Smith, an advisor to the a robber on Second Street. When he students, described Stewart and his checked into the story, Stewart could wife as hard-working students, "peofind no record of the supposed ple we would all like to be around. robbery, he said. "Here's someone who has a family, Another time, Stewart was in a who's struggling and working hard laundromat when some kids were and this happens," Smith said. "I trying to break into the machines. Âˇbelieve what be says." When police arrived, they let the kids Don Stewart appeared more bewilgo and questioned Stewart about the dered than angry as he talked about machines. the incident Thursday morning in his Members of the Task Force on Coeur d'Alene home, where he was Human Relations and others said the watching his 11-month-old son. Stewarts' complaint is unusual. "This took away all my rights in "Don was the only time a student this town," Stewart said. "We'll have has come to me and said he was to put up with this all our life if we mistreated and thought it was be- don't say something. Next time it cause of his color," said David Lind- might get worse and worse." say, NlC dean of students. "What if it happened to him?" he J Lisa Stewart is studying medical asked, pointing to his son, Jasahd. Âˇ technology, and her husband is inter- "I'm looking out for my son, too. I ested in working with medical re- don't want him to go through this."

TtESPC*E8IIAN-REVI

Tuesday, June 15, 1993, Spokane, Wash.

,1$5,000 reward offered in alleged harassment case By Adam Lynn Scaff wricer

COEUR d'ALENE - An anonymous group has offered to pay $5,000 for information that will convict whoever allegedly scared former Hayden Lake activist Deb Hamm out of Kootenai County. The reward was announced Monpay by Tony Stewart, chairman of the Kootenai County Task Force on

Human Relations. Hamm, 36, fled her Hayden Lake home in February and went into biding in Spokane after she reported being threatened and harassed. Hamm told police she bad received numerous obscene and threatening phone calls and that someone had twice run her off the road. Hayden Lake police also are investigating the burglary of her home. Friends of Hamm said she believes

there was a conspiracy among developers to run her out of town. The single mother of an adopted son bad a reputation as a foe of subdivision developers for her work with environmental organizations, including Save Hayden Lake and Friends of Cougar Bay. Stewart said Monday a local attorney representing an anonymous group approached the task force last month to ask if it would serve as a

conduit for the reward money. "She's gone through a terrible experience, as far as we've heard," Stewart said. "Malicious harassment of a person cannot be tolerated." County Prosecutor Bill Douglas said he hopes the reward will prompt someone to come forward. "(Hayden Lake) Police Chief Jason Felton is keeping it an open case, but I think he's bit a stone wall right now," he said.

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Activist says she appreciates Task Force's offer of $5,000 By DAVID BOND Staff writer

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COEUR d'AI.ENE - A $5,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of those responsible for the harassment of political and antidevelopment activist Deb Hamm is being offered by the Kootenai County Task Force on Human Relations. Hamm, a former Hayden Lake resident, fled Idaho in February with her young son after they were run off the road numerous times, burglarized twice and threatened and harassed by telephone during the winter. She was active in numerous groups challenging new subdivisions in Kootenai County, and had become a thorn in the side of some developers. "I'm shocked and appreciative," Hamm said after being informed of the Task Force's reward Monday. "If nothing else, if there is a group out there doing this to people, maybe this will help people in the future." Task Force Chairman Tony Stewart, Coeur d'Alene, said Monday that is one of the aims of the $5,000 reward, which was pledged anonymously. "'We want to find out who did this, and to give the message that malicious harassment is not tolerated by this community," Stewart said. "We've worked on very few cases where the harassment was as devastating to the victim as it was to Deb. No one has the right to victimize another person and create unhappiness and misery in their lives." he said. Stewart said he and other Task Force members have no idea who the anonymous donor is. The 12year-old organization was contacted by an attorney representing the benefactor, and met with that attorney twice before establishing the reward fund. Those with information are asked to contact the Hayden Lake Police Department at 772-2161 or the Kootenai County Sheriff's Office at 664-1511. "'We are eager to award this reward if a conviction is obtained," he said. Hamm remains convinced the winter-long harassment was tied to her outspoken views on development, or to her chairmanship of attorney Chuck Sheroke's bid for county commissioner last fall. Her travails were recounted in a copyright story in the Coeur d'Alene Press Feb. 14. She has remained in hiding since moving from Hayden Feb. 1, but said she may become active again in the area on land use issues. Other activists since have reported similar incidents of vandalism and threatening phone calls, although not to the extent that Hamm received.

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Opinion/Editorial A4 THE COEUR D'ALENE PRESS Wednesday, June 16, 1993

Editorials

Malicious harassment just won't be toletated Management of The Coeur d'Alene Press did not support the anti-growth, scare-tactic positions espoused by attorney Chuck Sheroke during his campaign for election to the Kootenai County Commission. That's history, and so is the election. Yet we were puzzled, and then angered, at what happened to his campaign manager, activist Deb Hamm. The Press reported in a copyrighted story by reporter David Bond in February she was the target of sick, insensitive people who sought to ... well, we still don't know what these lackluster, clandestine people were trying to do, or why. A former Hayden Lake resident, Ms. Hamm was active in numerous groups challenging new subdivisions in the county. Certainly, Ms. Hamm has the right to challenge anything she wishes. But it got so bad Ms. Hamm felt the necessity to move. She is convinced the winter-long harassment was tied to her outspoken views on development or her chairmanship of Sheroke's bid for elective office. Now, the Kootenai County Task Force on Human Relations has announced a $5,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of those responsible for the harassment of Deb Hamm and her family. The donor remains anonymous. Task Force Chairman Tony Stewart, who holds the reward fund, speaks for all of us by charging: "We want to find out who did this, and to give the message that malicious harassment is not tolerated by this community." Anyone with information is asked to contact the Hayden Lake Police Department, 772-2161 or the Kootenai County Sheriff's office, 664-1511.

AS THE COEUR D'ALENE PRESS Friday, July 2, 1993

NORTHIDAHO

NEA honors Wassmuth for human rights work COEUR d'ALENE - The National Education Aryan Nations, a neo-Nazi white supremacist moveAssociation will honor a former Coeur d'Alene ment, bombed Wassmuth's home in Coeur d'Alene priest for his work for human rights. because he had helped to organize a human rights William A Wassmuth on Saturday will receive the rally. His response was to continue living in his home Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Award for applyÂˇ and to organize another rally for racial peace - this ing King's nonviolent philosophy against crimes of hate. time including Idaho's governor and other officials. The 2.1-million-member NEA will also honor Today his organization organizes community Hillary Rodham Clinton and 10 other individuals or forums and sponsors conferences where particigroups for leadership in human and civil rights. pants plan effective methods for combating hate About 2.200 educators and others will attend the and violence in their communities. NEA's 27th annual Human and Civil Rights Awards Tony Stewart, North Idaho College instructor banquet in San Francisco. expressed congratulations to Wassmuth, on behalf Wassmuth, of Seattle, a former Roman Catholic of the Kootenai County Task Force. priest, is founder and executive director of the "Bill has become one of the spokespersons on Northwest Coalition Against Malicious Harassment. behalf of human rights, not only in this region but In the late 1970s, the Church of Jesus Christ on the national level," Stewart said.

N. Idaho not likely to NAPLE (AP) - The acquittal of Randy their organizations and draw new people in." Weaver and Kevin Harri on murd r-con piracy In fact, the 11-day ieg at Ruby Ridge near charge in the death of a f d ral agent i not lik ly Naple , 40 miles outh of the Canadian border, to start a raci t pilgrimag to north Id aho, ha fo ter d omething of a cottage industry. observer say. Weaver ha b en characterized a a folk hero, hi But white upremaci t , the Chri tian Identity wife and on a martyrÂˇ. movement and anti-government ympathiz r Right-wing publication uch a The potlight have been capitalizing on la t year' tandoff at and The Jubilee have d voted gallons of ink to the tory. Ruby Ridge and the trial of Weaver and Harri in Boie. A July i ue of The Jubilee - "Special Weaver Weaver and hi family embraced Chri tian Edition o.2" - chronicle the Weaver family hisIdentity beliefs, a mix of Old Te tament-ba ed reli- tory from 1983. Videotape of the "Ruby Creek gion, antifederali t politic and raci t dogma. Ma acre,' a the iege ha been called, are Last month' U.. Di trict Court jury verdict offered for $25. did not send a me age that Idaho i a refuge for "If You Love Me, Feed My heep," a 19-page bigotry, aid Tony Stewart, president of the booklet a embled by Vicki Weaver that "provide Kootenai County Task Force on Human Relation in ight into the family' belief " costs $4 with the proceed , th ad ay , going in Coeur d'Alene , 70 miles to the Weav r ' three daughsouth of here. "The trial wa based on ter . y point is, I criminal charge . It wa not a At a memorial ervice for trial on any ideology or white don't think Idaho Vicki and am Weaver near supremacist doctrine," becomes more attracNapl la t w ekend, one famStewart said. "The people of tive because of this ily arriv d with bumper ticknorth Idaho have continued to verdict. On the other ers and T-shirt . The hirt proclaimed the "Randy resist white supremaci t dochand, the anti-governtrine." W aver Family - Gr at W aver and Harri w re ment sentiment that American Heroe " on the accused of killing a U.. mar- was built with this case front, and on the back, "400 hal during a gun battle near Cop to Kill a Woman and a Weaver' remote northern is certainly being used Child ... N ver Forgive, Never Idaho cabin on Aug. 21, 1992. opportunely by Forget." Federal agents were there to supremacists and othU.S. Attorney General find a way to arrest Weaver on ers to strengthen their Janet Reno has said the federa federal weapons charge. al government's handling of Weaver' 14-year-old son, organizations and draw the Weaver case would be Samuel, al o died in that gun- new people in." inve tigated. Maurice fight. Weaver's wife, Vicki, was Ell worth, U.S. attorney for killed th next day by an FBI -Bill Wassmuth Idaho during the standoff and sniper. the trial, did not return a Weaver, 46, and Harri , 26, phone call seeking comment. a Weaver family friend, each was charged with In a recent interview, however, Ell worth said murder. Weaver also was charged with s ix there were "a lot of troubling things" about the firearms and conspiracy violations and Harris with Weaver case. He said, without being specific, that four. prosecutors "were dealing with some hard facts Harris was acquitted of all charge and report- that we were going to have to put as good a glos edly has moved to Republic, Wa h., to tart a new on a we could." life. Weaver is in jail in Boise awaiting sentenc;iog The memorial ervice, marking the one-year Sept. 28 for failure to appear in court in 1991 on a anniversary of the tan doffs beginning, primarily charge of selling two sawed-off shotguns to a fed- drew Weaver-Harris sympathizers from Eastern Wa hington, northern Idaho and western eral informant. The Weaver-Harris case ha been perceived as Montana. Notably absent was the coterie of out-ofone the federal government lost rather than a vic- state skinh ads, neo-Nazi and curiosity seekers tory for white supremacists or anti-government that arrived for the tandoff. group , aid Bill Was rnuth, director of the Boundary County, which includes Naples, Northwest Coalition Again t Mali iou . alway has had a certain segment of the populaHarassment in Seattle. tion with extremist point of view, but most peo"My point i , I don't think Idaho becom more ple aren't like that, Sheriff Bruce Whittaker attractive becau e of thi verdict. On th ther aid. hand , the anti-governm~nt sentiment that wa 'Ther ' a tigma attached to north Idaho in built with thi case i certainly being u d oppor- general a being an Aryan tronghold, and that' tunely by upremaci t and other to trengthen ju l not the ca e," h said.

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Former Green Beret Bo Gritz talks to reporters and supporters of Randy Weaver during his negotiations in the standoff in August 1992 near Naples. â&#x20AC;˘

Nbrthern. ldabO not likely to become refuge for supremacists awaiting sentencing Sept. 28 for failure to appear in court in 1991 NAPLES, Idaho - The on a charge of selling two sawedacqui1tal of Randy Weaver and off shotguns to a federal inforKevin Harris on murder-conspir- mant. acy charges in the death of a fedThe Weaver-Harris case has eral agent is Rot likely to start a been perceived as one the federal racist pilgrimage to north Idaho, government lost rather rhan a vicobservers say. tory for white supremacists or Bui while supremacists, the anti-government groups, said Bill Christian Identity movement and Wassmuth, director of the anti-government sympathizers Northwest Coalition Against have been capiralizing on last Malicious Harassment in Seattle. year's standoff at Ruby Ridge and " My point is, I don't think the trial of Weaver and.Harris in Idaho becomes more a11ractive R11ise. because of this verdict. On the Weaver and his family other hand, the anti-gove ent embraced Christian Identity beliefs, sentiment that was)> ii ith this ...-case is certaina mix of Old ' ' - - - - - - - - - - 1y being used Testamentbased religion, opportunely by anti federal isl s upremacists politics and and others 10 racist dogma. strengthen their L a s I organizations month's U.S . and draw new people in." District Court In fact , the jury verdict did 11-day siege not send a message that Idaho Tony Stewart alnearRub:, Ridge Naples, 40 is a refuge for miles south of bigotry, said the Can·a dian Tony Stewart, president of the Kootenai County border, has fostered something Task Force on Human Relations of a cottage industry. Weaver has in Coeur d'Alene, 70 miles south been characterized as a folk hero, his wife and son as martyrs. of here. "The trial was based on crimiRight-wing publications such nal charges. It was not a trial on as The Spotlight and The Jubilee ·any ideology or white supremacist have devoted gallons of ink to the doctrine," Stewart said. "The peo- story. ple of north Idaho have continued A July issue of The Jubilee 10 resist white supremacist doc- "Special Weaver Edition No.2" trine." chronicles the Weaver family hisWeaver and Harris were tory from 1983. Videotapes of the accused of killing a U.S. marshal " Ruby Creek Massacre," as the during a gun batth: near Wcaver·s siege has oeen caiied, are ofiered remote northern Idaho cabin on for $25. Aug. 21, 1992. Federc1l agents were " If You Love Me, Feed My there to find a way to arrest Weaver Sheep," a 19,page booklet assembled by Vicki Weaver 1ha1 "proon a federal weapons charge. Weaver's 14-year-old son, vides insight into the family 's Samuel, also died in that gunfight. beliefs" costs $4 with the proWeaver's wife, Vicki, was killed ceeds, the ad says, going lo the the next day by an FBI sniper. Weavers' three daughters. Al a memorial service for Vicki Weaver, 46, and Harris, 26, a Weaver family friend , each was and Sam Weaver near Naples last charged with murder. Weaver also weekend, one family arrived with was charged with six firearms and bumper stickers and T-shirts. The conspiracy violations and Harris shirts proclaimed the "Randy Weaver Family Great with four. Harris was acquitted of all American Heroes" on the front , charges and reportedly has moved and on the back. "400 Cops to Kill 10 Republic, Wash., to start a new a Woman and a C'hild ... Never life. Weaver bin jail in Boise Forgive. Never Forg.ct." By Linda A shton

Assoctaiea Press Wnte,

It was not a trial on any ideology or white supremacist doctrine."

Conference will focus â&#x20AC;˘ on eIDpow-enng w-oIDe~ Authors, actors, activists to participate By Cynthia Taggart Staff writer

COEUR d' ALENE -An international conference coming to Coeur d'Alene at the end of October will feature authors, actors, political activists and refugees. The conference on empowering women is the fourth gathering of the Achieving Human Rights in the 21st Century. In the past, human rights leaders from throughout the world have met in Berkeley, Calif., Moscow, Russia, and Columbia, N.Y . Tony Stewart, chairman of this year's conference steering committee, said Monday he expects more than 1,000 people from throughout the world to descend on Coeur d'Alene for the Oct. 29-31 event.

The conference, which took more than two years to plan and organize, will feature four keynote speakers and 42 workshop presenters. Workshops will cover such topics as culturally-imposed sexual violence, fundamentalism and violence against women, women in nontraditional occupations, social customs as barriers to economic security, gender bias in school curriculum, religious barriers to women ' s selfdetermination, creating a society that values work in the home and the impact of women in politics. Author Riane Eisler will open the conference with a speech on empowering women. Eisler, a refugee from the Nazis at age 6, grew up in Havana, Cuba. She earned her law

Colin Mulvany/The Spokesman-Review

Tony Stewart announces the conference agenda Monday.

degree from the University of California, Los Angeles, and has written several books on humanity and where it's beading. Christina Crawford, the author of "Mommie Dearest," will speak on

violence. In addition to writing three books, Crawford, an activist against child abuse, served as commissioner for children's services in Los Angeles County. Please

see CONFERENCE: B2

Conference Actor and writer Ossie Davis will s~ak at the conference's Saturday dmner. The actor, who co-stars in television's "Evening Shade," will discuss the struggle for human rights and the common problems faced by all victims of discrimination. Also scheduled to speak is Arvonne Davis, the woman recently appointed by President Clinton as head of the U.S. delegation to the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women. Davis is also director of the International Women's Rights Action Watch. Other speakers include Ada Deer, the head of the U.S. Department of Interior's Bureau of Indian Affairs and the first female chair of the Menominee Tribe; Rocio Palacios licensed social worker from Cuenca: Ecuador; Abida Khanum, a member

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Other speakers include Ada Deer, the head ofthe U.S. Department of Interior's Bureau of Indian Affairs. of Women in Deliverance in Pakistan until she was arrested, raped, beaten and driven from the country; and Anne Firth Murray, a former writer for the United Nations and teacher in Hong Kong and Singapore. Cost to participate in the workshops is $50 per person if paid by Wednesday. After Wednesday, the cost is $75. Meals are extra. For information, call 667-5346.

Rights conference.chooses Cd'A By MIKE McLEAN Staff writer

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COEUR d'ALENE -About 1.000 people are expected to attend the fourth International Conference on Human Rights. This year's conference, which will focus on women's issues and civil rights, will be al North Idaho College and the Coeur d'Alene Resort The conference will run Oct 29-31. Conference committee Chairman Tony Stewart said Coeur d'Alene was chosen for this year's international conference because of local efforts lo affirm human rights. Coeur d'Alene is the onJy community to receive the Raoul Wallenburg Civic Award in recognition of the achievements of the Kootenai County Human Rights Task Force. At a press conference Monday at the Coeur d'Alene Resort, Stewart announced actor/writer/director Ossie Davis will be one of tbe keynote speakers at the conference. Davis' most recent film performances have been for director Spike Lee in USchool Daze," "Do the Right Thing," and "Jungle Fever." His works have also garnered a Neil Simon award and an Emmy nomination. He and his wife, Ruby Dee, own Emmalyn Enterprises and have produced works for the Public Broadcasting System. Davis, who currentJy co-stars with Burt Reynolds in the CBS comedy series Evening Shade, is best known as a film and television actor, but is also a lecturer on - Photo by MIKE McLEAN black history, civil rights, and other topics. Tony Stewart announces the program for the fourth International Conference on Human Rights Monday at the Coeur In 1989, he was inducted into the NAACP d'Alene Resort. The Oct . 29-31 conference will focus on t he t opic: "Empow ering Women: Achieving Human Rights in the Image Award Hall of Fame. 21st Century." Behind Stewart are co-organizers Jo W ebb, M ali Krivor, Len Mattei, Judy Whately and Bill First.

THE COEUR D'ALENE PRESS Tuesday, Sept. 14, 1993 A&

North Idaho In his keynote address, Davis will discuss the struggle for human rights and the common thread faced by all groups who are victims of discrimination, Stewart said. This year's conference will focus on the topic of "Empowering Women: Achieving Human Rights in he 21st Century." Program -chair Len Mattei announced that joining Davis as principal conference speakers are six leaders of the women's movement: • Arvonne S. Fraser - recently appointed by President Clinton as head of the U.S. delegation to the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women and senior fell ow and director of the

International Women's Rights Action Watch. • Ada Deer - U.S. Department of the Interior's Head of the Bureau of Indian Affairs, the first woman chair of the Menominee Tribe, and former senior lecrurer at the School of Social Work and American Indian Studies, University of Wisconsin-Madison. • Christine Crawford - actress, lecturer, and author of four books includJng ''Monuuie Dearest.'' • Riane Eisler - attorney. anthropologist, international lecturer and author of 'The Chalice and the Blade." • Anne Firth Murray - a New

Readers are encouraged to call the Coeur d'Alene Press with news about the people and events of North Idaho, 664-8176.

ZeaJander, president of the Global Fund for Women. • Dr. Lisa Brown - professor of economics, Eastern Washington University. The conference will also offer 42 concurrent sessions involving 54 presenters over the three-day period. Sessions will cover such topics as sexual harassment, domestic violence, work and wage discrimination, grassroots feminism and more. Mattei said delegates may choose to attend up to four of the concurrent programs. Performances will also be offered by the North Idaho College Theater Department

and folk singer Rosalie Sorrels. This is the first year the entire conference is open to the public. The conference is part of a 10-year program of international conferences to be held around the world. The organizers were determined to develop a series of conferences to make the year 2000 the dawn of "A Human Rights Century." The registration fee for the conference will provide admission to any of the large sessions, the concurrent sessions, and the art exhibit. Attendance at the meals and the Saturday night banquet involve additional fees. Information 667-5346.

Major conference held in Coeur d'Alene by Dani Lewis lecturer at the School of Social Work and American Indian Sentinel Reporter Studies at the University of Wisconsin. Director, actor and writer Ossie Davis is scheduled to be Christina Crawford, actress, writer-producer, the main s~er at the fourth International Human Rights businesswoman, lecturer and author of four books, Conference on Saturday, Oct. 29. including "Mommie Dearest". Students may know Davis from his performances in Dr. Riane Eisler, attorney, anthropologist, international "School Daze," "Do The Right Thing" and "Jungle Fever." lecturer and author of The Chalice and the Blade, hailed by He received a Neil Simon award as author of "For U~ The Princeton anthropologist Ashley Montagu as "the most Living," the story of Medger Evers and an Emmy important book since 'Darwin's Origin of the Species'". nomination for Daddy King in "King." Anne Firth Murray, a New Zealander, is president of Davis, who can also be seen co-starring with Burt the Global Fund for Women, an organization dedicated to Reynolds in Evening Shade, is a famous lecturer on Black providing funds internationally for women's well-being, history, civil ri&hts and other topics. In 1989 be was and Dr. Lisa Brown, professor of economics at Eastern inducted into Âˇthe National Association for the Washington University, and a member of the Washington Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) Image Award State House of Representatives. Hall of Fame. In his keynote address in Coeur d' Alene, These speakers will address the right to freedom from Davis will discuss the struggle for human rights and the violence, the right to economic security, the right to selfcommon thread faced by all groups who are victims of determination and the right to political action for women. The conference will also offer 42 concurrent sessions discrimination. This year's conference will foc us on the topic involving 54 presenters over a three-day period, including "Empowering Women: Achieving Human Rights in the such topics as sexual harassment, domestic violence, work 21st Century." Joining Davis as principal conference and wage discrimination, grassroots feminism and many speakers are six members of the women's movement. other topics. In 1988, two groups of leading human rights scholars Arvonne S. Fraser, recently appointed by President Bill Clinton as head of the US delegation to the United Nations and activists developed a ten-year program of international Commission on the Status of Women and senior fellow and conferences to be held around the world. The organizers director of the International Women's Rights Action were determined to develop a series of conferences to make Watch. Âˇ the year 2000 the dawn of "A Human Rights Century." For many of the more than 1,000 participants expected Ada Deer, who is the head _o f the Bureau of Indian Affairs for the US Department of the Interior, is the first to attend the conference, its Coeur d' Alene location must woman chair of the Menominee Tribe and a former senior seem almost as interesting as the program. Each of three

previous locations-New York, Berkeley, Calif., and Moscow, Russia-appear more logical venues for an international conference. Those fami liar with Coeur d' Alene's distinguished human rights record are not surprised by the location, however. Coeur d' Alene is the only community ever to receive the Raoul Wallenberg Civic Award. The award recognizes the significant achievements of a local group, the Kootenai County Task Force on Human Relations. The Task Force bas become a national model of grassroots, community based efforts to combat racism and religious intolerance and bas fostered the Northwest Coalition Against Mali.cious Harassment, a regional organization with a similar human rights agenda. The drive to bring this, the fourth in a ten-year series of international confere nces on human rights, to Coeur d'Alene began more than two years ago. Credit for that success goes to conference co-chairs Riane Eisler and former Idaho Legislator Jeanie Givens, as well as to a large local steering and planning committee. The Conference will be hosted at two sites, the Coeur d' Alene Resort and the campus of North Idaho College. Special activities include an opening ceremony Friday, at noon, in the NIC Boswell Hall Auditorium, during which members of the Coeur d' Alene Indian Tribe will bless the conference and Pakistan poet, Abida Khanum, will present a reading to the delegates. The registration fee for the conference will provide admission to any of th~ planned sessions, concurrent sessions and the art exhibit. Attendance at the meals and the Saturday night banquet involve additional costs.

sttprem~e~ving Idaho site for Montana COEUR D'ALENE, Idaho (AP) - The departure of two top aides from the Aryan Nations could signal a breakdown -at the white supremacist compound in northern Idaho, according to organizations that monitor hate groups. Chief of staff Carl Franklin and security chief Wayne Jones resigned in July and moved to western Montana, an area increasingly popular with white supremacists, observers say. "The move of Franklin over to Montana could very well spell the end of the Aryan Nations compound at Hayden Lake or certainly its end as a significant political force on the far right," said Jonatha n Mozzochi, research director for the Coalition for Human Dignity in Portland. "I think it means Richard Butler 's organization is continuing to decline and other groups are filling the void," Bill Wassmuth, director of the Northwest Coalitio n Against Malicious Harassment in Seattle, said Monday. Butler, a former aerospace engineer from California, moved the Aryan

Nations to an old dairy farm five miles north of Coeur d'Alene in 197-3. In. recent years, the core group at the compound dwindled to about a half-dozen people, according to the Montgomery, AJa!-based Klanwatch. And Butler, at age 75 and in poor health, is less attractive to potential young recruits, Klanwatch said. Butler acknowiedges the departure of Jones and Franklin, whom he named as his successor last year, in the Aryan Nations' latest newsletter. The Spokesman-Review newspaper in Spokane quotes an unidentified source as saying the split came after Butler overruled Franklin's and Jones' attempt to eject a visitor during the group's Aryan World Congress in July. Franklin, 53, is a former mail-order salesman from Pennsylvania. He moved to northern Idaho in 1990. Jones, once an Idaho farmer, had been security chief since the late 1980s. Attempts to reach Jones and Franklin were unsuccessful Tuesday. There was no telepl\one listing for either man in Noxon, Mont., about 50 miles northeast of Coeur d'Alene.

Author Eisler will speak at Cd'A rights conference The Fourth International Conference for Achieving Human Rights in the 21st Century with the theme of "Empowering Women" will be held at The Coeur d'Alene Resort and North Idaho College on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. The conference will explore the critical issues of human rights from a perspective in which women's values are central. The conference will feature many nationally and internationally know guest speakers and presenters. The opening ceremony for the conference will begin at noon on Friday in the North Idaho College Auditorium. Dr. Riane Eisler, author of the Chalice and the Blade: Our History, Our Future, will be the keynote speaker. Information: 769-2216

KOOTENAI COUNTY EVENT~ CALENDAR

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The North Idaho College theater department will open this year's season with an eight performance run of "The Diary of Anne Frank." The play, which portrays the life of a Jewish family living for two years in hiding during the 1940s when the German army occupied Holland, opens Thursday at 8 p.m. in the North Idaho College Auditorium. The play also runs at 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday and at 2 p.m. on Sunday. Additional performances are schedule for Nov. 3, 4, 5 and 6. The play was chosen specifical)y to coincide with the International Human Right Conference taking place at the same time. Tickets are $5 for adults, $3 for senior citizens and $1 for students and will be available at the door prior to each performance. Information: 769-3415

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An exhibit of a contemporary print collection, titled "Public Tragedy-Personal Concern" is showing at the Union Gallery. The collection, which will be on view through Oct. 31, is curated by Professor J. Scott Patnode from the Contemporary Print Collection of Gonzaga University. The Union Gallery is located on the lower level of the Edminster Student Union Building. Gallery hours are from noon to 6 p.m., Monday through Friday. Information: 7693427

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WEDNESDAY, OCT. 20, 1993 • PAGE 01

Etnpowering

Conference brings recognized speakers By Jamie Tobias Neely Staff writer

One dark night Abida Khan um stood naked and terrified on the urine-soaked floor of a Pakistani jail. Suddenly she was filled with anger and began to write a poem with these words: " I am the candle beyond this night." Khanumhad / been arrested, raped and beaten for the crime of speaking out on behalf of women in her country. A successful advertising executive and a women· rights worker during the Bhutto administration in the 1970s, she became the Jarget of the; repressive regime which executed Bhutto in 1979. She is now a political refugee living in the United States. On Oct. 29, Khanum wilJ speak at a remarkable international conference caUed "Empowering Women: Achieving Human Rights in the 21st Century" in Coeur d'Alene. Acting as a candle lighting the opening of this conference Khanum will tell her story and read her poetry. . The conference, previously held m Moscow, New York City and Berkeley, Calif., features eight nationaJJy recognized keynote speakers and 60 workshop presenters. It will be held Oct. 29-31 at North Idaho College and The Coeur d'Alene Resort. "This is an embarrassment of riches -..ve have at t~is conference," says Riane Eisler, a leadmg conference organizer and keynote speaker. She is the author of two books that examine the ancient roles of men and women, "The Chalice and the Blade" and "The Partnership Way." "The presenters are not household names to the average person, but professional people in these fields are dumbstruck by the names who are presenting this conference," says Bob Brown, a Coeur d'Alene attorney and head of the conference arrangements committee.

Other speakers are Christina Crawford, daughter of actress Joan Crawford and the author of ·'Mommie Dearest;•· Lisa Brown, Washington state representative and economist; Ada Deer, head of the U.S. Bureau oflndian Affairs; Anne Firth Murray, president of the Global Fund for Women: Ossie Davis and Ruby Dee, husband-and-wife actors and civil rights speakers; Peter Juviler, co-director of the Columbia University Human Rights Center, and Arvonne Fraser, recently appointed by President Clinton to head the U.S. delegation to the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women. Concurrent sessions will be held in four major areas: Freedom from Violence, The Right to Economic Security, The Right to SelfDetermination and A Call To Action. The sessions will address topics such as sexual harassment, violence against refugee women, cultural oppression, domestic violence, sexual slavery, women's wage disparities, religious barriers to women's selfdetermination, women's spirituality, Continued: Conference, 08

Conference: Top speakers ·will discuss women's issues Continued from 01 worldwide aging, feminist psychology, and gras.srcots global feminist nttworking. One 01 th~ , eason3 it b bemg held in Coeur d'A,,., . .s oecau~e !l is t!ie on! y commUU!ty o 1eceivc the Raoul Wailenberg Civic Award in recognition of its outstanding efforts to protect the civil rights of all people. The people of Coeur d'Alene created both the Kootenai County Task Force on Human Relations and the five-state Northwest Coalition Against Malicious Harassment. Also, Eisler, the instigator of this conference, spoke in Coeur d'Alene previously and inspired a group of volunteers to spend three years planning and o:gam.z. ,1f 11. The response 10 the conference has been remarkable. Registrations ha"e come from Uganda, China and Ecuador. The word bas spread on the Ea:it Coast. and the conference registration, which now stands at 700, includes many East Coast delegates. "I've been absolutely flabbergasted that this has greater awareness by people on the East Coast than it does on the West Coast," says Brown. Easterners find the conference registration fee of $75 a bargain, considering similar conferences in their region cost between $300 and $500, Brown says. Eisler and other conference organizers hope to bring people together who will work toward the empower-

ment of women in the next century. They envision that writings from the conference could result in the 21st century being called "the human rights era." Although the conference features au impressive array of speakers, none may tell a more riveting story than Abida Khanum. She is now writing a book called "Forgotten Hostages: The Women of Islam," about her experiences in Pakistan. "What I have seen there is like a nightmare to me," Khanum says. Islamic women are often veiled, revealing only their sorrowful eyes, Khanurn says. They are taught that women are impure. From childhood, they hear one another sing mournful folk songs, lamentations over being born a daughter. Many believe they deserve to be abused, raped or tortured. A woman in an Islamic country may have her nose cut off or her tongue cut out for "disobedience," such as neglecting to cook a meal on time or refusing to care for another of their husband's wives, Khaoum says. She wiU never forget the face of a women she met in a Pakistan hospital. The woman's nose bad been cut off. As the bandages were unwound from the woman's face, Khaoum recoiled in horror. She reassured the woman, however, and eventually helped her to find a job and to link up with a supportive women's group. No~anum is determined to tell

the stories of such women in her book. "Somebody has to take the initiative to say what is going on," Khanum says. She is eager to attend the conference in Coeur d'Alene. "This conference is so close to my heart," Khanum says. "The very title of it is so inspiring to me." Women's issues are often left on the periphery of the human rights agenda, says Eisler. This conference aims to move them to the very center. Human rights groups such as Amnesty International illustrate their cause with pictures of men who are political prisoners. But Eisler believes the human rights field also needs to address atrocities against· women, such as rape, sexual slavery and genital mutilation. "Women's rights are centraJ to the quality of life for all society," Eisler says. Her work in this field is rooted in her experiences as a child. She was born in Vienna, Austria, and fled with her family from the Nazis when she was ooJy 6 years old. · "It was terrifying," she recalls. "From one moment to the next, my

whole world collapsed." It was then that her questions began about how the human species could be so brutal to its own kind, bow we could hunt and persecute each other, what it is that tilts us toward cruelty rather than kindness. Eisler's books examine human history and conclude that for the last 5,000 years humans have lived in a dominator society, with men typically ruJing over women and other men. She presents evidence that before that time, during the Neolithic and Paleolithic eras, when goddess religions Oourished, men and women lived together in partnership. Princeton anthropologist Ashley Montagu described "The Chalice and the Blade" as "the most important book since Darwin's 'Origin of the Species.' " Eisler believes that the world is poised for a transformation into another era of partnership between the sexes. "Conferences such as this are part of the process of strengthening the movement toward the partnership world," Eisler says. "It's not going to happen unless we make it happen."

.... Freeing women from violence ~ •

• Conference speakers urge societal changes to end history of abuse

•

By Cynthia Taggart Staff writer

COEUR d'ALENE- Staring into her adopted ~t\l mother's ~ ~ crazed eyes whi le the woma n choked her was the most terrify ing moment in Fnrtll lllllllltliill Ch r is t ina lllllalRllldl Crawford's eo,,.... life. CGBIII D'ALEIIE

"She was completely wild, primitive," Crawford told about 700 people gathered at North Idaho College on Friday for an international conference on empowering women. "She choked me until I nearly lost consciousness." Crawford is the author of "Mommie Dearest," which describes her violent childhood as the adopted daughter of movie star Joan Crawford. The violence in which Crawford lived as a child is as pervasive throughout the world today as it was 40 years ago when she fought for her Life, Crawford said.

It begins in the home as child abuse and often follows children into adulthood, where men typically become abusers and women the victims. "Violence is the leading cause of injury and death in women ages 18 to 34," Crawford said. "Last year, 3 million children were reported abused in the United States. Every three seconds, a women is beaten in household violence." Barbara Good, a retired U.S. State Department foreign service worker who spoke at a conference workshop Friday, said millions of female victims of early violence turn to prostiPlease

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Jesse Tinsley/The Spokesman-Review

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Violence tution. An international activist trying to stop the trafficking of women for sexual exploitation. Good said 72 percent of the prostitutes in this nation are victims of child abuse. . To stop the violence, people must understand where it began, Crawford said. . Crawford began researching violence against women while she recovered from a stroke several years ago. Her research dates back to the Crusades in 1200, when religious leaders targeted women in their tirade against sex for pleasure. The Holy Roman Empire declared war on women and persecuted them as witches, she said. At first, women were burned for any blemishes, including freckles, on their faces. Then religious groups concocted tests to prove women were witches. In one test, women were stuck with a needle. If they didn't bleed, they were witches. Over the years, the list of reasons to war against women grew, Crawford said. They were burned for assertiveness, imagination, skill, beauty, talent, courage. And the situation hasn't changed much over the years, Crawford said. "Remember, the U.S. Senate only added a bathroom for female senators last year,'' she said. The thriving prostitution trade in the United States is a clear sign that women continue to live as victims and endure violence and the loss of their human rights, Good said. Men in this nation spend $14.5 billion annually on prostitution, she said. " I know of thousands of women duped to leave their impoverished lives in other countries for the U.S. where they come to live in brothels," she said. "These women are not prostitutes by choice. Most find themselves in life-threatening situations where they have no other choice." Women have the right to freedom

VIOLENCE IN THE INLAND NORTHWEST The Inland Northwest has seen its share of violence against women in recent years. Among the incidents: • October 1993: Rebecca Hedman, 13, was found bludgeoned to death along the Spokane River. She was a teenage runaway from Tacoma who had been working as a prostitute. It was the sixth time in four years a Spokane prostitute had been murdered. • October 1993: JoAnn Grace Romero, 31, was shot to death, allegedly by her abusive boyfriend during a drunken argument at their home in a Moscow, Idaho, trailer court. • August 1993: Mary Ann Garcia Aeschliman, 25, was found kicked and beaten to death in her Coeur d'Alene home on what would have been her third wedding anniversary.

Her husband faces murder charges. • May 1993: Joy Merrie Lillemo, 28, was shot to death by her former boyfriend in Coeur d'Alene. She had just canceled a protection order against him. After shooting her, he turned the gun on himself.

• November 1992: Sherry Louise Hayes, 41, was found shot repeatedly in the face near Spokane International Airport. Her husband was later convicted of killing her when she returned from a business tri~ • November 1992: Angela Ingram, 25, was shot dead at her family's Spokane home by the boyfriend she was trying to leave. He

from violence, but many don't know it, Crawford said. They've experienced violence all their lives and know nothing else. The path away from violence involves major societal changes, she said. Women need to earn enough money to support themselves and their families. They can't be expected to survive on minimum wage, she said. They need to understand the history of violence against women so they can prevent history from repeating itself. Women must use their positions of power to make waves, keep issues of violence in the public eye, Good said.

then killed himself. • July 1992: Lisa Ahenakew, 26, Spokane, was critically burned over more than 40 percent of her body after her boyfriend set her afire with gasoline; she later died of her injuries. • July 1992: Karen Snelling, 20, was beaten to death with a baseball bat by her husband. Her 16-monthold daughter was in a crib a few feet from where her mother's body was found at the family's Spokane mobile home. • July 1992: Susannah Smith, 35, died after her husband of 17 years pounded her head six times at their Spirit Lake home, possibly with a baseball bat. The two had separated two weeks earlier. Hours after the killing, James Smith shot himself In the head. • March 1992: Kathy Casperson, 35, was shot in the back four times by her estranged husband while waiting in a drive-through line at a Spokane Valley Zip's Drive In. • March 1992: Phillis Tabor, 44, was abducted in downtown Spokane and threatened with a knife by the ex-husband who stalked her for a year and followed her across the country. • January 1992: Joanne Moore, 51, was killed by her husband, a retired physician. Her body was found outside their Cougar Bay, Idaho, home. - From staff reports

But to reach the core of the problem - child abuse- this nation needs to dismantle the bureaucracies it created to represent children and start over, Crawford said. "I knew I was different as a child when I went to my friend's house and they weren't afraid of their parents," she said. " I couldn't imagine not being afraid of my parents." The fourth annual International Conference for Achieving Human Rights in the 21st Century, focusing this year on women's rights, will continue through Sunday at The Coeur d'Alene Resort and North Idaho College.

Women search for answers at conference Tales of hope, abuse

highlight gathering By Cynthia Taggart Staff writer

COEUR d' ALENE - Hundreds of women poured onto the North Idaho College campus Friday to hear about the rapes, murders and exploitation of women worldwide. They came to discuss the problems, with hope of finding solutions. To open the fourth annual international human rights conference, Pakistani Abida Khanum alternately cried and laughed as she told her heartbreaking story of exile. Khanum was driven from her country for promoting birth control and family planning. She said she was snatched from the road as she fled Pakistan and taken to the police, where she was tortured and "raped by five righteous men of Islam."

"I've survived cancer of the breast Anne Frank" behind her, Khanum and a heart attack. I have an ulcer," followed SiJohn and told of her tragic Khanum told the 500-some women experiences. She set the tone for and handful of men in the audience. three days of speakers who will "That's all right," she said, smiling. address violence toward women, the "That tells me I'm alive." economic insecurity of women, barThis year's conference focuses on riers to women's progress and possiempowering women. Conference co- bilities for change. ordinator Tony Stewart said about As a worker with Planned Parent900 people from 26 states and five hood, Khanum said she met a pregcountries have registered to partici- nant Pakistani woman condemned pate. . for giving birth to six girls. The As the opening ceremonies began woman's in-laws wanted her to abort Friday, women of all ages streamed her seventh pregnancy. Khanum prointo NIC's Boswell Auditorium. They tected her. The woman, Khanum stood as Coeur d'Alene Tribal mem- said, was sure she would have a boy. ber Cliff SiJohn, wearing a traditional The woman gave birth to a seventh feather headdress, sang the "Woman's Crying Song" and played a skin- girl and lost her mind from the shock, covered drum with two other tribal Khanum told the subdued audience. men. "1 had to flee my country and live "Women in the Coeur d'Alene in constant terror," Khanum said, her tribe play a major role," SiJohn said. voice cracking with emotion. "For the Coeur d'Alene people, the "Through five years of exile here I tears of women is what our society was alone and depressed. But I revolves around." couldn't get over the marvel of being The set of the play "The Diary of free."

LaRocco: Women making progress By RITA HOLLINGSWORTH

Staff writer

COEUR d'ALENE - Citing statistics that tell the economic story of American women, Rep. Larry LaRocco, D-Idaho, applauded the 900 delegates at an international human rights c,onference. "It strikes me by your very presence here, each one of you is a role model," LaRocco told th~ largely female audience that nearly filled the North Idaho College auditorium. As he took the podium, LaRocco recited the familiar statistics: • Women earn 72 cents for every dollar earned by nien. • Half of female-headed households are in the bottom 20 percent of income. • Just 75,000 women nationwide earn more than $225,000, compared to 2.6 million

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• Two-thirds of minimum-wage earners LaRocco are women. • In 1970, the med ian wage for women was $5,323. By 1990, that h ad increased to $19,822, still lagging behind the $27,678 median wage for men. "Those are the facts. The statistics cannot be denied," LaRocco said. "Are we half up the ladder or half way down? Well, I'm not sure, but we're not at the bottom." On the up side, LaRocco said, women continue to make inroads into positions of political power across the nation and on Capital Hill, providing role models for girls and women across the nation. "It's happening slowly. but it's happening. let's keep at it," he said. Empowering Women - the fourth in a series of 10 international conferences on human rights - drew more than 900 people to Coeur d'Alene. Tapes of addresses by guest speakers and workshop presenters will be compiled into a book, as is being done with each of the other international conferences, conference chairman Tony Stewart said. A collection of the tapes will be housed at the North Idaho College. The three-day conference concludes today.

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COEUR d'ALENE - The rights of women are central to the struggle fo r human rights and world peace, a noted author and keynote speaker of an international conference said Friday. "It really is absurd to talk about world peace as long as there is violence in our intimate relationships," author Riane Eisler told Eisler about 500 people on the openi ng day of "Empower ing Women for the Twenty-first Century" at North Idaho College. "Without our eml)Owerment, we will not see human rights at all." In her noted work, "The Chalice and the Blade," Eisler developed the thesis that modern societies - from Hitler's Germany and Stalin's Soviet Union to Khomeini's Iran - follow the traditional "dominatormodel." "Traditional is a code word for subservient," she said. Hallmark s of the dominator society are rigid. male dominance backed up by governmental, religious. educational and economic institutions that condone and tolerate violence and abuse, Eisler said. From the cradle to the grave, men learn violence at the hands ' of a society that equates masculinity with domination and conquest, she said. "We're not talking about human nature," she said. A study of earlier history Mbefore a male God decreed that woman henceforth would be subser v ien t Lo man" - reveals numerous cradles of civilization

that followed a partnership model. where neither sex dominated the other, Eisler said. "We're so used to thinking 'O h, if it isn't patriarchy, it's matriarchy,' " she said. But dismantling one dominator-model in favor of the other isn't the answer. Neither is adapting the system to protect human rights, she said. "You can't just tack on human rights to a system that maintains violations of human rights," Eisler said. "To have human rights, we've got to change everything. We even have to change religion, because without the priesthood, we have nothing." The 300-year-old battle for human rights has successfully whittled away at the top of the dominator pyramid, making advances in the public sphere, Eisler said. "It left the foun dation on which the whole system rests," she said. Only recently has the human rights movement made inroads against dominance in the private sphere, Eisler said. Only recently do police arrest a man for beating someone he loves. And only recently has society rejected that old "spare-therod , spoil-the-child" argument, she said. "Today, we call it what it is child abuse." Eisler said. And only a few men need commit rape to perpetuate the dominator-system, she said. "As long as the foundation remains intact, the dominator model will keep rebuilding itself." Eisler said. The conierence continues today and Sunday. Today's topic will be the right to economic freedom. Lisa Brown, economics professor at Eastern Washington University, is the featured speaker.

North Idaho THE COEUR D'ALENE PRESS Saturday, Oct. 30, 1993 A5

Readers are encouraged to call the Coeur d'Alene Press with news about the people and events of North Idaho, 664-8176.

'Mammie Dearest' author: Fear ingrained in women ~

Terror of the Inquisition lingers on even today By RITA HOLLINGSWORTH Staff writer

COEUR d'ALENE - The terror of the Inquisition - when hundreds of millions of women were burned alive - lives today in the colleclive unconsciousness of women, a noted author an d survivo r of chil d abuse sa id Friday. Christina Crawford - author of "Mommie Dearest" - calls the years from 1200 to 1800 the Burning Times. "It was 500 years of officially sanctioned madness, an all-out war against believe women," she said. Its victims were it is all fear, fear women of individual· that we are ism and of self. going to die if esteem. They were murdered for being we stand up, old or young, ugly or speak out. Once sexual, and strong upon a time it or weak, Crawford was real, we did said. "There was no die." justice. There was -Christina Crawford no safe place. No one could be trusted," she said. A freckle, wart, mole, birthmark or other facial blemish - calJed the kiss of the devil - was enough to doom a woman to a fiery death at the stake. "Is it any wonder that we are frantic about having marks on our face today?" she said. Women also were su bjected to another witchcraft test. Stripped to the waist, they

•• 1

were stuck with a needle. Witches failed to bleed. The tests were performed by a man who traveled from town to town carrying a retractable needle. Since his pay depended on the number of witches he ferreted out, he usualJy retracted the needle, Crawford said. The man who wielded the needle was called a pricker, a name that lives on today in a slang term . for an unscrupulous, aggressive man, Crawford said. From Europe, the terror of the Inquisition spread across the globe, carried by seafarers, explorers and missionaries, Crawford said. "Everyone was experienced in how to destroy the woman's spirit," she said. Crawford - whose "Mommie Dearest" chronicled the abuse she experienced at the hands of actress Joan Crawford - recalled being called "a person born of evil" by an educated woman featured on a TV show. "That is the language of the Burning Times, and this is 1978," Crawford said. That language of fear, a reminder of terror, still keeps women suffering in silence, Crawford said. 'Truth and fear were the same experience for me," she said. "Some women cannot speak out yet. "I believe it is all fear, fear that we are going to die if we stand up, speak out," she said. "Once upon a time it was real, we did die." Women, Crawford said , must confront that centuries-old fear, discuss it, and work through the grief that leads to healing. "Oppressors like nothing better than secrecy and silence," she said.

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Entertainers Ruby Dee and Ossie Davis tape a television show Saturday for PBS during the International confererence.

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Activist a.rt atradition for couple By Cynthia Taggart

were right for us," said the man who plays Ponder Blue on television's " Evening Shade." COEUR d' ALENE - The role models ~ ssie " We felt a strong commitment to our children." Davis and Dee flew to Coeur d'Alene this Davis and Ruby Dee followed never wavered weekend from their home in New York to from their mission to improve life for the participate in the conference that focuses on oppressed and downtrodden. improving Life for women worldwide. " Our artists, our authors, Malcolm The couple was invited as a role (X), Martin (Luther King) became model, said TQny Stewart, conference our sources of inspiration, interest," coordinator. Dee said. "They truly illustrate the concept of As young adults, Davis and Dee partnership," he said. " Our theme is were so.ingrained with the need for that women and men should work change in the world that they looked together. Ossie Davis and Ruby Dee for the most immediate way to reach have done that for 45 years." the most people. They chose the Of all their lifetime accomplishtheater. Faarth ments, the tall, gray-haired man and his tiny wife take their long marriage " We knew with art that exploitation 1111sut1on1 most for granted - at least in public. of the personaJity is part of the H--Rlglltl Coa,-ce " We have no formu la," said Dee, process," Davis said Saturday as he prepared to perform for the 900 COEUR D'ALENE who won an Emmy last year for her people attending the fourth internarole in the Hallmark Hall of Fame tional human rights conference. "That didn't production "D ecoration Days." " We make it up happen to us because we had a different view." as we go on. He's not the murdering kind. I am." They are most vocal about their work, which Guided by their principles, Davis and Dee focused on family and humanity over their own has graced television, film and the stage for 47 careers. They passed up European tours and years. Both have written. Dee writes short opportunities that promised to propel their stories, humor and poetry and bas adapted two fledgling acting and writing careers into orbit. African folktales into books for children. But they never regretted the sacrifices they D avis bills himself as a writer first, then a made for their children and their marriage. performer. He has written several plays, includ"Those were the choices we made and they ing " Purlie Victorious," a comedy about an Staff writer

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Guided by their principles, Davis and Deefocused on family and humanity over their own careers. itinerant black preacher who tries to establish an integrated church. The play ran for seven months in New York, then was adapted for film and as the Broadway musical " Purlie." It was his interest in writing for the stage that took Davis from his home in Georgia to Howard University in Washington, D.C., and then to Harlem. Davis and Dee have used their art to send messages, to educate and to inspire. " We didn't decide there was a message we wanted to spread and we'd do it through our art," Davis said, his deep voice smothering Dee's soft, quick words. " We came from an artistic tradition. We merely came on board. It was a

given." At the time Davis and Dee began acting, shortly after World War II, Broadway bad decided to tackle the rampant racism in this

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Rights nation. The cause fit neatly into the black couple's sense of purpose. "We grew up with people who inspired us - Paul Robeson, W.E.B. Dubois," Davis said. "We have a sense of assignment. Our art, our lives must be fulfilling to us and help others." Today, the craft of acting encour. ages self-indulgence, Davis believes. But he and Dee grew up at a time when their culture had an objective: freedom. The two easily followed a tradition in which artists never separated their work from the struggle for human rights, Davis said. A friendly man with a warm handshake and a disarming smile, Davis said he can accept the slow pace of progress in the human rights area because "traditions don't change overnight." But Dee, admittedly impatient, said it frustrates her to produce shows today on people the nation should know. Davis and Dee recently produced with the Public Broadcasting System "Martin Luther King: The Dream and the Drum." "We did that show because it has to be explained to every generation," she said. " I feel in a rut. I feel such rage, bewilderment. I haven't settled anything. Racism, rights of women, unemployment - they're all still here. The species is in trouble." Despite their differences, Davis and Dee agree that they can look back on their Lives with satisfaction. "I am fulfilled by being totally involved in trying to make change happen," Davis said. " l think that's all I can expect from myself."

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o understand the wo rld th at produced R aifo rd Chatman Davis, it is perh aps enough to understand bow he got bis name changed. It happened when his Leonard mothe r went to register his Pitts Jr. birth certificate. She tolci the man at the counter that he r son was known as R.C. D avis. T he cle rk mjsheard her. but she didn't correct him. H e was white, she was black. and this was Georgia. So R.C. spent the rest of hjs life under the name that resulted from an uncorrected error: Ossie Davis. He died last Friday in Miami. a court ly and e lega nt man of 87 years, justifia bly Lio nized fo r his accomplishments as a writer ("Puriie.'' ··Cotton Comes to Harlem") and actor ('· Do the R ight T hing." "Evening Shade." '·Roots: The Next Generations") in a career th at spanned six decades. But for alJ that. his most compelling legacy may lie no t in his wo rk as an entertainer. but in bis effort to change a world where a black woman dared not correct a wrute man 's mistake. Davis and Ruby D ee. his wife of 56 years, were tireless advoca tes for wh at used to be ca lJed ·'the cause.'' mea ning the struggle aga inst systemic raci al oppression. Perhaps rus politicizatjon was inevitable given tlrn t be

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moved to H arlem as a young man an d fo un d himself rubbing shoulders with some of the most towering figures of bl ack protest: W.E. B. DuBois, A . Philip Randolph. Richard Wright, J ames Weldon Johnson and more. Or maybe it was made inevitable by having grown up in Georgia at a Lime when th e Ku Klux Klan was vi rtua lly a shadow government. H owever it ca me abo ut, his potitical awareness frequently an imated his art a nd his actions. D avis defended his friend Paul Robeson when tbe latter came under fire for hi s communist sympathies. He eloq uently eulogized the often-reviled Malco lm X. He wrote pl ays abo ut the murder of E mme tt Till. the Montgomery bus boycott, and the absurdity of racism. In 1963. he and his wi fe se rved as master and mistress of cere monj es for tbe March on Washington. T hese were. it is im portant to recaJI , controversial - even dangerous - things to do. He could have lost work, could conceiva bly have lost his life . But he did them anyway. onsider that, and then consider what N ike pitchman Michael Jord an reportedly sa id once in declining to support a De mocratic Senate candidate: " Repu blica ns bu y shoes. too." Or think of T iger Woods refusing tv speak aga inst gende r bias in golf. '·Everybody wants you to support the ir ca use." he complained. Hea ring that, you wa nt to slump yo ur sho ulders and bow yo ur head. Once upo n a

time. bl ack ce le brities unde rstood fam e to be a currency they we re obliged to spend on ca uses higber tha n their own comfort. The recognjzed a respo nsibili ty to take a stand. Mub amm ad AJi understood. So did Harry Belafonte, James Brown. Bill Russe ll , Nina Si mo ne. Yo u don't see that understand ing too much an ymore. Tbe modem bl ack actor or athlete is a pol itica l cipher. his views unreadable and opaque. He is a bl ank slate upon which anybody can proj ect any philosophy or affi liation , the be tte r to sell rast food and soft drinks. He donates to good ca uses, makes corporate-sponsored public-service anno uncements for issues nobody oppose~. He - or she - is pro-literacy. pro-Boys a nd G irls Clu bs, pro-troops in Iraq . Such co urage. h ese are differe nt times, yes. Nobody has the right to choose so mebody e lse·s ca uses. yes. But the se lf-p reserving silence of modern bl ack celebrit y, the all-things-to-all-people muteness of it. only makes you appreciate that much mo re the courage of those like D avis who were - are? - willing to risk celebrity for the grea te r good. ··w e ca n·1 Ooat through life," he said in a PBS radio inte rview in Novembe r. ·· w e ca n·t be inciden taJ o r accidenta l.'' To his everlasting credit. R. C. D avis was nei ther of those things. That's more th an many of us ca n say.

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?vi. fuJ COEUR d'ALENE- You won't catch Scott Reed in the woods with a drum, getting in touch with his masculinity. "All that drumming and he-man stuff is a bunch of crap," says the Coeur d'Alene environmental attorney. Instead of beating their drums and chests to prove their maleness, he says, men should concentrate on issues that are reaUy important. Sexual harassment, for example. Equal opportunity in the workplace. The lack of cultural and ethnic diversity in education. At the " Empowering Women" international human rights conference in Coeur d'Alene this weekend, Reed is learning about these topics and more. Unfortunately, he says, men who could most benefit from the discussions won't be in attendance. "I guess they feel threatened somehow," says Reed. "But for too long, conventions in this city have been focused on men. I - - - - remember when they used to calJ CATHY women who participated FREI! Âˇ 'auxiliaries.' Columnist "WeU, now, I'm a male auxiliary. It's long past time for a conference like this- one that shows what women can do.'' If you're a man who is planning on forming a drum circle with your buddies this weekend, you might be surprised to learn that Reed is not alone in his views. About 15 percent of the nearly 1,000 "Empowering Women" participants are men who hope to understand- and help solve - the problems women face worldwide. These are true "men of the '90s" - men who have taken equality far beyond sharing household chores. They are men such as Peter Juviler, a political science professor at Barnard College and codirector of the Columbia University Human Rights Center. He incorporates women's issues in his courses. " I am not a feminist, but I am pro-human, which makes me pro-female," says Juviler, who. is speaking at the conference about education for women's human rights. "Nobody benefits when half of the population is shortchanged. Women's rights are the key to successful economic, community and social development around the world." Juviler became in tune with women's issues when he signed on as a professor at an aU-female coUe,ze in the '60s.

Just about every man at the conference is motivated by personal experience. Harold Balazs, a Spokane artist, simply grew tired of reading about domestic violence and sexism, and decided to do his part to stop it. " I hope we're in the last throes of aU this male macho nonsense," says Balazs, 65, who illustrated and donated posters to promote this year's conference. "I'm here because of what I read in the paper each morning: Senseless violence against women. Sexism and oppression. I want my grandkids to grow up in a better place." A former artist in residence at a coUege in Alaska - "the most macho place on earth" Balazs was disheartened that men didn't participate in making the communities he visited better. "Whether it involved getting the town a library or getting out the vote, women did aU the work," he says. "I began to feel that women's concerns were much more valid than men's." Traveling across the country on business, he was shocked by the large numbers of men who made lewd comments to flight attendants, or bragged about their sexual conquests. "It reaUy made me wonder: How many men have nothing positive to do with their lives?" asks Balazs. "Last year, I heard a woman say the biggest problem in the world was too much testosterone. I have to say, she was right.". . . So, what is a man who enJoys drumming, hunting and footbaU to do? Keep your drum. Keep your rifle. But get involved in supporting the other half of the human race, says Sandpoint counselor Eric Ri~&'Yay. "This conference isn't about women s nghts it's about human rights," he says. "Every man in the world has a woman in his life, whether she be a mother, a sister, a daughter, a wife or a friend. "Men need to realize they can only benefit from being included in the dialogue. There is nothing unmanly about being pro-woman."

wertOSucc By Molly Guthrey 1aff writer

The new head of the Bureau of Indian Affairs grew up on the Menominee Indian Tribe's reseivation in Wisconsin. She lived in a log cabin with no electricity, no running water. Her mother was a nurse and her fat.her a mill worker with a drinking problem. They were poor. It didn't matter. "I decided early on I didn't want to be poor," Ada Deer told a crowd of hundreds gathered Saturday at North Idaho College for the international conference on empowering women. " Listen: I DECIDED." And she was raised by a mother who told her she could be anything she wanted to be. "We all need a significant person to shape us," Deer said in a humorous and fast-paced speech on determination. 'I had a beautiful, beautiful mother . . . She said to me: Ada Deer, you are on the planet for a purpose. You are not here to indulge your personal pleasures. You are here to help others, to serve others." Deer listened to her mother. She became a social worker after seeing and talking to social workers on her reservation as a teenager. Her mother told Deer and her younger brothers and sisters that they should go to college. Deer and all but one of her four siblings did just that. She received a scholarship and went to the University of Wisconsin-Madison,. where she later taught. She received a master's degree in social work from

Columbia University and was a fellow at the Harvard Institute of Politics. Deer left law school when she saw her tribe needed help. She seived as a tribal leader who helped restore the tribe, which was " terminated" through federal law in the 1950s. She was one of the people who helped push the Menominee Restoration Act through Congress. "We all have to change attitudes," she said. "I was the first woman chair of my tribe. People said to me, 'Well, our tribe has always been run by men.' And I said, 'Well, that could be part of the problem.' " She got involved in politics in the 1980s, working as the vicechairwomen of the Mondale presidential campaign and serving as a delegate-at-large to the 1984 Democratic National Convention. In 1992, Deer was an unsuccessful candidate for Congress. This year, President Clinton appointed Deer assistant secretary of the Interior for Indian Affairs. In that post, she is the head of the BIA. "We're into progress, we're into change," she said Saturday. "It'll be a challenge to implement that change. In a speech before the Senate in July, Deer said: "I want to help the BIA to be a full partner in the effort to fulfill the Indian agenda developed in Indian country. The best way we can do this is for the tribes to decide what needs to be done and for the tribes to do it on their own terms, with our enthusiastic and constructive support." Her speech in Coeur d'Alene Sat-

Jesse Tinsley/The Spokesman-Revi8V\

Ada Deer, assistant Interior secretary, walks to a waiting helicopter with Ernie Stensgar, chairman of the Coeur d'Alene lndlan trlbal council. Deer toured the CdA reservation during the conference.

urday received thunderous applause. During a question-and-answer period, a member of the Nez Perce tribe told her: Âˇ'Tam very proud of you." After her speech, a group of Amer-

ican Indian women gathered around Deer to ask questions. Just before she left, two American Indian ch ildren posed with Deer as their mother took a photograph.

Aftetward , the children polite!~ thanked her. "You're welcome," she said in her loud, strong voice. And then ~he left them with some advice: "Study hard. Work hard "

Words as weapon~ North Idaho women urged to fight for human rights

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COEUR d'ALENE- Women must use words as weapons to continue the fight for international human rights, said the closing speaker of a women's conference Sunday. Democracy is breaking down barriers around the world, said Arvonne Fraser, who heads women's programs at the University of Minnesota and will lead the U.S. delegation on women's rights to the United Nations. "There is a bubbly effervescence, a determination by people worldwide that there has to be a better way," she said. "It creates a sense of responsibility and obligation." She lauiied non-sexist language, education against violence and teaching human righ ts to children. "Down with the dominators, up }Vith partnerships," she said. At least 250 women and a handfu l of men listened to Fraser at North Idaho College's Boswell Hall Auditorium on the last day of "Empowering Women: Achieving Human Rights in the 21st Century." About 900 people attended the three-day conference, said Tony Stewart, steering committee chairman. Noted author Riane Eisler introduced Fraser, speaking against the stark, dramatic set for NIC's production of 'The Diary of Anne Frank."

The scene made an appropriate backdrop for Eisler, the conference keynote speaker, who was a refugee from the Nazis at age 6 and has been termed a modern

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Arvonne Fraser speaks at NIC Sunday.

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Renaissance woman. She agreed that women must arm themselves with language that is often used against them. "Language keeps us trapped to where women are so unimportant they are invisible," she said. Fraser said countri es like Yugoslavia, Liberia, Somalia and Haiti are making a determined struggle for equal rights. "The old dominators are, I think, in a last gasp for power," she said. Fraser encouraged women to "isolate the bad actors" on global and local fronts, and "vote them out of power," and advocate sanctions against discriminatory businesses. "Human rights are interactive," she said. "You can't have yours unless you give them to others." The women's leader is writing a platform for the Beijing, China, international women's conference set for 1995, and said the world is looking to American women to lead the way. "You need to decide what kind of a world you want for you, for your children, for your grandchildren, and start creating it."

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Official advocates subversion Woman says people are key to change By Cynthia Taggart Slaff wrirer

COEUR d'ALENE - Subversion is the way to improve rights for

women in the world, a United Nations official said Sunday. "I bate to use that word," said Arvonoe Fraser, a woman with a lengthy history in human rights work. "But how do you think the Berlin WalJ fell? The government didn't order it. l11e people did." Fraser, appointed by President Clinton to the U.N. Commission on the Status of Women, came to Coeur d'Alene on Sunday to participate in the fourth international human rights conference. This year's conference, which ended Sunday, focused on women's rights. During the three-day conference, women from around the world talked about child abuse, rape and other violence against women. prostitution, economic insecurity and other forms of suppression. But the 900 attendees didn't dwell on the problems as much as look for ways to change the situation. "There's some kind of new determination out there," said Fraser, 68, who also serves as director of the women, public policy and development program at the Unjversity of Minnesota. "They're not complaining. They're seeking out what to do. We're passing some kind of marker here and it's refreshing." Judy Meyer, a North Idaho College trustee, left the conference Sunday with new friends from Ecuador and Alaska. Encouraged by the emphasis on change over the weekend, Meyer joined the Partners in the Americas program. A Ecuadoran woman who stayed at Meyer's home told Meyer about the program. "We share agricultural programs, help on domestic violence issues," Meyer said. "Idaho shares with Ecuador and Ecuador shares with Idaho. It's wonderful networking." Corinne Forsman, a Benedictine woman from the monastery of St. Gertrude in Cottonwood, said the contacts she made gave her hope for the future.

THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 4, 1993 PAGE B7

SUBMITTING COMMENTARY Please send letters and guest columns to The Spokesman-Review,~ Riverside, Spokane 99201. Fax:(~)459-5482. VritÂŤJ mail: 458-8800, code 4853.

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We are unable, evidently, to get enough e together to demand attention. With bu eds of newcomers rushing in, buying choice lo d building homes, we have no other authoriti o appeal to. And the three county commissione eem to feel that they can just raise the tax rate gardless of the increasing need to accommodat e needs of the "immigrants." With little att on to the potential demands..for services by new people, and with little attentiou to the inc es to our already threatened sewage disposal ca 'ty, must we struggle on indefinitely? DAVID J. MACLAY Missoula, Mont.

Time women were listened to

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The international conference, "Empowering Women: Achieving Human Rights in the 21st Centuty," proved to me that I am no longer lonely in my beliefs about the way this world should be at the end of a stormy century. It materialized in words, proposals, my â&#x20AC;˘ concerns, needs and dreams. Yes, it is about time for women to get together and seriously think and bring to the attention of those not exposed to astonishing cruelties happening around us that the world is no longer in step with our needs and dreams. Now, at the end of 2,000 years of progress, but also at the end of twenty centuries of wars and destruction, people are entitled to ask for a better place in which to live. Women of the world have a say in this; they arc no longer to be left behind or ignored. Their words must be freed and heard by the highest forums and their actions must spread. Their voice is no longer a frail one in a deaf crowd but a strong voice of a powerful worldwide team. We don't have to go distances to make changes. We can start in our own families and our communities. There is a lot of work, but it is really worth it. CORINA TIMIS Spokane

A6 THE COEUR D'ALENE PRESS Saturday, Feb. 12, 1994

What would President Abe Lincoln do? By BOB BROWN

1V NEWSPERSON: "Mr. President, do you plan on signing the Anti-Gay Initiative?" CAMERA ON MR. LINCOLN'S FACE ... SLOW FADEOUT Today, we honor the memory of a great American President, Abraham Lincoln. He is rememb ered for g u iding America through its darkest hour, and for his concern for his fellow Americans. This included black and whi te; northern or southern; Christian, Jew, nonbeliever and others. While others in his cabinet preached hate and revenge, Lincoln spoke of forgiveness and working together to rebuild a nearly shattered United States. He realized that this country's pluralistic society with its traditional tolerance for many diverse views was responsible for our greatness. He had witnessed the battles between ethn ic g r oups, reli-

O'p1n1on gious bodies and people divided by economic conditions, wreak havoc on one European country after another. Cut down by an assassin's bullet, he was unable to carry out his goals and we still suffer from the aftereffects of that war nearly 130 years later. Today, a new chall enge faces America. A new g roup has been targeted to have their basic constitutional rights restri cted just as those who carried out the Reconstruction restricted the defeated white southerners and as the white southerners had restricted the African Americans before. The Idaho Citizen's Alliance is attempting lo convince Idahoans to sign an initiative that would try to deal with a problem we don't even have. They say they don't want "special rights" for homosexuals. Apparently no one else does either because they don't exist in Idaho now, and never have.

, The real goal of the Alliance is to restrict rights for certain people in Idaho. They not only want to restrict gays, but their plan would restrict the rights of teachers, librarians , state e mployees and many others. The attorney general of Idaho, in a well-reasoned opi nion , states flatly that the proposed initiative is unconstitutional. The governor. both me mbers of Congress and lead e rs of the Idaho House a nd Senate all agree that it is unnecessary in this state. TI1e attorney general's report takes 34 pages to discuss the various points in the initiative and to discuss why they are unconstitutional. It seems clear that it vio lates the 14th Amendment guaranteeing all citizens equal protection under the law. When the state, .in any way, e ncourages bias against one group, it violates the equal protection clause. Another fatal flaw is the restriction on the right to participate equally in the political pro-

cess. Whenever the state One final argument against restricts rights, it must show a the initiative is the incredibly compe lling state interest in high cost it will be for the taxpaydoing so. This is especially true ers of this state to resolve it in when the state attempts to the courts. It has been estimated restrict access of any group to that the stale of Colorado has the normal political process. spent almost $2 million to have a In addition, if this initiative similar measure in that state became law. librarians would struck down by the courts. Why have to spend hours in search- should we sign on to an expening through every periodical to sive lawsuit that only puts us remove any positive references back exactly where we are today? to homosexuality. Teachers There is not enough room to would be restricted in assigning permit a complete response to any work of literature written by this moraUy wrong, unconstitua homosexual or portraying any tional and extremely costly proaspect of homosexuality in a posal facing the voters of Idaho. positive way. As they say, "If it ain't broke, We have witnessed the dam- don't fix it." That statement was age done by this type of discrim- never as apt as in the case of the ination to members of the LOS proposed anti-privacy initiative Church in this state when our of the Idaho Citizen's Alliance. laws stated that no Âˇone who What would Lincoln do? I believed in celestial marriages think he would say, "I'm busy could vote, hold office, or even building a nation ... l don't have sit on a jury. the inclination to tear one When we di scriminate apart." against any one group, no matter how small, we do grievous Bob Brown is an attorney damage to whole fabric of our from Coeur d'Alene. His opinio,is society. are his own.

Gay-rights ~upporter harassed Death threat notes reported by student By Cynthia Taggart Staff writer

COEUR d'ALENE - Written death threats and harassment have plagued a North Idaho College freshman ever since he spoke out in favor of a gay club on campus. Notes stuck to his car's steering wheel bore the message, "Back off ASNIC (Associated Students of NIC) or you'll die.'' On his way to class, someone yelled from a car, "Die faggot lover," the student said. Someone scrawled the same words in the dust on the back of bis car. Afraid of more harassment, the student agreed to tell his story as long as his name wasn't used. Âˇ The harassment began shortly after the student supported the Lesbian, Gay and Bisexual Alliance's right to be recognized as a campus club. "I'm not gay and I'm not a member of the. club," be said. "I just supported their rights." The alliance asked for recognition in December. The ~tudent Senate denied the request in January, saying the campus doesn't need a sexual orientation club.

Last month, a state deputy attorney general said in a written opinion that not recognizing the club was violating students' constitutional rights. He encouraged NIC's Board of Trustees to step in if the student Senate continued to deny the club recognition. At the end of February, the board did step in. It gave student leaders three school days to change their stance on the alliance. Under a resolution the board unanimously passed, the alliance would become a campus club March 1 or before if students voted against it again. Last Friday in a 3-2 vote, the student Senate again rejected the alliance. So it immediately became a club by board resolution. Jessica Walter, one of the student senators supporting the alliance's right to become a campus club, said the harassment of the freshman is not the first on campus over the gay club issue. Someone scrawled "fag lover" on the bulletin board in her ASNIC office, Walter said. Please see NIC: 85

Friday, Mar. 4, 1994, Spokane, Wash.

THE SPOKESMAN-REVIEW

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NIC Rollie Jurgens, acting NIC president in Bob Bennett's absence this week, said campus security officers will try to get more details on the freshman's harassment. The notes have had their desired effect, the student said. "I've been skipping some classes. I was going to start a recall petition of the students who voted against the alliance. Now I'm not," he said. "I'm going to run for office myself next time and solve things that way." Tony Stewart, president of the Kootenai County Human Rights Task Force, said NIC has a malicious

harassment policy that could result in a student's expulsion. Coeur d'Alene has developed a reputation as a community that fights for human rights, he said. In this case, people need to separate the issue from the harassment and focus .on the fact that victimizing people is wrong. "From our experience, this community doesn't tolerate people being maliciously attacked," Stewart said. "This community has been awarded for its past responses. We need to come together once again. This is another reminder of how far we have to go before some people are able to leave other people alone over their beliefs."

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GEORGE CARLSON

Mar . 7 , 1994 Tony Stewart : Sorry to read this sad news about threats to the NIC student in theAP ' s Seattle Times article . Likely your group fighting against malicious harrassment will be involved in helping combat these hate activities. Anyway, here is a copy f0r your files . yours ,

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GEORGE CARLSOtl & ASSOCIATES WESTÂŁRN LECTURE/ENTERTAINMENT l!UWU 2512 SECOND AVE.. (206) 441 -14ib SEATTLE. WASHINGTON 91121

THE SEATTLE TIMES

LOCAL/REGIONAL NEWS

SATURDAY, MARCH

5, 1994

1 Gay-rights supporter reports threats AsSOCIATEO PRESS

COEUR D'ALENE, Idaho - A freshman at North Idaho College says he received death threats for speaking up in favor of the rights of gay students to form a campus club. Rollie Jurgens, the college's acting president, said campus security officials would try to get more information about the harassmenL The student told The Spokesman-Review newspaper in Spokane about the incidents on the condition his name .be kept out of an article that was published yesterday. The student said a note stuck to the steering wheeJ of car read, " Back off A~NIC or you'll die." ASNIC is the

Associated Students of North Idaho College, the student governing organization. On his way to a class, the student said, someone shouted a threat from a car. The same words were scrawled in dust on the back of his car, he said. The harassment beg-dll after he spoke up in favor of the Lesbian, Gay and Bisexual AJliance's right to be recognized as a campus club. "I'm not gay, and I'm not a member of the club," the student said. "I just supported their rights." . The colJege's board of trustees last month adopted a resolution making the -.llliance a club.

Task force honors, helps crusader for human rights By Cynthia Taggart

not so bad, though. It's a slow process."' Broadbent is best known in Kootenai County as the human rights activist who HAYDEN, Idaho - Larry Broadbent's in identifying people in the voice wheezes a bit each time he answers specialized white supremacy movement in the 1980s. the phone. He has six aJbums, each three inches It's not surprising. He's a big man, 56, thick, stuffed with awards, photos, letters carrying the effects of a lifetime of and news articles honoring him for his smoking and careless eating. accomplishments in human rights. "Oh, I'm fine, fine," Broadbent says The Kootenai County Task Force on into the phone as he dabs with a napkin at Human Relations plans to honor Broadthe sweat running down his neck. bent for his human rights work along with But he's not fine. That's why his phone recently retired FBI Special /\gent Wayne constantly rings and why the sweat just Manis at a dinner May 22 at the Lake City won't quit. Broadbent has lung cancer and Senior Center. bis many friends are having a harder time The money raised from the $15-a-plate dealing with the disease than he is. spaghetti dinner will go to Broadbent to help him pay mounting medical bills. "It's been .a different experience Broadbent lost his health insurance a headaches, perspiration, fevers, sore throat, difficulty swallowing,'' Kootenai year ago after suffering a heart attack and County's former undersheriff says. "I'm Please see BROADBENT: B5 Slaff wri1er

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Broadbent undergoing double bypass surgery. The insurance paid its share of his medical bills, but left him with $7,000 unpaid. He applied for coverage with 14 insurance companies. None would take him. Finally, in January, his part-time work with West One Bank earned him company health coverage. In April, he was diagnosed with Jung cancer. Last week, his insurance company

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Larry Broadbent wlll be honored by the task force on human relations. ~ - /S-..

notified him it would carry him only through August because he's not working anymore. The tumor in his right lung restricts his breathing. "I don't have the air capacity to walk around much anymore," he says. "That's bard. I've been busy all my life." Radiation treatments to shrink the tumor to an operable size have stolen Broadbent's energy and left him feeling sick. The perspiration, he believes, is a result of the radiation. After a high-profile career in law enforcement, Broadbent now spends

1..!t:.. his days answering phone calls from concerned friends. And thinking. One of his doctors told him chemotherapy probably won't help. Another is recommending chemotherapy. "I haven't made up my mind," Broadbent says. "To me there isn't really any cure. They're just prolongÂˇ ing life. I don't know if I want those extra few weeks. But J don't want to die ,,either. All of us want to cling to life.

For infonnalion on the dinner, call Tony S1ewa11, 765-3932.

NICKEL'S WORTH Week of Nov. 4,'1994 ........... 81

From The Kootenai County Task Force on Human Relations We in North Idaho have been through significant human rights events in the last thirteen years. When the anger of local Neo-Nazis was directed at a Jewish restaurant owner and the children of a multiracial family, we responded. When some NeoNazis became angry and bombed Coeur d'Alene, once again, we responded. When it was clear that Idaho needed better laws to protect all Idaho citizens from harassment for racial or religious reasons, North Idaho citizens led the successful efforts for those new laws. Because we were steadfast in our beliefs and our commitments through these years, the Neo-Nazis have not achieved their goals nor will they in the future. What we in North Idaho have fought against for so many years is any attempt by anyone to create a belief in an inferior class of American citizens and, ultimately, to create that inferior class by force of law. The great founding documents of our nation, the Declaration of Independence and the U.S. - Constitution, gave life to the civic truths of freedom and equality. These truths have guided us in North Idaho for many years. It is these truths that require all of us to oppose any effort to create an inferior class of American citizens by force of law. We believe that Proposition One on the November ballot in Idaho tends to do just that. We realize that many good citizens support Proposition One. We also oelieve that these citizens have been misinformed or they misunderstand the true intentions of this proposition. In our opinion, Proposition One has a number of fatal flaws:

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• Proposition One stifles the flow of information regarding a class of American citizens. Read proposed section 67-8004 and 67-8005. • This proposition gives government the power to censure many materials in Idaho's public libraries, and imposes enormous financial burdens on them. Read proposed section 67-8005 . • This proposition provides a clause that may well be interpreted as a requirement that the State of Idaho investigate the private sexual habits of all of Idaho's public employees. Read proposed section 67-8006.

The proposition is unconstitutional for all of the above reasons. Read the First and Fourteenth Amendments of the U.S. Constitution. • The Supreme Court of Colorado, this October, on a 61 vote, declared a similar proposition unconstitutional. The taxpayers of Idaho will pay for a very expensive defense of this obviously unconstitutional proposition. We urge a vote of "NO" on Proposition One. A "NO" vote is a vote for freedom of speech and peacerul assembly. A "NO" vote is a vote against another governmental intrusion in our right to privacy. A "NO" vote is a vote for freedom, equality, and dignity for all Americans and Idahoans.

Board of Directors Kootenai County Task Force on Human Relations

THE COEUR D'ALENE PRESS Friday, Oct. 28, 1994 A13

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Youth troupe to do gender, racial equality dance in Cd' A By JOHN FIREHAMMER

Staff writer

COEUR d'ALENE - A Seattle dance troupe that promotes racial and gender equality through their performances will be in Kootenai County riext week The Diversity Dance Group will per form for Post Falls High School students and fifth graders Tuesday and for Lake City High School students Wednesday. A free performance for the public will be held at Lake City High School at 7 p.m. Wednesday. The college-age members of the group take a year off school to tour, said Tony Stewart of the Kootenai County Task Force on Human Relations. The Task Force and several other agencies

banded together to sponsor the performances. "We though it was an ideal opportunity to bring a young group to the county that has a positive message," Stewart said. "The cause of human righ ts has been advanced so much through the power of music and dance," he said. The troupe also has an anti-drug stance. It was founded in 1979 and is sponsored by the Ethnic Heritage Council of Seattle. Along with the Task Force and school districts, sponsors include the North Idaho College Human Equality Club and the Baha'i Faith of Coeur d'Alene and Post Falls. Free tickets to the Wednesday night performance are available at the NIC Library, St Pius X Catholic Church and Tidyman's of Post Fa)]s.

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Harassment is black and white By Winda Benedetti Staff writer

COEUR d'ALENE - Franc Carter moved to North Idaho to be with his girlfriend. But after only a week in his new home, the young black man found himself confronted by someone who didn't think be should be dating a white woman. Andrew L. Halsell, of Rathdrum, told Carter that blacks and whites should not mix before pulling out a rifle Monday night, according to Carter and a Kootenai County sheriff's report. "I'm gonna shoot Carter saui the idea you, nigger," the logger allegedly yelled at Car- ofbeing in a mixedte~ a Is e 11, 3 7, was race relationship dui charged with malicious not se- unusual or harassment Tuesday in """ the incident and could concern him. face up to five years in prison if convicted. The malicious harassment law makes it a felony to attack someone physically, verbally or symbolically on the basis of their race or religion. Carter, 23, who is from Carson, Nev., met Jennifer Day while they were both working at a motel in his home state. " It was more of a friendship," he said, trying to explain how his four-month relationship with Day began. "She is my best friend." Continued: Alllllt/84

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~un: Carter was told the Bible says it's wrong for races to mix supremacy group that has a compound north of Coeur d'Alene. At about 6:30 p.m. Monday, Carter's father is married to a white woman. So Carter said the Carter, his girlfriend and her young idea of being in a mixed-race cousin were sitting in a car in the relationship did not seem unusual hotel's parking lot. Carter said Halsell started yelling at Day's or concern him. cousin to get away from the black He and Day decided to move to man. Halsell hurled racial slurs at North Idaho, where much of his Carter as the two began to argue in girlfriend's family lives. Day's the parking lot, according to a grandmother owns the Affordable sheriffs report. Inn in Hayden and the two had Carter said Halsell told him it been staying in an apartment there. was wrong for blacks and whites to But things went sour when Car- mix, claiming the Bible said so. ter met Halsell last week. Halsell is According to the sheriffs report, dating Day's aunt. "He toJd me this Halsell got so angry he threatened is Aryan Nation territory and basi- to shoot Carter and then pulled a cally that I don't belong here,'' .270 hunting rifle from his pickup Carter said during an interview truck. Tuesday. "He basically just judged Carter ran into the hotel and me because I'm black." called deputies to the scene. "I was The Church of Jesus Christ thinking, did I make the wrong Christian Aryan Nation is a white decision moving up here?" Continued from 81

Deputies arrested Halsell at his home in Rathdrum. According to the report, they did not find a gun in Halsell's truck but did find ammunition to a .270 rifle. Halsell told deputies that Carter went to pull a knife on him while they were arguing. Halsell claimed he didn't grab a gun from his truck, but instead grabbed a large stick. But Carter said he never had a knife and Sheriffs Lt. Ben Wolfinger said investigators have no evidence to show that he did. Carter said he is now considering leaving North Idaho, concerned the incident will upset the rest of Day's family. But he said he doesn't hold the incident against the whole community. In March, Halsell was charged with battery after he repeatedly slapped his girlfriend in the face and bruised her arm, according to

a sheriffs report. Monday's incident is the second time this year a North Idaho resident_ has been charged with malicious harassment for threatening a black person. Michael Bell of St. Maries was arrested in August after he allegedly punched 19-year-old Kenneth Blair in the face. According to a St. Maries police report, BeJJ was upset because his girlfriend was walking with a black man. Bell was the first person in Benewah County to be charged with malicious harassment and is scheduled to go to trial in January. He denies race led to the fight. Such incidents are frustrating to those who have fought against prejudice over the years, said Tony Stewart, president of the Kootenai County Task Force on Human Relations.