Kootenai County Task Force on Human Relations Scrapbooks 2010 Pt.2

3 - 1EA REPORTER Summer 2010

IEA members travel to Big Easy for NEA convention A thi i ue goe to press, IEA member are joining nearly 10 000 of their As ociation colleagues in New Orlean June 30-July 6 to take part in a week of di cus ion and debate on i sues facing their chool , their tudent , and their profession.

NEA President Dennis VanRoekel will preside over the National Education As ociation' 14 thannual meeting, 89th annual Repreentative A embly (RA and other preDennis VanRoekel convention activities in the Big Ea y. According to the NEA web ite. thi annual convention i the larg t democratic deliberalive a embly in the v orld .

Led by IEA President herri Wood, the nearly 50 Idaho

delegates representing their local as ociations and the tate will have a full agenda a they make decision for the coming year and beyond.

The NEA RA al o offer delegates an opportunity to celebrate and honor education advocates from across the country.

Thi year longtime North Idaho human right activist Tony Stewart wilJ be honored with th H.Councill Trenholm Memorial Award, to be conferred on July 2 at the NEA Human and Civil Rights Award Dinner al the Erne t N. Moria] Convention Center.

The Trenholm award is named in honor of one of the country' mo tout tanding black educator who helped to meroe the Ameri an Teachers As ociation with the NEA. To be eligible for this award, the n minee mu r work beyond the call of duty to free th education profe ion from inequiti ba ed on race or etbnicity, help

improve intergroup relations and understanding among racial and ethnic group or ecure community recognition for his or her contributions to intergroup relation .

Stewart grew up in North Carolina in the 1960 during the time of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and the civil rights movement. A a tudent be developed a passion for people' dignity and right . lo recent decades Stewart was deeply involved in human right advocacy work around the Inland Northwe t, in luding the ucces ful effort to drive th Aryan Nation white Tony Stewart upremacy group from North ldaho. He recently retired from orth Idaho College.

Aside from dozen of local delegates elected to represent their colleagues, IBA member also elected tate delegate who will attend thi year's annual meeting.

The following member were elected as tate delegates:

Zone A: Debbie Flory Zone B: JoAnn Harvey Zone C: David Hite Zone D:

ori Steiniker

Zone E & F: Dan Vincent and Lennette Meyer Zone G, H & I: Cindy cbaffeld Kathy Kearns and Tanya Gordon Zone J:

Dan McCarty

Zone K: Jim Robin on Zone L: E a Ochoa Zone M: Wendy CarroU Retired:

Monica Beaudoin and

Dick Chilcote

Church group targets area schools Protestors sent notices to NIC LCHS, CHS

By MAUREEN DOLAN

Staff writer COEUR d'ALENEA Kansas church group with a fondn for pick

t-

ing i h ad d for N rth Idaho.

The Topeka-ba d Westboro Bapti l hurch - a group that laim God hat s Am rica, the world, and just about everyon in it - ent notice to North Idaho Colleg , Lake City High School and Coeur d Alene lligh School early thl week.

Church memb r alert· ed the school they would b stopping al ea h location on the mornfogof ct 22, and again on Oct. 30 at NIC.

Tuesday October 5, 2010

them over the we kend. It went to the chief of ecurity," aid John Martin NlC vie president of community relations and marketing.

"We re ponded to that, just acknowledged it We'll be di cu jog what a tions or precautions oe d to be taken to make ure it' peaceful.''

111e Westboro Bapti t Church ha imilar vi its planned at everal colleg· es univer iti and places of worship in Ea tern Wa bjngton thi month a well.

The WB has made a name for its U by prot sting events, and i b t known for pick ting military funeral .

Th Wa hinglon Post r ported that church member , holding ign that r ad "Thank God for Dead Soldier " and 'Thank God for IED ," picketed the burial of a Navy EAL Monday at Arlington National Cem tery.

WBC members, led by pa tor Fred Phelp , regularly prote t p rformances of '"The Laramie Project," a how being taged by th NI C Theater D partment Oct 21-23, and 28-30.

'Mr. Phelp i really looking for confronta· tion ' aid NlC theatr instru tor Jo Ja oby.

see PROTEST, A4

PROTEST

from A1

'Toey make their money by doing things that make people so angry, they react by doing something they shouldn't. Then Phelps and his people sue them."

'Toe Laramie Project" is a play that examines the affect the 1998 killing of Matthew Shepard - a murder motivated by

homophobia that gained widespread national attention - has had on the community of Laramie, Wyo. "What I really like about it, is .that we hear a variety of voices," Jacoby said. "Some disagree with homosexuality, some agree with it. We get to hear this wonderful complexity of responses to this very tragic situation."

The play was created using interviews of

Laramie residents and published news reports.

"I would like nothing better than for the church protesters to be met with no confrontation, and not have a dime to show for it," Jacoby said.

Local law enforcement and NIC campus security will be planning the best response to the protests. lake City High School principal Deanne Clifford said her only concern is that students are able to get safely into school that day. "'There is a task force board meeting tonight, and certainly that topic will be on the agenda," said Christie Wood, vice chair of the Kootenai County Task Force on Human Relations. 'Toe task force intends to be very involved."

Wednesday Octob r 6 2010

Officials: Don't dignify bigotry with a response

By MAUREEN DOLAN

Staff writer

COEUR d' ALENE - Do not confront them.

That' the best way to re pond to prote ter from Westboro Bapti t Church, ay human right leader Tony tewart and Coeur > I· _., d'Alene School Di trict . . . up rintendent Hazel

/11. .•

,

•

•,

I

Bauman.

"We abhor the message promulgated by Bauman this group, ' Bauman wrote Tue day, in an e-mail nt to ome of her key taff m mb r . 'W will not engag with .··

PROTESTS A1

City Park in downtown Coeur d Alene. from In a pres relea e, th ta k for denounced They will b at CH lhe WBC and its lead r, from 6:10 lo 6:40 a.m., at Fr d Ph Ip and urged LCH from 7:10 to 7:40 re idents "to avoid any a.m., and at TC from 8 to confrontation with th 8:30 a.m.

WBC demon trators and "The main point i ri e above the e cene that we do not want to of hate-fill d me ag s onfront or engage with by alt nding th peacethe WB folk . They ar ful unity rally that will looking for nsationalc l brate lhe dignity i m and I hop th y ar and valu of our diver ignor d, ' Bauman wrot . American family.''

Th Kootenai ounly Veteran r ligiou a k Force on Human I ad rs, youth , ducator , R lation aonoun d it government official , will count r th church bu in and labor 1 adgroup'. vi it wilh a rally r , r pr entativ from at Lh Human Ri hls the o ur d'Alen Trib , du ation Institut at 9 law nforcem nl and th a.m. minority communiti will The in titute i next Lo pr nt tatem nt during

them and will do all we can to prevent our tudeat from engaging with them as thi i their ploy. We do not wi h to play into their hands or even dignify !bi bigotry with a re pone.'

Earlier this week, th Kansa based hurch's lawyer notified North Idaho Coll ge, Coeur d'Alene and Lake City high schools and the city police department that church member will be staging 30-minute prot sts at acb of th locations on the morning of Oct 22.

the rally.

'As human being . w grow and our humanity be om real when we upport and Jove on another," t wart aid. ''Anger and yelling deer a s our humanity."

Th WB r gularly tag protest at college , univer iti and school throughout th nation, and ha gained notoriety for picketing military fun ral b aring igns stating "God hat Am rica," and 'Thank God for Dead oldier ."

Th church will b b for th U. . upr me Court today, arguing it right to pi k t military fun ral und r th Fir t Am ndm nt. Th ca

see PROTESTS, A3 involv Albert nyder, the par nt of a 'Oldi r kill d in Iraq. cyder's on' fun ral wa targeled by the WBC, and Il}'<l r later ued the church for motional di tr H won a multi-million dollar ttl ment in a lower court TI1 v rdict wa th n overturned on app al. Toe upreme Court wi.U now d tennine whether th content of the church' p ch can b r gulated by law, and if damag can b award cl for hurtful p ch.

'D 1 phone m ag and mails nt by Th Pr ' to th Topeka, Kansa chur h, and th of.fie of il altorn y, Jonathan Ph Ip , w re not r turn d.

North Idaho

The Press

Saturday, October 23, 2010

A3

Human rights activists declare 'victory' at rally

By MAUREEN DOLAN

hate in our tate. Tho who cam today lo peddJ bate have left in defeat. We de lare vicCOEUR d' ALENE tory today,'' aid local human l11rong of tudent , lo al re i- rights activi t Tony tewart. denl and community leader 111e crowd responded with tilled the main room and hall of ch ers and applau . th Human Right Education The Koot nai County Ta k In titut Friday.

Force on Human Relation Th y gathered for a unity which t wart h Ip d found in rally following early morning 1981, pon ored the rally feaprote ts tag d in Co ur d'Alene turing nearly 20 peakers repby member of Wi tboro re enting variou community Bapti t Church, a Kansas-ha d groups. church that regularly pickets Ra in Balough the tudent military funerals d nouncing the pre ident of NIC' Gay/ traight U.S. and its troop for to! ranee Allian e Club, expressed gratiof homosexuality. tud for the We tboro Bapti t "We have alway r jected Chur h' vi it to th.e region.

Staff writer

"It gave u a chanc to think about what values are important to u , and to realize omething very important in the ommunity. It doesn't matter who you are, who your neighbor are, how they pray, or who they love," Balough said. be aid the chur h memb rs did not sue eed in wbat they came to accompli b, because the community m mber would not I t the church group hurt th ir friend , n igbbor and loved one .

"Ladie and gentlemen, with this incident behind u , and with the dignity and p i e that we handled th m with, we

won," Balough aid.

Other speaker included Sen. John Goedde, long-time labor leader Barbara Harri , St. Piu X Catholic Church leader Father Rog r LaChance Unity Church Rev. Marilyn Muehlbach, NIC Pre ident Priscilla Bell, Lewis- tate College Coeur d Alene Director Cyndie Hammond, Coeur d'Alene School District administrator Pam Pratt, Press columnist and Post Fall City Council member Kerri Thoreson, and several other tuden active in tudent government, human rights and gay right group .

Albert Wilker on, a marine

and Vietnam veteran, aid, 'Tuer i no room for bat in a foxhole."

"My people, and the Co ur d'Alene people, and people that look like u , w 'v known hat all our live . Hate i hate," aid Wilk r on, who i black.

He urg d the young p opl in the room to tand up to hal , and told them it wa th ir time to stand up for what America stands for human rights for all.

"You'v got to get out and fight hate with Jove ilker on said. ''You cannot do it any other way. That' th only way you can ov rcom thi dis a , and it' a di ea . '

SECTION B I SATURDAY, OCTOBER 23, 2010

SPOKESMAN.COM/PAGES/2010-ELECTION

NOVEMBER BALLOTS ARE OUT. READ UP ON RACES AND ISSUES.

Protest of play gets eager pushback NIC production addresses gay man's beating death

By Alison Boggs alisonb@spokesman.com, (208) 765-7132

A play dealing with the aftermath ofa young gay man's beating death that' being staged at North Idaho College has attracted more attention and donations since an extremist Kansas hate group cited it as their reason for protesting in Spokane and Coeur d'Alene.

The NIC theater group performed its opening night of ''The Laramie Project'' on Thursday before an audience of 109 people aid theater instructor Joe Jacoby.

The play is free and depicts a series of monologues by people from Laramie Wyo., followingthel998

beating death of Matthew Shepard.

When word spread that the anti-gay, anti-Semitic Westboro Baptist Church was coming to the Inland Northwest, three people called the NIC foundation offering to cover the $450 royalty fee ¡ for securing the play. Another woman offered to help distribute posters. And when the student cast walked into a human rights rally in Coeur d'Alene on Friday, holding high their play posters the 200-plus people in attendance greeted them with a deafening cheer. ul t's greatly increased the awareness and interest in the

the Web: Find @ On coverage of Thursday's counterprotests in Spokane at spokesman.com/tags/ westboro-baptlst-church/.

play" Jacoby said. However he added, "It's a double-edged sword. As much as it's benefiting us youjustdon'twantpeoplewith that kind of hatred in your community. But this community has responded so wonderfully. It's turned into a very constructive, positive event. I am really proud See PROTESTS, B2

KATHY PLONKA kathypl/ij;spokesman.com

Alisha Nowoj, 18, of Coeur d'Alene, left, counter protests members of Westboro Baptist Church at North Idaho College on Friday.

THE SPOKESMAN-REVIEW

PROTESTS

Continued from Bl today to be a resjdent of Coeur d'AleneandapartofNorthidaho College."

The human rights rally capped a series of protests begiruring at 6 am. Friday with Westboro demonstrations at Coeur d'Alene's two public high schools and at NIC. Each demonstration was met by between 50 and 200 protesters.

The Westboro group demonstrated Thursday at various locations in Spokane, and hundreds of local residents turned out to counter the group there as well.

Westboro pickets have gained national attention through their hate speech and for carrying insulting signs at funerals.

"I don't like the way they treat veterans at the funerals," said Greg Prado, of Hayden, a Marine who served in operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm. Prado attended all the North Idaho protests with his son Cade, 6, and wife, Amy. "We can't let people come into our town and bully us without saying that's not right They're hiding behind the First Amendment" Darby Lopp, U, a Woodland Middle School seventh-grader, displayed a rainbow-colored sign she made to show support for gay people. The sign said, "This is our community'' and also included the Star of David.

"I don't think this is right," Lopp said. "I think we need to stand up for what we believe in."

At Lake City High School, school administrators held an indoor assembly to try to keep students inside. About 100 people demonstrated against Westboro outside and passing cars and trucks honked in support, drawing cheers from the crowd.

"Speaking hate to children is wrong," said Michelle Hoagland, of Coeur d'Alene, who attended the counterprotests with her husband, Scott, and friend Shaleena Ralston. Michelle Hoa-

gland was among several counterprotesters who expressed concern about the recent suicides ofyoungpeople, attributed to gay-bashing and bullying. ''What if this puts one kid over the edge?"

The stop was North Idaho College, where the Westboro group set up in the middle of campus with a significantly increased police presence. An estimated 200 protesters yelled and chanted from across the street, in front of the student union building. They included carloads of students who drove north at 4 am. Friday from the University ofidaho in Moscow.

At NIC, Alisha Nowoj, of Coeur d'Alene, whose boyfriend is in the military, ran up to the police fencing surrounding the Westboro group waving her sign and yelling "I love my soldier!"

Shaun Winkler, of Spirit Lake, a former member of the Aryan Nations under the late Richard Butler, appeared with a sign that read: ''May there be plenty more Matt Shepards," and tried to join the Westboro group but was kept away by police. He attended with his sister, Christine Newman, who carried a sign that said "Keep fags from our schools."

But the message oflove and acceptance appeared to win in the end. The rally at the Human Rights Education Institute was packed with more than 200 people including representatives from the Coeur d'Alene Tribe, veterans groups, local politicians, high school and college students, a Catholic priest and officials from Idaho's colleges.

Racine Balopgh, president of NI C's Gay Straight Alliance, said she wanted to thank Westboro for visiting the Inland Northwest. ''It gave us a chance to think about what values are important to us," she said. "They tried to hurt us today. As a community, we didn't let them do it With the dignity and poise with which we handled this, ladies and gentlemen, we won."

next

Brothers guilty of harassing Hispanic Verdict came In third trial of Tankovlches

By Alison Boggs allsonb@spokesman.com, (208) 765¡7132

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Following the third trial in eight months, two Coeur d'Alene brothers were found guilty Thursday of racially hara sing and threatening a Hispanic man in August 2009.

Sentencing was set for J an. 13 for Frank James Tankovich, 47, and William Michael Tankovich Jr., 50, who were found guilty of malicious harassment and conspiracy to commit maliciou harassment against Kenneth Requena, a Puerto Rican man.

"For a while there, I felt like I was on trial," said Requena, who felt so threatened when the Tankovich brother drove by his home on Aug. 16, 2009, that he pulled a gun and bad his wife call 91L Defense attorney aid it was Requena's actions that escalated the incident.

"I really did nothing

wrong except tanding in front of my house minding my own business," Requena said. "I guess justice was served."

The first trial in March ended in a mistrial. Thesecond trial, in April, ended in a hung jury, with the vote 11-1 in favor of acquit-

See BROTHERS, AlO

What's next

Frank

WIiiiam

Tankovlch Yankovich Sentencing has been set for 3 p.m. Jan. 13 before Kootenai County 1st District Judge John Luster for Frank James Tankovich and William Michael Tankovich Jr. following their conviction of malicious harassment and conspiracy to commit malicious harassment.

BROTHERS

Continued from Al

tal on the malicious harassment charge and 8-4 in favor of not guilty on the conspiracy charge.

A third brother, Ira, was found guilty of conspiracy to commit disturbing the peace and also pleaded guilty to being a felon in possession of a handgun in relation to the incident He was sentenced to nine years in prison, three fixed.

Frank and William Tankovich were accompanied to court daily by numerous family members, some of whom testified. Defense attorneys Chris Schwartz and Jed Whitaker promised not only to appeal, but also plan to file a motion alleging jury misconduct. Schwartz declined to elaborate.

"We just totally got railroaded," Frank Tankovich said. "It wasn't anything about hate, not at all."

The felony charges carry a maximum sentence of 5 years and a $5,000 fine.

The verdict had to be unanimous to stick and the jury's presiding officer, Tracey Crook, of Coeur d'Alene, said she felt the strongest evidence was the fact that after an initial incident in front of Requena's home, the Tankovich brothers returned from two different directions.

"One comes down the street with a gun and the others came with their dog," Crook said, adding that Requena couldn't have helped but feel threatened when the truck decorated with a swastika drove past his house, stopped and slowly backed up.

Kootenai County Prosecutor Barry McHugh said the biggest difference between this trial and the last was testimony

by Tim Higgins, a gang symbols expert with ¡ the Idaho Department of Corrections, who explained the possible meaning of the Tankovich brothers' tattoos. In addition, McHugb said, additional evidence regard-

@

On the Web: Find previous coverage of this case at

spokesman.com/ tags/tankovlch-trlal

ing the timing of William Tankovich's 911 call showed "it was not made with an attempt to actually report a crime because it didn't even take place until the police were on the scene. It was made to justify their returning to the residence a second time."

The defense had cited that 911 call as evidence that the Tankovich brothers had no intention of committing a crime because they would not have invited the police to come.

McHugh said the verdict "perhaps refleets on the larger community's acceptance of the existence of (hate crime statutes).

They accept them and will utilize them when asked."

The defense, however, took issue with the introduction of the testimony by Higgins, the gang symbols expert. He testified about William and Ira Tankovich's tattoos, saying all were common symbols of white supremacy.

Schwartz, the defense attorney, disputed Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Art Verbaren's reference to those tattoos in his closing arguments as white supremacist tattoos, saying it's impossible to prove what those symbols mean to his client, William Tankovich, who did not testify.

Verharen began his closing argument by drawing a large swastika on a white board, next to the words "born 2 kill," both of which he contended were drawn on the side of the truck in the dirt when it drove by Requena's home that day. He also posted in front of the jury photographs of the tattoos.

No reasonable person could believe the

Tankovich brothers intended anything but to harass Requena, Verharen said. Malicious harassment requires the prosecutor prove Requena was threatened because of his race and Verharen said that occurred on numerous levels, from the truck stopping and backing up to the way the brothers returned to the home.

They told Requena they'd be back and they told him they were going to harm him, Verharen said. They said numerous times they were going to take care of the situation themselves, he said. And they did this, Verharen said, while uttering repeatedly one of the few words that would be offensive to Requena.

"They didn't call Mr. Requena a jerk," Verharen said. "They called him a beaner, and they did it many times."

Schwartz and Whitaker tried to persuade the jury that the case was not about race, a prerequisite to a malicious harassment finding. They said the men were driving by the home when they saw Requena's electrical contracting truck and stopped to buy some phone cable. When Requena pulled a gun, they became upset and only returned to the scene to contact the police.

"Why is Mr. Requena lying to you?"

Schwartz asked, attempting to cast doubt on Requena's testimony that all three men charged at him from the truck. "It's because he knows he instigated this."

Schwartz said the defense has made no attempt to hide the fact that the Tankoviches did, repeatedly, utter a racial slur. But he said that's not illegal when there's no threat attached.

"We can all hate what they say," Schwartz said. "But it is not against the law to be ignorant" Whitaker told the jury Verharen wanted them to "check your common sense at the door and look at it in a vacuum," he said.

"Don't do it. It's not about race."

The Press, Tuesday, November 2, 2010

ECTION

C Popcorn Forum returns after one-year absence last year due to budget and time constraints.

"I'm just so pleased about this," said retired NIC political science instructor and human rights activist Tony Stewart

By MAUREEN DOLAN The symposium will run from Staff writer Nov: 8-11, and will feature a fourday long Chautauqua series. It COEUR d' ALENE - It's is co-sponsored by the Human back.

The Popcorn Forum returns Rights Education Institute, the to the North Idaho College cam- Idaho Humanities Council, and NIC. pus next week.

During his time at NIC, The annual lecture series and symposium, a Coeur d'Alene tra- Stewart founded and coordinated the yearly forum, which dition since 1970, was canceled

Symposium canceled last year due to budget, time constraints

features a string of lectures, panel discussions and workshops focused on critical political and cultural issues.

Next week's program will highlight Stewart the humanities through a historical journey for peace and human rights from 1850 to the present.

It is designed to assist the public in understanding how historical events and leaders have helped shape and change our lives.

"When learning it can be a challenge to retain info, but with this format, you think you really have gone back in history and met these people,'' Stewart said.

"I think that is why people lilc it so much."

The week's events will be at NIC's Schuler Performing Arts Center with the exceptio of the Thursday evening performance that will be held in the Lake Coeur d'Alene Room of the NIC Edminster Student Union Building. see POPCORN, CS

POPCORN

from C1

All the performances are free and open to the public.

For further information call HREI at 292-2359 Monday

• 9 a.m. The series kicks off with Tawnya Pettiford Wates from Virginia bringing historical figure SoJourner Truth to life on stage.

• 11 a.m. Suzan Jarvis King from New York City will bring historical figure Eleanor Roosevelt to life on stage.

Tuesday • 9 am. Albert

Wilkerson from Idaho will perform as a Buffalo

Soldier.

• 11 a.m. Jeanne Givens of Seattle and a member of the Coeur d'Alene Tribe will present the story of the Coeur d'Alene Tribe's last chief, Ignace Hayden Garry.

Wednesday

• 9 a.m. Denise Clark from Idaho will bring historical figure and union leader Mother Jones to life on stage.

• 11 a.m. Harvey Richman from Idaho will bring historical figure Mohandas Gandhi to life.

Thursday

• 9 a.m. Rev. Happy Watkins of Spokane will bring the late Dr. Martin Luther King to the stage with King's famous "I Have A Dream Speech."

• 11 a.m. Annette Baldwin from Chicago will bring historical figure Susan B. Anthony to life on stage.

• 7:30 p.m. Dr. George Frein will bring Abraham Uncoln to life on stage.

The presenting schol-

ars have participated in Chautauqua performances for humanities councils in Colorado, Maryland, Missouri, Idaho, Illinois, Kansas and South Carolina. Our presenters have degrees in the arts, drama, history, philos6phy /religion, and English/Literature.

Their credentials include awards from the National Endowment for the Humanities, Fellowship with the NEB, performances at the National

Indian tradition and culture in the region.

Garry was also there when the Allotment Act was implemented on The Coeur d'Alene Reservation between 1906 and 1909.

Of Spokane and Kalispel descent, Garry was an enrolled member of The Coeur d'Alene Tribe. He moved to the Coeur d'Alene Reservation with his family during the migration that took place near the time of the allotment, when the Coeur d'Alenes opened their doors to many Indians.

"Every man, woman and child were allotted 160 acres, and that sounds OK. but if you own 1 000 acres one day, and you woke up the next day and have only 160 acres th_a t v.:as a very low

number," Givens said.

"So, that was a tough time."

There were other challenges faced by the new landowners, including difficulty filing for land rights patents after they had received their allotments.

It was also during that time that anglicized names were given to many Indians, Givens said.

"If you had a name like Rolling Thunder, your name might end up being Ronald Thomas," Givens

mother, Celina GarryGoulsby was born.

'They were stretching their money, and they were always trying to make do," Givens said.

During this time, Alice, one of Ignace's daughters, had been crowned Miss Indian America, and caught the eye of the man who arranged events for the Davenport Hotel in Spokane. As a way to make money during the Depression, Ignace Garry accepted an offer for his family to entertain dignitaries and guests said. visiting the Davenport Some Indians, with just Hotel in Spokane. A photo one name, were simply of Alice Garry standing given the last name of with Herbert Hoover, the person keeping the hangs upstairs today at records at the time. the hotel.

The Great Depression Ignace Garry took his started not long after the job as chief very seriallotment, and it was dur- ously, Givens said. The ing this time that Givens' role of a traditional chief

Two days of Popcom Forum left Today • 9 a.m. Denise Clark from Idaho will bring historical figure and union leader Mother Jones to life on stage.

11 a.m. Harvey Richman from Idaho will bring historical figure Mohandas Gandhi to life.

Luther King to the stage with King's famous "I Have A Dream Speech."

• 11 a.m. Annette Baldwin from Chicago will bring historical figure Susan B. Anthony to life on stage.

• 7:30 p.m. Dr. George Frein will bring Abraham Lincoln to life on stage.

Thursday

All performances are free and open to the

a

• 9 a.m. Rev. Happy Watkins of Spokane will bring the late Dr. Martin

public.

Information: 292-2359

was both ceremonial and for 10 year . religious. In addition to Given followed in her being responsible for car- uncle Joseph's footsteps, rying on the traditions, and becam the fir t language and culture female American Indian of the tribe, a chief also elected to the Idaho personally helped tribal Legislature in 1984. members going through Celina, Given ' difficult times. mother, was a seer tary Ignace was spiritually who eventually b cam strong, Givens said, and director of the Am rican loved to sing and dance. lodian Center in Spokane She recalls visiting him as and lived out her days ' a child, and he frequently on the Coeur d'Alene sang, always trying to Reservation. instill his children and Jgnace Garry died at grandchildren with their the age of 80, still workpeoples' cultural tradiing for his people. He tions. developed pneumonia "He also always had a after a trip to the Cama sweat lodge outside of his Prairie to gather tradihouse made with birch tional supplies for a family branches," she said. dinner. . Because of their expe"H guided his peopl nences at the Davenport during celebration of Givens said Ignace's chi good times and in saddren were a1J comfortable ness. He danced, ang in front of a crowd, and and lived a long, industriproud of their heritage. ous life: Closest to his Ignace s son, Joseph heart were his traditions Garry, was the first bis stone , his relations ' American lndian to be his religion and his Iam: elected to the Idaho ily;" Given said. ':'H e was Legislature. He also the la t of a great tradiserved as the chairman of tion of tribal chief of the the Coeur d'Alene Tribe oeur d'Al ne Tribe."

The Press

Friday, November 5, 2010

A9

and Human Rights from 1860- Present featuring that aignilcantly contributed to the

1'edaesday,IfOY.10111 9 AM- Mother Jones (Denise Clark) 11 AM-Mohandas Gandhi (Harvey

Richman) ftanclay, lfOY.11 111 9AM-Dr. MartinLutherlCing, Jr. (Rev. Happy Watkins) 11 AM-Susan B. Anthony (Annette Baldwin)

7:30 PM-Abraham Lincoln (Dr. George Frein) held in the Lake Cd'A

mom @NIC SUB Co-sponsored by the Idaho Humanities Council and North Idaho College

NORTHWEST THE SPOKESMAN-REVIEW

NOVEMBER 5, 2010 â&#x20AC;˘ FRIDAY â&#x20AC;˘ PAGE A9

Human rights program offered The Human Rights Education Institute will hold a four-day long Chautauqua series at North Idaho College next week, highlighting the contributions of historic figures who worked for peace or human rights.

HREI is putting on the program with support from a $4,500 Idaho Humanities Council grant, and from NIC, which is contributing performance space.

The portrayals of historic figures will take place at 9 a.m. and 11 a.m. daily from Monday through Thursday with a final performance at 7:30 p.m. Thursday.

Chatauqua performers will portray figures including Eleanor Roosevelt, Mother Jones, Gandhi, Martin Luther King, Susan B. Anthony, Abraham Lincoln and more.

All but the final performance , will be held in NIC's Schuler Performing Arts Center.

The Thursday evening performance will be held in the Lake Coeur d'Alene Room of the NIC Edminster Student Union Building. All events are free.

For more information, call HREI at (208) 292-2359, visit hrei.org or, on Facebook, go to "HumanRightsCDA."

Popcorn Forum returns Educational event comes to Schuler after hiatus ickDimico Staff Cc>11trib11tor

Th Popcorn Forum i back thi week after cane Ung la t year due to budget problem .

Th Human Right Education lnstitut annouacedlast!\1onday that in ospon or hip with the ldaho Humaniti s Council and NIC, the human right organization will feature a four-day-long Chautauqua ries at IC. It's an annual Jectur erie and ymposium, a Co ur d'Alene tradition sine 1970.

"I'm ju t so pl a ed about thi ," aid retir d political ci nc instructor and human right activi tTony tewart.

While tewart was t aching at NIC, he founded and coordinated th yearly forum, which feature a sbiog of lecture panel discus ion and work hops focu d on critical political and cullural i u .

The ov. 8-11 symposium will highlight the humanities through a hi torical journey for peace and human rights from 1850 to U1e pre · nt.

It is d signed to as ist the public in und r taoding how hi torical vents and leader have help d shap and change our Uve . ''When learning, it can be a challenge to r tain info, but with thi format, you think you really

hav gone back in hi to,ry and met the e people," tewarl aid. "I think that i why p op! like it o much."

The Idaho Humanitie ouncil funds numerous program throughout th tate of Idaho. The proj ts the coun il has funded over the year hav included Chautauqua pr ntr . po ts and hi torical character . and feature , authors, lectur rs and a great vari ty of other format .

The pre en ting cholar have participated in Chautauqua p rformanc for humanj(:i council in Colorado, Maryland, Missouri, Idaho, Illinoi , Kan a and South Carolina Pr eat r have degree in U1 art , drama, hi lory, philosophy/religion and Eogli h/Literature. Their credential include awards from the National Eodowm nt for th Humaoitie , Fellow hip with th NEH. p rformanc at tbe National Mu eum of American Hi ·tory, th rnith oruan ln titution in Wa hington, Broadway in w York ity, in ub- aharao and We t Africa. Dr. G org Frein i the director of the National hautauqua Tour.

Th week' vent will b at huler P rforming Arts Cent r with the xception of the Thursday :Vening performance that will be h Id in th Lak Co ur d'AJen Room upstair in the UB. All the performance are fr e and open to the public.

For further informatfon all HREI at 292-2359.

Schedule of Events Monday 9 a.m. - Tawnya Pettiford Wates as Sojourner Truth.

11 a.m. -Suzan Jarvis King as Eleanor Roosevelt.

Tuesday 9 a.m. - Albert Wilkerson a a Buffalo Soldier.

11 a.m. - Jeann Givens and a member of the Coeur d'Alene Tribe will present the story of the Coeur d'Alene Tribe's last chief, Ignace Hayden Garry.

Wednesday 9 a.m. - Denise Clark as Mother Jones.

11 a.m. - Harvey Richman a Mohandas Gandhi

Thursday 9 a.m. -Th Rev. Happy Watkins of Spokane a I)r. Martin Luther King.

11 a.m. -Annette Baldwin a Susan B. Anthony.

7:30 p.m. - Dr. George Fr ia a Abraham Lincoln.

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From: Subject: Date: To:

Tony Stewart

FW: Tony Stewart E-Mail October 3, 2010 8:08:43 PM PDT Tony Stewart

TOPIC: "ADVANCING THE HUMANITIES THROUGH CHAUTAUQUA PRESENTATIONS: THE JOURNEY FOR PEACE AND HUMAN RIGHTS FROM 1850-PRESENT" MONDAY, NOVEMBER 8 9:00 AM Tawnya Pettiford Wates (Virginia) portraying So Journer Truth 11AM Suzan Jarvis King (New York City) portraying Eleanor Roosevelt TUESDAY, NOVEMEBER 9 9:00 AM Albert Wilkerson (Coeur d'Alene) portraying Buffalo Soldier 11AM Jeanne Givens (Seattle) keynote address about CDA Chief Ignace Garry WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 10 9AM Denise Clark (Coeur d'Alene) portraying Mother Jones 11AM Harvey Richman (Coeur d'Alene) portraying Mohandas Gandhi THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 11 9AM Happy Watkins (Spokane) giving Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr's. "I Have A Dream" Speech 11AM Annette Baldwin (Chicago) portraying Susan B. Anthony 7:30 PM Dr. George Frein (South Carolina) portraying Abraham Lincoln All these Chautauqua presenters have done these characters before. In fact, some of the scholars listed above have performed on the international stage.

We will also show the 60 minute documentary titled: "Inside Buffalo". This is a film about the role of the American Black soldier in WW II and the Buffalo Soldier's great contributions in liberating southern Italy from the Germans. The producer and director is Fred Kuwornu from Rome, Italy. We have been corresponding about his doing a tour in Idaho.

V

l hrough the Eyes of a Friend' Sarah f llowing th fall of Holland to the azis, before the Frank family and arah' family wer forced to go into hiding.

Whil the girl do thing most teen do think about boy and dream about becoming movi tars Arnst rdam i b coming an incr a ingly inho pita· bl plac for th m to liv .

The t en fri nd talk about ome of their favorite pastimes being outlawed for them - going to the bea h and li tening to the radio - whil at the ame tim , it becom s illegal for Jew to tay out after 8 p.m. or vi it

Presentation tells the story of Anne Frank

By MAUREEN DOLAN Staff writer COEUR d'ALENEancy McNeil read uAnne Frank: Th Diary of a Young Girl," when he wa 11 year old, more than 30 y ars ago.

A a child. U1 Po t FaJI woman found the book 'O compelli11g, b ouJdn't put it down.

'I rem mber r ading it under lh cover and crying and crying," McN il aid.

The tory till ha the sam aff ct today n Mc eil. Sh wa on of 60 p op! to turn out Monday at orlh Idaho olleg for '111.r ugh th Ey of a Fri n ." a program about F,d.llk, a young J wi h t n who docum nt d h r xp rince whil in hiding in Nazi-o cupi d Holland during World War Il. "Coming today wa my way of paying homage," aid McN ii, a h wip d her ye following lhe 25-minute fr

SHAWN GUST/Press

Rachael McClinton, artistic director and founder of Seattle-based performance company Living Voices, is silhouetted against a slide of a sample of Anne Frank's diary Monday while performing "Through the Eyes of a Friend" at North Idaho College.

how pon or d by lh Human Right Edu ation In titule.

A tr Rachael Mc linton. th arti tic dir ctor and fow1der of U1 attle-ba ed Living Voi e p rforrnance company, gav lhe dramatic, educational pre entation. ing archival footage a a ba kdrop M Clinton t 11 Frank's tory, lhe

tory of millions of Holocau t victim~. fr m th point of vi w of a fictional be t friend . arah Wei. "I gu the key to thi i , we are living in a tim when the young people who e thi piece, when they're aduJt , ther will not b any Holocau t urvivor left.," Mc lintoa aid. ''Wi 're trying to

hri tians.

Then th girl · da s-

mate start 'di app aring," and one day their teacher b gin to cry during cla . he t II k ep the tory aliv . It's them the Nazi took h r hu band away. Th n, Ule about something that m an a lot to me. It' teach r do sn't return to to not let the tory top hool. being told when we lo B fore long, the girl that valuable voice, of the are eparated becau e urvivors ... I want to feel they mu t both go into hiding. that w hopefully honor hi tory by peaking it in About two year later, th .first p r on." th y ar reunited al a pri The program chronon work camp, and are icl Frank' experisee EVES, A4 ences with her "friend '

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zIll Tuesday / November 9, 2010

A4

The Press

Tuesda y, November 9, 2010

SHAWN GUST/ Press

Nancy McNeil, of Post Falls, is brought to tears during a performance by Living Voices depicting the story of Sarah Weis, a fictional friend of Anne Fran k.

e e Ii ing are no he only . nne a urv· or through her orcls. oI mu emember. a dI shar y mem ie rough my dra · ill ver forg t."

RACHAEL McCLINTON

actress, performing as Sarah Weis, a fictional friend of Anne Frank

at d by the Allie . arah urvive the from A1 amp and her tory continue , leading her to ventually enl tog th r emigrat to th United by train to Au chwilz. tate. ivn1 re' thi oily Otto Frank, Anne' t n h of d ath," ay father and lhe only Frank McClinton, playing th family m mb r to urviv role of arah.

Lhe camp , nds Anne' Th pair nd up at dfary to arah, an arti t, B rgen-B l n one oL Wu tral . tration camp wh re lh "It mad m realiz we 15-year-old Ann Frank the living ar not th only and h r older i ter di urvivor . Ann ' a urvifrom typhu · , one month vor through her word . I befor th camp wa liber- live o I must rem mber

EYES

and 1 bare my memorie through my drawing o no on will ev r forg t, ' ay Mc linton a Sarah.

'Through h r diary, Anne i here. be hare her memorie t.oo.

The Human Right Education In titute i pon oring p rformance of 'Through the Eye of a Friend" throughout lbe we k at hool in the lak land, Kootenai Plumm r-Worl y, Co ur d'Alene and Po t Fall hool di lrict .

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~eanne ~1vens, a member of the Coeur d'Alene Tribe, presents historical mformatio_n about the Coeur d'Alene Tribe's last chief, Ignace Hayden Garry, during a Popcorn Forum session Tuesday at North Idaho College.

By MAU REEN DOLAN Staff write r COEUR d' ALENE -

lgna e Garry lived during a time of gr al chang for all Am rican Indians.

Coeur d'Alene Tribe member and educator J anne Given poke about Garry, her grandfather. during one of thi week ion of the Popcorn Forum h Id al North Idaho Colleg .

"One of the highst honor that be ver received, wa when the Co ur d'Al ne Trib turned to him when Jo ph IUc pa ed away to erv a the chief of tb oeur d :Alen Tiibe " Giv n aid to roughly 1 0 people in NIC' hul r P rforming Art C nt r.

B rn in 1884, arry be ame lh la t traditional chief of th Coeur d'Al n Trib , rving from 1935 until hi death in t 965.

Tribal government i n w a demo racy, with tribal lead rs - th coun il and its chairman - elected by the people. lgnac Garry wa a de endanl of Chi f pokan Garry, who lived from 1811 o 1892, and wa an important 6.gur in treaty n gotialion in this r gion. lgna e' grandfather wa Matthew Heyd n, th pioneer who, a cording to legend, won the right lo name Hayden Lake in a card game.

Through hi life.

Ignace wa wit:n to many major change for his p ople, Giv n said.

He watch d the Catholic Church b com rmanent art of

MONDAY I NOVEMBER 8. 2010

WWW.NICSENTINEl.COM

PIISCIIU IEll NIC es I

Valume 641 ISSUI 3

11\flli Yi UJ !Nil~[ff) II

Chad Beach, 20, voices his beliefs by holding a sign during a human rights rally organized in response to protests by the Westboro Baptist Church at NIC Oct. 22. Westboro came to protest "The Laramie Project." Mike McCalVSentmel

Students, community rally for equality

A

Dan Woods 'tajJ ontriburor

''Unity Rally'' against the We tboro Baptist Church protest was held on the same morning of the WBC protestand doubled as a "gay right '' rally and, to a lesser extenl, a ~support-our-troop " rally.

Excitement wa high. The crowd was gay, literally in the old meaning of the word. Speeche were punctuated frequently by entbu ia tic cheering.

Held at the Human Rights Education Institute next to City Park, the rally drew a crowd large enough to fill the building and more. People wer standing outside the doors to hear the speakers.

The Kootenai County Task Force on Human Relations organized the event Fonner NIC instructor and Task Force on Human Relations founding member Tony Stewart was the master of ceremonies for a slate of 19 peakers representing local educational institutions, student clubs, veterans, religious institutions, labor unions, the Coeur d'Alen tribe, and local and state government The audience was given yellow ribbons to wear in support of U.S. soldiers. and

several speakers offered thanks to soldiers for their service.

Tolerance and diversity were perennial topics, and whil rarel~ mentioned by name, "gay rights" was a view often affirmed. Younger speakers were more liberal with it Coeur d Alene High School student Emma Samuels, r presenting her school s Human Rights Club, said, "Each human has a voice. Every culture is beautiful. And we will continue supporting diversity until the day we know our children will live in a land where we can honestly say each man or woman or transgender is free and equal."

Racine Balough, NIC Gay Straight Alliance Club president, said "It doesn't matter what religion you are - in this country you are free to pray a you see fit It doesn't matter what color you are -you are free to love as you see fit And someday it won't matter what sex you are either."

Balough continued, 'The world is getting way too small for us to squabble about whose beliefs are better than others. If we are to urvive with each other on this tiny planet, we're going to have to have to put our differences away. As the DaJai Lama once said, all major religions carry basi-

cally th sam me sage, that life. compassion and fo rgiveness hould be part of our daily liv ."

Dani l Butts, NlC Gay Straight Alliance Club memb r, said, 0 fd like to remind ev0 erybody today that what we're doing is not just about being gay or straight or Christian or Jewish or Black or White. These labels ar irrelevant What we are doing today i standing up for what w believe

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ASNlC Pre . Jenna 8 tts observed that many tudents have never en ountered uch divergent opinion .

She said, "Th WBC ha essentially given the college an event that can be used a a po itive teaching tool." She said she i proud of how NIC tudents have responded.

Some peakers thanked Fred PheJps and Westboro Baptist Church specifically for providing an opportunity for them to re pond peacefully to opinion with which they strongly disagree.

Many peakers mentioned the First Amendment, saying Westboro Baptist Church had a right to protest State Sen. John Goedde said, ~one of

See MllY I Page 4

>RlllY from page 1

Frequently directing his remarks toward "the young people," he said that it is their duty to get out and "fight hate with love.

That is the only way you can overcome this disease."

He said that homosexuals today experience the same thing that Blacks and American Indians experienced in the 1920s.

"Young people," he said, gesturing toward a group of homosexual protesters who had come from the WBC protest, "you are experiencing the same thing that my mother 92 years ago experienced-hate. Only because she was part Choctaw and African Ameri-

the provisions of the U.S. Constitution is the right to free speech, and while I respect their right to free speech I find the content of their mes age reprehensible."

Several speaker distinguished their understanding of religion from Westboro Bapti t Church's vi w of Christianity.

Charlotte Nilson, Coeur d'Alene Tribal Council, said, "My god respects everybody. everything. Wi 've always been taught to can." respect all the living things even down to a He said that people afflicted with hate spider. And so l know that when we cross need to "see a doctor - a Jove doctor," and over to those pearly gates you can always said, "And please, when you see an idiot, choose my god's door because he'll be just love him." there and o will a bunch of spiders that I Two religious leaders spoke, a Catholic stepped on." priest, Fr. Roger LaChance of SL Pius X Nilson, reading the Coeur d'Alene tribe's prepared mes age, said that the tribe ¡ Church. and the Rev. Marilyn Meuhlbach of Unity Church. has often over the years experienced bigotLaChance said that all social teachings ry and hatred. She read, ''We must continue and human rights must be rooted in the into promote the message that our diversity herent dignity of the human person. He said makes us strong as a people. as a country that most religions have a teaching compaand definitely a a community." rable to Christianity's "golden rule."

Speaking on behalf of veterans, Albert He said, "Every human being is created Wilkerson, Vietnam War veteran, said. in the image of God, we believe. Therefore "'There is no room for hate in a foxhole.

each human life is sacred and must not be said that it doesn't take an out ide group treated as a thing, as an object, as someone like Westboro Baptist Church to bring this to be trampled upon." out Meuhlbach said, "When we choose WSU has those . an1e value , he aid, hate it's as if we are pouring poison into and reguJarly makes efforts in th promoour bodies. Ana when we tion of those value . Long choose to spew that hate before the WBC pro t had "\Vhenwe at others we're creating been planned, W U had Hell right here on earth." cheduled a "brown bag choose bate, She encouraged audilunch~ event for the day beence members to make fore th day of the WBC proit' as if e choices against hate every test to "help faculty and staff are pouring day, and that, if they make better understand the ne ds a bad decision, choose poison into our of GLBTQ tudents and their again and better. "Choose allies." bodies. ' often, choose up," she said.

The final pe.aker was NIC Pres. Priscilla Bell Po t Fall City Councilwoman said that while NIC acknowlKerri TI1oreson. Sh conedges freedom of speech 111111.llllaYIIIEIIIICII cluded her remark by saying, "We do know who we are and and belief, it is important to Unttv Church stand in opposition "when we if we say it often enough, loud are assaulted by views, stateenough and with enough pasments and actions that are antithetical to our sion there is no one group who, no matter values and to the culture of North Idaho Col- how loud and repugnant their me sage, will lege - a culture of inclusiveness and respect n succeed in defining u ."

Barbara Chamberlain, director of comThe rally ended with the Pledge of Almunications and public affairs for Washinglegiance. ton State University in Spokane said that "While those who came to Idaho to she grew up fo Idaho and that Idaho places preach hate and walk on the flag, we came to value on diversity and inclusiveness. She honor the flag," Stewart said.

C6

The Press

Wednesday, November 24, 2010

North Idaho

Idaho Humanities Council awards 25 grants at fall meeting tions in November titled "Journey for Peace and Human Rights from 1850-Present." Nine performances featured portrayals of Sojourner Truth, Abraham Lincoln, Eleanor Roosevelt, Susan B. Anthony, Mother Jones, Mohandas Gandhi, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Coeur d'Alene Chief Ignace Hayden Garry, and a 19th century "Buffalo Soldier." The project director was Tony Stewart • Wallace District Mining Museum (Wallace) received $4,750 for the third year of their collection automation project designed to improve Public Program Grants: collections management, expand accessibility, and • Human Rights improve interpretation.

Education Institute The museum is digitizing (Coeur d'Alene) was its entire collection of artiawarded $4,500 to help facts, photographs, and support a series of Chautauqua presentahistorical paper ephemera

The Idaho Humanities Council, the nonprofit, state-based affiliate of the National Endowment for the Humanities, awarded $70,443 in grants to organizations and individuals at its recent board meeting in Boise.

The 25 awards include 10 grants for public humanities programs, four Research Fellowships, four Teacher Incentive Grants, and seven planning grants.

The grants were supported in part by funding from the NEH and IHC's Endowment for Humanities Education.

The following local projects were funded:

related to the mining history of the Silver Valley.

The project director is Jim McReynolds.

• Community Library Network (Hayden) was awarded $8,000 from NEH "We the People" funds for a regional reading program involving 15 area libraries.Participants will read The Hotel on the Comer of Bitter and Sweet

by Jamie Ford, about Japanese-American internment during World War Il. Several public pre&entations, including three readings and talks by Ford, a jazz concert exploring the role of music culturally and historically for Japanese Americansinldaho,and lectures aboutJapaneseAmerican internment will be held in February and March 2011. Ford will make three presentations March 15-16. The project director is Karen Yother.

Blue Mountain Grant County's newspaper since 1898 D ECEMBER

29, 2 010 •

No. 5 2

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Mullet keeps busy - outside Grant County B

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Blue Mounlain Engle

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Eagle file photos

Above: Dee Mlchael wastes no words In expressing her concern about an Aryan Nations plan to set up shop n Grant County. She was among the protesters who ral· lled on Main Street In John Day last February and March. The Aryan Nations leader has since located In ?hlo. ~ef~ted story below.

ee MULLET. Pa

A7

MULLET: Splinter groups documented Continuedfrom Page Al Adorned with swastikas and 'Heil Hitler" graphics, Mullet's Aryan Nations website presents a 25-point platform that castigates Jews and calls for a union of all whites as a "Greater America," with citizenship only for those of pure white blood. The website also offers a tribute to Hitler's Waffen SS troops, copies of Hitler speeches, racist jokes and "cool slurs, '

and photos and article about the late Richard Butler who established the Aryan Nations stronghold io northern Idaho.

Mullet' group is one of several successors to the Butler regime, which collap ed after a civil lawsuit bankrupted hi s compound and triggered wide pread defections by member . Since Butler' death in 2004 other white upremacists have vied for

Blue Mountain Eagle

dominance in the¡ movement in Idaho and other tate , including New York Ohio and Mi ouri.

The Southern Poverty Law Center has called Mullet's group one of the be t organized of the off hoot , although it al o ay mo t plinter group apparen tly have lirtle more than a website and a few member .

The SPLC say Mullet' canting nt gained member

Opinion

from the Maryland-ba ed World Knight of the Ku Klux Klan when it di banded in 2010.

Mullet group i.s credited with a demonstration la t June at G tty burg National Military Park in Penn ylvania and a 'Whit nity Day" in July in Pula Id, Tenn. The SPLC reported that Mullet was eeking donation to buy 15 acre of land in Tennessee for new white homeland.

Wednesday, December 29, 2010

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR Caring people, fine holiday feast To the Edjtor: Our appreciation to Glenn and

Ro eAnn Palmer and aJI tho e that bel ped Lhem for the wonderful Chsi tma Dinner at the Senior Building on Chri tmas Day. We only find wonderfuJ caring people in malJ communities.

We ar very thankful to be living io Grant C unty again, working with tbe hri tian folk in Prairie City. It wa wonderful to renew friendship from year past in John Day. M ay G d ble you all this

wonderful holiday season.

Pastor Marv and Georgie

Hatfield Grace Chapel Prairie City

Community a model To the Editor: 1 wish to congratulate the wonderful residents of Grant County and the City of John Day for their courage and determination ever ioce last February in standing up .again t messages of hate. You are an excellent example of how a community can say no to hate and be victorious in pursuing the principles of democracy. The actions

you took on February 26, 2010, and your continued efforts and projects on behalf of ju tice and equality have earned you a national reputation and model of how to prevent bate from talcing root in a community. In addition, you are demonstrating the successful path of how a community unites to protect the well being of all its citizens.

I wish for your county and city the greatest new year filled with good health and prosperity for all.

Warm regards Tony Stewart Kootenai County

Task Force on Human Relations Coeurd'Alene, Idaho

Blu Mountain Eagle

News

Wedne da , December 29. 20 I 0

ARYAN: Lessons seen in response A7

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•

Eagle file photo

Res1den1s applaud during one of two community meetings held by the Blue Mountain Eagle last March to provide information on hate groups and particularly the Aryan Nations. The meetings drew such large crowds to the Canyon City Community Hall that the state fire marshal stepped In and set a 300-person llmit for each.

More people were able to follow the proceedings onllne, first through a Jive webcast and later on video, stlli available at www.MyEagleNews.com

Eagle me photo

Eathin Rhinehart creates a limegreen paper crane In his Humbolt • Elementary class last March. The students made the cranes in support of human rights and peace.

Continued from Page Al Unexpected spotlight An unexpected benefit of the incident, however. came from th.e spotlight it put on the community.

While om.e worried the Aryan Nation ' intere t would cast a negative lig?ll on the county, that didn't occur.

'I can t teD you how many card and letters I received through the city, from all over tate, and a far as the East Coast. There were people who had heard the tory through the media and they ju t wanted to thank the community for what we did for landing up to the Aryan Nations," Quinton aid. lo Prairie City Michael recall the as e sment of Tony Stewart, one of the Kootenai County (Idaho Task Force on Human Relation officials who spoke in Grant County in March. Stewart aid John Day would go down in hi tory as the community that reacted the fa te t to the Aryan Nations. He called it a victory for the county.

Michael, who ha mix.ed-rac grandchildren, aid he had e n how quickly and ea ily the follower of guru Bbagwan Shree Rajnee h were able to e tablish a commune and city government in Wasco County in the 1980 .

"1 saw bow they did it and ju. I knew the Aryan Nation could do the arne thing here. ' he aid.

The ommunity' r pon e, he said, ..was great.' ''1 ju t thought , the men in chi valley aren · t going to tay on their bor e and tractor and let them take over ' Michael aid. ' And they came off and came into town, from the youngest to the olde l. • She aid he doe n't have any concern that a future threat would be succe ful.

"1 don't think the people of thi valley will let them come in ' he said.

~nslearned?

Jim Spell aid one le on from the experience is that "our way of life can be attacked in a rapid fa hion in a way that is unexpected - we were unprepared for it, ' he said.

The community took one tep forming the Grant County Human Right Coalition Jim Spell that cou ld help again t future threats.

"We have that preparation and have a lot of the groundwork laid in case if they do try to come back," Spell said. He de cribed it a a po itive step to protect local

value and tand ' up again t hatred .

He aid he'd like lo ee the oaliLlon continue with more young people involved.

'We need to view our fellow man a our fellow man " he aid. pell' ife Beth i on lbe board of Lbe Coalition, erving a vice chair. he aid the work will cominµe, ven wit.h the departure of Mullet

The oalirjon now i worki ng on i ue of race a well ocial ju lice for all kind. of people.

"We don' I want to ju t ii back and say. ·we·ve got Lha1 Ii ked ' ' he aid.

The core gr up of 10-1 i plm1ning an e ay come t in . pring for area tudenl , gi ing them an opportunity 10 reflect on and hare their thought about what happened in the community.

They al o plan to work on bullying prevention for you th , be aid, noting that a bullying m ntaliry i what'. behfod organization like the Aryan Nation . 'lf we can work with yo un g people to get them away from Llial bullying behavior thar going to beJp the whole ituation, he aid.

The udden threat of a whil upremaci t group here wa an ' eye-opener" for her, he aid.

1t cau ed her to think more deeply about .how word , jok . and action might not reflect a pe on true feeling , he aid.

"There are a lot of thing that we get lazy about, he aid, addjng that e eryone need IO be more clear that intolerance i not acceptable. " In the end, J think it wa a good experience for the community. It g thigh cho l kid thinking. it gol the Human Right C aliuon tarted.''

'I think we learned that e an work toge th er and we re mor aLike th an w are different." he aid.

The challenge ahead Other worry that out ·ide th coaliti on, the mom ntum ha lowed ince la t pring.

"Many people are back to Lha1 comfortable zone. It human

all pe ple with th e dignity and re p t tbey de erve. · Collin aid. ..Tb o we reaJJ put Lruth 10 our • tat m nt. lhal hat i not we] om here." tber concerns linger 10

There ha e been hange in people. but I dc;r n't ne e ari l . ee Lh itualion a, olved.

Wh n we bad a me Lino- with (Or Marcie gon Attorne GenCollins era l John Kroger) about ur i ue • . only a handful of people ame:· Collin · aid neo- azi a id there ar other con em remaining' for 1be community.

'There are area of prej udice in th.i ounry. c mm nt mad b ut achoJjc and Hi panic . for in can e. re i here until we admi1 it that it\ not iemal bu1 int mal ," . he aid. 'O nl y \ hen internal change are made, wilJ we .. . make a Jasting change.· he aid peopl need to admit U,a1 hate and bigotry do exi t here. and Lheo eek to reac an eovironmeol in whi h th y aren ' t ac ptable. ·w n ed to b awar f ho w come acr - 1 u e an overu cd phra ed - in a poli1icall correct ay. Wi need 10 r alize th L joke and !bing we ay an pul olber down and are not appropriate and ar in uJting,"' he aid.

Educa 1i on and under landing are key , he and oth r aid.

"W n ed I learn mo.r about 01her ullur . other pra ti e , other belief . o that \ e an treat

Like Collin . an y ickel al o ay th incid nt ha 0 ' 1 furthered the cau of toleran e a much a he'd hoped - al though h found the ornmunity' initial re p n e 10 be' in piring and ompJex. '' "'), me, il w· ba ed partly on fear r thal notoriou and violent group and the impact i1 could have on our ommunity, and partly on a de ir 10 h w . upp n for tol ranc . Ther was a prorni e of tran formali n in th · ommunity toward more inclu ivene , Nickel aid. he till h concern . She cite m local people that ar raci t, e i 1, anti-immigran t, or that denigrat people f variou faiths.

• The omment ar made openly and ometime v ry crnd e ly and Nancy with violent impliNickel cation ." he aid. ··1 am very oncemed Lhat cenaia popular T and radio how are pr rooting an agenda of intolerance and are pulling ou1 mi ·infonnation about ariou kind of p ople and ailing it new ·. Li tener are being whipped into frenzie , and the danger of violence top ople of div r e group i gro ing... i kel n L d that lhe community wa in the potlight. with national and lat media. becau e of ii Lrong .r p n la t winter.

"Wh n w are i iled in a few

year by the media and the que lion i a ked 'What i happening now with human right in your community?' we hould be able to how that we remain vigilant about threat to the dignity and afety of all the peop.l e in our community and that we are continuing Lo promote human rights for al l people ' he aid.

She urge people to upporl Lbe coalition in it effort to educate about and promote tolerance and human right . " II an be difficult to get rid of prejudice taught to u when we were y uo o-, but we an end the · tradition f pas ing on prej udice to the ne .l generation." Nicke-1 aid.

Youth reaction

Meantime Grant School Di trict 3 Superintendent Mark Witty look back with pride al way local youth reacted to the ituation.

He wa principal at Grant Union High School at th time, and tadent th ere followed the ne w , attended Lbe community meeting and formed theiI own group to promote diver iry and tolerance.

"I wa plea ed at the youth for tanding up for principle of tbi counuy. literal.ly demon trating for what they believed in," be aid . "Thi makes me believe th at o ur countr wiU be in good hand a tbi group of yo uth become co mmunity leader .''

A for their elder â&#x20AC;˘ Witty believe ome re ideot urpri ed ev n 1bemselve by bow quickly they organized and rallied around the i ue. lt proved that "Grant County ha value that make lhi a great plac to live," he aid. ' ommunity action wor .' h aid. "I think we bould trive to ontinuc to upport tolerance a a community.

- Eagle staffers Che,yl Hoefler, Sandra Gubel Angel Carpenter

and Scotta Callister contributed to thi sr01y.

For a link to the Grant County Human Right Coalition website, visit W\VW.MyEagle ews.com.

Chautauqua series brings human rights leaders to life aes • Sojourner Truth • Abe Lineoln • Buffalo Soldier • Chief lgnaee

The Press, Tuesday, January 11 , 2011

SECTIO

C Task force, schools combine for King program the program ha erved 31,000 filth-grade Po t Fall and Coeur d'Alene tudent .

Ba ed on funding from the KCTFHR, the Po t Falls and COEUR d'ALENE - The Coeur d'Alene chool di tricts Kootenai County Task Force on and The Coeur d'Alene Trib .

Human Rights will join with the the we k' events will featur Co ur d'Al ne and Po t Fall speakers from the Oakland, Calif.-based FundaFie1d chool di trict and the North Idaho College Human Equality Foundation.

Th group i comprised of 30 Club to pon or th 26th annual Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. pro- kids who organize fundrai ing to build soccer field and program at NIC this week.

During the past 25 years, vide the equipment for children

Gala scheduled for Jan. 17 at Parkside Tower Event Center

in Africa.

El ven year-old Kira Weis , a memb r of th FundaField, who with the other member of her family ju t returned . from Uganda aft r building the eighth oc er field in Africa, wiU be th p aker at th 26th annual Dr. Martin Lullier King, Jr. filth-grade children' program at NIC's Schuler Performing Art enter on Friday at 9:30 a.m. and noon.

Th Kootenai County Task Fore on Human Relation

i sponsoring a p ech by another memb r of the Weis family, I year-old Kyl W, ¡ , at it annual gala on Monday, Jan. 17.

The gala i h du1ed from 5-8:30 p.m. at the Park ide Tower Event enter, 601 Front St., Third Floor Co ur d Al n .

Tickets are $40 and can b purchased by mailing a he k to the KCTFHR P O Box 2725, Coeur d'Alene, ID 3 16 or calling Michelle Fink, orth Idaho Title, 765-3333.

The Press, Saturday, January 15, 2011

C NORTH IDAHO: Smithsonian exhibit to visit Cd' A library

JEROME A. POLLOS/Press

Kira Weiss, the managing director of FUNDaFIELD, discusses her work helping provide soccer fields and employment for villages in Africa. Weiss spoke at the 26th annual human rights celebration Friday at North Idaho College.

The heart of us all' Annual event celebrates human rights

By MAUREEN DOLAN

Staff writer

COEUR d'ALENE - "Get on your feet. Get up and make it happen."

Area fifth-grade students danced, clapped and sang along to Gloria Estefan's pop hit, as the 26th annual Human Rights Celebration at North Idaho College came to an end Friday.

The event, held each year in conjunction with the Martin Luther King Jr. Day, brings school children from Coeur d'Alene and Post Falls together.

The program, entitled "Everyday heroes ... The heart of us all " has become a yearly celebration of those who, like King, have seen their dreams as a call to action.

"He was a great man, an everyday hero who had a fire in his

heart to change the world. He had a dream of passion and eguality for all people and preached non-violence in his words and actions especially when dealing with people who showed disrespect, said Kristin Gorringe, principal of Winton Elementary School in Coeur d'Alene, and one of the event emcees, with Pam Pratt, Co ur d'Alene' dir ctor of elementary education.

Students sang, danced and shared about some of their own heroes, during the program described by Pratt as, "a celebration for you, and by you."

The keynote speaker, 12-yearold Kira Weiss, works with FUNDaFIELD, a California-based nonprofit that raises funds to build soccer fields for underprivileged children in Africa.

FUNDaFIELD was co-founded

by Kyle and Garrett Weiss, Kira' older brothers, after their family attended the World Cup soccer games in Germany in 2006.

At the time, the boys were 13 and 15 and they watched the first Iran vs. Angola soccer match.

Kyle and Garr tt di covered the fan in Africa were a passionate about soccer a they w re, Kira aid, and di mayed wh n they learn d ther wer no occ r leagues or fields for th.e children in Africa to enjoy.

She h Id up a small ball, about a third the siz of a r gulation soccer ball.

Th kid in Africa oft n make the mall balls, Kira said out of bahana leave and plastic bags.

"My brother didn't think it wa fair that kids aero s the world didn't hav the ame opportunities to play soccer and have fun like we do in the United States," Kira aid. "It really bothered them, and they decided to do something about it.

With their young friends, the boys began rai ing money to build soccer fields for the kids living in African countries.

The program grew, and to date they have raised $135,000, and have built eight occer fields. ·There are now ix high school

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A celebration of human rights

Angel Smith, from Sorensen Magnet School, lights a candle at the end of the human rights' celebration event Friday.

See story on page C1.

JEROME A POLL OS/Press

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Human Bights' Cual North ldah elebration ~College

January 14,2011

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Seltice Elementary School Dancers Mackyla Blair

Aidian Dunn

Vanessa Rivera

Devin Rusk

Matthew McLeod

Melody Kempton

Lilly Bowers

Justin Redd

Jacob Smith

Savannah Thoeny

Brandon Borders

Mackenzie Morri

Dalynn Kenerson

Dereck Tonasket

Sydney Schumacker

Kaleigh Brouhard

Tim 1.:.elly

Destiny Gilmore

Brisen Wright

Tyana Long

Readers Mul/a11 Trail

Syd11ey Perry

Ponderosa

Kylie Worley

Prairie View

Bayley Brennen

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Nickolas Brisson Jimmy Se/ls

West Ridge

SPECIAL THANKS To OUR SPONSORS: Kootenai County Task Foree on Human Relations Human Rights Education Institute Coeur d'Alene School District Post Falls School District Nordl Idaho College Human Equality Club Kootenai Tribe of Idaho Coeur d'Alene Tribe

Special Chorus Aspen helly

Jordan Koger

McKessa Rutt

Meghan Johnson

Anna Wilhelm

Nataya Calkins

Chloce Wadswonh

Twilla Gabriel

Damia Olsen

Lily Maria

Miranda Dean

Carolyn Rodrigues

Miranda Green

Kendall Cane

Olivia Ward

Dakota Taylor

Alyssa Griffin

,\lex Bulgar

Alexis Funk

Maddie Grangaard

Lyric Mood

Ashley Ball

Ara Burtis

Marissa Testa

Hailey Jones

Nyla Anton

Brenda Crow

Alisa Welling

Ivy Hadley

Jyllian Dunagan

Samantha Nearing

Haley Paine

Annalise Musto

Madyson Lahr

Jazmyne Lederhos

The Press, Thursday, January 13, 2011

ECTIO

C Working to get the word out Mend appointed to U.S. Commission for Civil Rights advisory committee

By ALECIA WARREN

Staff writer COEUR d'ALENE-MarshaJJ Mend has een North Idaho make great trides with human rights, he ay.

Bu there' always more to do. " ome p ople think human right i for everybody, 'ex pt' They aJway have an 'exc pt' in th re," he said on Monday. "But human rights i for human being that' why it' called human rights. It' doesn t matter whether you'r Chri tian. J wish, Mu Jim, Hindu, Buddhist gay or

traighL It's for everybody.'

He s till working to get the word out.

Mend a longtime human right activi tin Kootenai County, ha been tapped to provid guidance on civil rights legi lation and enforcement.

The Coeur d Alene R aJtor wa appointed in Dec mber to the tate advi ory ommittee for the U. .

Cammi ion on Civil Rights. The uncompen ated advi ory group di cu e regional di crim.ination issue and r port on tho e matt r to the federal government.

'That (fixing the problem ) i what they (the government) ar uppos d to do," h aid. "What we're doing i advising them on what, why and how. '

Marshal Mend was recently appointed to the Idaho State Advisory Committee to the United States Commission on Civil Rights, the only appointee from North Idaho.

SHAWN GUST/ Press

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'They've recently expanded the hate crimes law nationally, but what is not covered in the discrimination area is sexual orientation,' Stewart said. ''It's covered in om states, but there needs to be an amendment to the National Civil Right Act." Mend previou ly served on the advisory council from 1993 to 2004 when, he said, the fed- ' eral administration cut its budget and it stopped meeting. He admitted that in much of that time the council wasn't very active, some years not even having a single meeting.

"When they asked me (to join again), I asked, 'Are we going to do anything this time?"' Mend said.

But after speaking with the new regional director, Peter Minarik, Mend said he was optimistic the committee would strive to get more accomplished.

"He wants to see it become more productive," Mend said.

Minarik could not be reached for omment.

Mend was cho en ior the advisory council because of his involvement with the KCTFHR over the past 30 years during which he was k1ey in developing hate crime legislation in Idaho.

Mend and KCTFHR also played an instrumental role in the lawsuit against the Aryan Nation that eventÂľally bankrupted the white upremaci t group and drove it out of the region.

'The biggest thing we accomplished was getting rid of the Aryan Nations and the compound," he said.

Himself Jewi h, Mend said he becam interest d in human rights when he encountered racism after moving to Coeur d'Alene from Los Angeles in 1980.

That fanned into a lifelong commitment, he aid, when a member of the Aryan Nations tarted hara ing a biracial family in Kootenai County.

"It was that incident that really turned my life around " Mend said.

"I thought what he was doing was criminal, and that guy needed to be put away for a long time."

Mend doesn't know

the chedule of when the advisory committee will meet, he said.

He still encounters bigot~ in Kootenai County, h~ said. When he does, he bies to nudge them toward keeping an open mind.

"Hate is bad for you.

It poisons your mind, it makes you unhappy and ruins your life," he said. ''Why work so hard to be mean, when it's so easy to be nice? Everybody deserves the same rights to go out and ucceed, to go out and fail. That's what human rights are all about"

11HE SPOKESMAN-REVIEW MOSTLY CLOUDY A 34 .- 27

THURSDAY, JANUARY 20, 20ff

Bomb linked to hate crimes P lie chi f prai s rg ants £ r k ep· g march r fr mharm

By Thomas Clouse tomc@spokesman.com, (509) 459·5495 •

The hunt for the per on who left the bomb targeting marchers in Monday's Martin Luther King Jr. parade will focus on two aspects: forensic and the region' violent history with white supremacists.

Frank Harrill, the special agent in charge of the Spokane office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, confirmed late Wednesday that two recent protests by white

WWW.SPOKESMAN.COM

PRIDE

the Web: Read @ On previous coverage and view photos of the backpack at www.spokesman.com

supremacists in Coeur d'Alene will be part of the effort to identify those respon ible for leaving the bomb on the northeast corner of Washington Street and Main Avenue.

"We will examine every avenue/ See BOMB, A14

DAN PELLE danp,a:spel<esman.com

Spokane police Chief Anne Kirkpatrick credits two officers, Including Sgt. Eric Olsen, left, with steering the Unity March on Mart n Luther King Jr. Day away from an explosive device In downtown Spokane. ·

BOMB

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Harrill said. ''We are reaching far and wide in terms of what we are looking at. That certainly will be one of them."

Tony Stewart, a member of the Kootenai County Task Force on Human Relations, said neo-Nazis used signs on Friday to protest two Mexican restaurants and then about 15 neo-Nazis protested a human rights event on Monday.

"Then we hear about the bomb in Spokane " Stewart said. "There wo~d be no question that since it was planted directly on the path of the Martin Luther King Jr. march, that it has to be connected to hate crimes. It was an attempt to injure and kill people because they were out there promoting the equality of human rights. The evidence is just too overwhelming."

Harrill said the bomb discovered Monday in a Swiss Army brand backpack was sent Wednesday to the FBI lab in Quantico, Va. Investigators have not yet arrested anyone in connection with the bomb, which officials characterize as a thwarted attempt at domestic terrorism that could have caused multiple casualties.

Sources who received securi~ briefings on Tuesday descnbed a sophisticated bomb that could have been de_tonated remotely. Harrill said he could not discuss whether investigators believe the person who left the backpack remained in the area. Investigators continue to seek anyone who took photographs or video in the area between 8 and 11 a.m. on Monday, he added.

While Harrill said he hopes to make a quick arrest, he added: "A lot of this is going to turn, in part, on results of the lab analysis.

Even though we will get an expedited handling of the evidence, it sometimes takes days to complete," he said.

Spokane - police Chief Anne Kirkpatrick said her department's Central Intelligence Unit has reported an increase in hate literature and other white supremacist activity over the past two years, "but nothing in the two weeks as a precursor to this event."

Stewart, too, said his organization has tracked a number of troubling events, even though the efforts don't seem to be well funded and don't have a central meeting point/ such as the now-defunct Aryan Nations compound north of Hayden Lake.

In 2009, someone spread hate literature throughout North Idaho and Spokane Valley, Stewart said. There was a lull in activity, until the events last week, he said.

"Now we have this reemergence. Here we are facing something that is not to be taken lightly," Stewart said.

Stewart and others started their efforts to combat hate in 1981 after Richard Butler founded the Aryan Nations compound in 1973.

Stewart said his organization tracked more than 100 felonies committed by hate groups in the area in the 1980s and '90s, including eight murders, several bank robberies and other crimes intended to intimidate residents.

The crimes attributed to people linked to the Aryan Nations included several

bombings in the mid-I980s, including those at the home of a Catholic priest, the federal courthouse in Coeur d'Alene and other locations, Stewart said.

Then in 1996, three bombings linked to racists caused severe damage to a Planned Parenthood building, Spokane City Hall and the Spokane Valley office of The Spokesman-Review.

Butler began holding annual marches in downtown Coeur d'Alene in the 1990s before Morris Dees, of the Southern Poverty Law Center, bankrupted Butler in a civil trial in 2000. Butler died in 2004 and much of the. crime spree ended with him, Stewart said.

"I know a lot of people were hoping that we were past our most serious period," Stewart said. "But it's not over. It's time for people to be very vigilant again."

Kirkpatrick also keyed on that w ord, vigilant, as she praised her employees who quickly identified the po-

tential threat from the bomb.

Although they were first identified as city employees, three workers from the Spokane Public Facilities District were credited with finding the backpack and alerting Spokane police.

Their boss, Kevin Twohig, would not identify them.

"I'm very proud of what they did and they will be appropriately acknowledged by the district," Twohig said.

Likewise, Kirkpatrick praised Sgts. Jason Hartman and Eric Olsen for their decisions to in.form command staff and reroute the march.

"We are trying to have a national conversation to learn to say, 'See something, say something,' " she said.

"I'd like to get all of our residents to put that phrase into their thinking. We don't want to be a city paralyzed by fear, but we must be a communitythat is mindful."

Olsen, who was managing

Cross burning investigated The Kellogg Police Department is investigating a cross burning Monday night on city property.

Fire crews responded to the scene on Elder Avenue. Fire Chief Dale Costa said he does not believe race was a motive. despite it taking place on Martin Luther King Jr. Day. "I think it was a feud between neighbors," Costa said. "Why they came up with the cross, I don't know. I don't believe it was to be a hate crime. but that's up to the police department to decide."

Costa said police have a suspect in the case, but have not arrested him because "we have no proof he did it."

He described the cross as made of plywood and wrapped in fabric. Authorities believe alcohol may have fueled the fight between neighbors, he said.

No one from the police department could be reached for comment Wednesday evening.

the traffic around the MLK march, said Hartman called him at 9:37 a.m. Monday and told him about the backpack. Without enough time to determine what was inside, the sergeants decided to change the route of the

relieved that it was resolved.

I felt very fortunate ... just from the chaos and devastation it would have caused."

Spokane County Commissioner Al French commented on the near miss for the Spokane community. " It is appalling to think that a celebration to commemorate the life and work of Dr. King could have ended so tragically," French said Wednesday in a news release. "We cannot allow such acts to go unanswered or unpunished."

Commissioner Mark Richard spoke at the Ring event and only learned later of the potential threat to the hundreds of people - including children - in the parade.

"If nothing else, this kind of violence shows us that we must continue Dr. King's work for justice and peace," he said.

march.

"We always assume th.e worst," Olsen said on Wednesday. "But when I found out it was a viable device, I was both scared and relieved. I was scared that Reporter Jonathan Brunt someone would do that but contributed to this report.

um.an rights

dialogue revs up Leaders say city

lacks centralized anti-hate alllance

By Jonathan Brunt ionathanb~pokesman.com, (S09) 459¡5442

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After racist literature was distributed throughout the region in 2009, a North Idaho anti-racism group mobilized leader in Kootenai and Spokane countie to send a message at a news conference near the state line: Hate would not be tolerated in the Inland Northwest.

In the day following last week's bombing attempt apparently targeting Martin Luther King Jr. Day marchers in Spokane, there was no uch concerted effort. ome individuals spoke publicly to denounce the act, but no organizations emerged to the forefront to present a unified reponse.

North Idaho's group, the Kootenai County Task Force on Human Relations, ~lays an active and prornment role in combating raci m and anti-Semitism. In the Spokane area, several groups work to addre s problems, but none has taken such a prominent vocal and public organizing role. A city-formed group caJJed the Human Rights Commission runs with no funding and, until last year, few m mber.

"It's alway helpful if there' a group in the community that creates a u tained effort to combat hatred " aid Ken Stern of the American Jewish Congress. "When

See COMMISSION, A6

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Continued from Al people feel that they can get away with this, and there isn't outrage, they take that as an endorsement."

Spokane Mayor Mary Verner said she believes the city's commission can be a sustained force against hate in Spokane and that she's worked to reinvigorate it.

Most of the commission's seats were vacant until she made several appointments last year.

Spokane County Commissioner Mark Richard said he believes Spokane would benefit from having its own version of Kootenai. County's task force.

"I think it's necessary- not only to make sure that we coordinate in combating hatred, but it's a good way to bring the community together to celebrate the good things that are taking place."

North Idaho has combated racism - and a racist reputation - for years, partly because of the prominence of the now-dismantled Aryan Nations headquarters north of Hayden Lake. But Spokane has trouble of its own.

In 2009, a noose was left on the doorstep of a human rights worker in north Spokane. That year, 25 hate crimes were reported in Spokane.

In the meantime, the groups fighting for change face their own challenges.

Nancy Nelson, former codirector of the Peace and Justice Action League of Spokane, said that while the league has worked closely with civil rights groups and others over the years, its support of pacifism and gay rights has sometimes made a united front difficult to achieve.

"Oftentimes in Spokane we've allowed our differences of opinion to splinter our focus on working together to achieve a goal such as addressing the need to improve race relations," she said.

In the 1980s, Spokane had a group focused on combating hate and racism. Called the Interstate Task Force on Human Relations, it reached out to victims of hate crimes and worked with community leaders to denounce such acts. But it faded after the city created the Human Rights Commission in the early 1990s, according to Tony Stewart, co-founder and secretary of the Kootenai County task force.

Stewart said he felt it was a mistake for the Interstate Task Force to disband because the new commission would be subject to political whims and government budget shortfalls.

"I said to them at the time that that was a really big mistake," Stewart said. "Government groups have limits on them that private groups do not."

Stewart's concerns turned out to be prescient, said Nelson, the former PJALS co-director. The commission - especially in recent years - has been ineffective or completely inactive, she said.

"The leaders of the city never really wanted the Human Rights Commission to be anything like the Kootenai County Task Force on Race Relations," she said.

V. Anne Hicks-Smith, president of the Spokane chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, said she doesn't see the need for a new group. The NAACP is

open to people of all races and continues to be active in combating hate and discrimination in Spokane, she said.

The NAACP on Friday issued a statement condemning¡ the bomb.

Lonnie Mitchell, pastor of Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church, said if there's a need for a stronger voice it would be better to use existing groups, such as the NAACP or a strengthened Human Rights Commission, rather than "reinvent the wheel."

"There are just so many groups right now," he said.

Stem, a board member of Gonzaga University's Institute for Hate Studies, said that while Kootenai County has a successful model, other good options exist. Portland, for example, has a coalition representing several groups that meets monthly to focus on combating hate, he said.

"The important thing is that one way or another people know that hatred is not something that can be ignored," he said.

Spokane Human Rights Commissioner Emmanuel Cannady said the commission has been focused on redefining itself in recent months and that the group will take a more public role in responding to incidents of hate.

The commission will discuss how to respond to the bomb incident at its next meeting at 5:30 p.m Tuesday at Spokane City Hall, he said. ''We need to come together, and we need to talk about it," he said. "This is a group that is of the people, by the people and for the people."

The now-defunct Interstate Task Force had large support from the religious community, said the Rev. Flora Bowers, who in the 1980s helped organize in collaboration with the task force and the Spokane Christian Coalition.

Bowers, who was the pastor of Liberty Park United Methodist Church in the '80s, said religious leaders in Spokane are less united than they used to be, but there's still a need for an active group like the task force. ''When the churches don't speak, our congregants say, 'What are we to do about this?' " said Bowers, who is the senior pastor of Manito United Methodist Church.

Karen Stratton, senior executive assistant to the mayor, said the commission hopes to work with other organizations to overcome its lack of resources. ¡"It's just simply being creative," she said. "We are definitely interested and want to do our part."

Dorothy Webster, administrative services director, said she hopes that the commission not only speaks out against hate, but works to educate .about human rights issues. Webster served as the assistant city manager for affirmative action and human rights when the commission was formed.

"If there's going to be a group, it needs to be sustained over a long period oftime, and it needs to be proactive as well as reactive," Webster said. "I'd like to see it more active. I'd like to see it have a steady stream of funding so it can be functional .... So it can do more than talk."

Stewart said the closure of the Aryan Nations compound in 2001 led to complacency on both sides of the border.

"This is a wake-up call to the people in Spokane and North Idaho," qe said.

SECTION B I SUNDAY, JANUARY 30, 2011

SPOKESMAN.COM/SLOGS

READ ABOUT LITERARY PURSUITS ON JIM KERSHNER'S BL

In collection of state rankings, there's last - and theres last

I

daho doesn't fare Evergreen State DAVE well in that ranks worst for OLIVERIA "United States of bestiality leading Shame" chart making the country in the the rounds in the number of blogosphere. The human-animal chart provided by the hookup cases in Pleated Jeans blog, 2010, with four. We offers a theory that Idahoan , I uppo e every state ranks last should be pleased that our failure involves politics on some list Someone, for example, has ranked Idaho last rather than unwholesome in terms of congressional affection for critters. delegation clout But the Gem Sid Rosen, RIP State fares better than other nearby tate . Somewhere out There was a glaring omission there is a list that sez North in the otherwise comprehensive obituary for Sid Dakota bas the ugliest residents. Montana allegedly Ro en 90, published in the has the most drunken drivers.

Coeur d'Alene Press. Yes, Sid Utah, believe it or not, rates last required reservations at his old in online wholesomeness, Chef Rosen's restaurant in leading the states on one list .in Hayden. Yes, he once received rate of Web porn subscriptions. a standing ovation from 22 And Washington? The attorneys general who ate

there. Omitted, however, was the fact that he was a Jewish owner of a restaurant targeted for hate graffiti by racists who'd moved here long after he arrived. Immediately after the attack, concerned citizens met in Sid's restaurant in a show of support. That group evolved into what is known today as the Kootenai County Task Force on Human Relations. Which is widely recognized as the organization that developed the model for community response to racism.

The racists picked on the wrong guy at the wrong time in the wrong community.

Supremacists a reminder oftaskforce's need HUCKLEBERRIES

W

hite supremacists made pests of themselves in Coeur d'Alene during the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday weekend. First, they picketed two Mexican food stands in Coeur d'Alene Chiludo's Mexican Food (3000 Government Way) and Taco Works (Fifth and Appleway). Then, the neo-nutsies followed up with a protest near the Human Rights Education Institute on Monday. Sgt. Christie Wood, the Coeur d'Alene police spokeswoman and VP of the Kootenai County Task Force on Human Relations was in a happy place until she saw the raci ts at Northwest Boulevard and Mullan ,1 2 ~ - ~ 1r 11

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(near City Park). She was on her way to drop off food for the task force's Martin Luther King gala event. She told Huckleberries: ' I reminded my elf that our unfortunate history is why I joined the task force two years ago - to help victim of hate to help promote human rights and equality for all, and work with our community to celebrate diversity."

Christie responded better than a recent transplant from Portland. The woman drove around the block three times to yell epithets at the racists. Only to be flipped off in

DAVE OLIVERIA

return. A better response was that of human-rights leader Tony Stewart, who visited the two targeted Mexican food stands Friday to tell vendors that the Aryan wannabes don't represent Coeur d'Alene values. Also Tony promi ed to encourage friends to eat at the stand as ::t how of support.

Protesting Aryans Shaun Wmkler, a regular on the neo-Nazi picket scene, ran into his own protest after he and Shealyn Winkler returned to their Hayden residence late Jan. 14. The Winklers later told the cops they couldn't figure out why neighbor cot Fuhrman

See OLIVERIA, 810

Contact the city desk: (509) 459-5400: fax (509) 459-5482; e-mail news@spokesman.com

[n Spokane a Mystery With No Good

lulion - NYTimc .com

In Spokane, a Mystery With No Good Solution

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7 Delore a march to noror bie R , Dr ·~ 1" I.Ulller i,;;ng J1 '~ot a n lhe ,o until r 1t1 dJy

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WILLIAM YARDLEY

SPOKANE, Wash. -The bomb was sophisticated aad potentiaJJy deadly, but it did not de tonate. No oae was hurt, and ao one has been arrested. So Spokane became a mystery.

Related Domb Is 1'1111nd In flockpncl< 0 •fore March I lonoring KinK (January 19, 2011)

"To me, it's that God's gracious hand moved," said Chief Anne Kirkpatrick of the Spokane Police Department.

"Th is we a born b of significance that would have ca used d vastation.•

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early a month after a cleanup ere\ found the Live bomb along the planned route of a large downtown march honoring th e Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King ,Ir,. the F.B.I. is investigating the incident as an act of domestic terrorism.

And Spokane bas cycled from shock to relief to rea essment: have th e whit s upremaci ts who once ·truck such fear here in the inland orthwest returned at a new level of dangerou ness and sophistication?

"We don't h.ave that kind of intelligence level to make that kind of explosive," sa id Shaun Winkler , a Pennsylvania nativ who recently returned to the region to start a landscaping company and a chapte r of lhe Ku Klux Klan.

Mr. Winkler l.ives not far from Hayden Lake, Idaho, where he once wa among th e foUowers of Richard Butler, a white supremacist and Aryan ations leader who spent more than two decad es proclaiming the inland Northwest to be the capital of a new white homeland. Mr. Butler died in 2004 after lo ing the 20-acre Aryan Nations compound in a lawsuit and losing man of his followers, as well.

More than 200 whlte supremacists were once based at Hayden Lake, but Mr. Winkle r echoing assessme nts by huma n rights advocates, said that "only a very small h.andfuJ are still armmd.• He said his new group bad about a dozen members. Several of them recently picketed taco staads in nearby Coeur d'Aleae Idaho, a ad distributed racist, vulgar flie rs at North Idaho College. Th e coUege now owns the Hayden Lake property and caUs it a "peace

park."

"We believe in protecting ourselves, but we certainly aren't going to ad ocatc bombing

In Spokane, a My tery Wilh No Good Solution - NYTimes.com

peoplet said Mr. WinJtler, 32, adding that he had been interviewed by the F.B.l. about the bomb in Spokane, about 40 miles to the southwest. "That's a pretty extreme measure even from our end. Ifs going to be more of an under-the-radar person, a lone-wolf type."

The bomb, partly concealed by two T-shirts and stored in a Swiss Army brand backpack, was found on a bench on the King holiday, Jan. 17, by contract sanitation workers les.s than an hour before the planned start of the march. The march went on but was rerouted. The region's bomb squad responded and some people were evacuated, but most people were unaware of the bomb until later in the day.

The device is being analyzed by F.B.L experts in Virginia. Various news reports, most

citing anonymous sources, have said that it contained metal pellets covered in a chemical, possibly rat poison, and that it could have been detonated remotely. Frank Harrill, an F.8.1. spokesman in Spokane, described the bomb as "capable of killing or injuring multiple people" but would provide no further details.

Chief Kirkpatrick said the bomb was far more dangerous than a pipe bomb found near a federal courthouse in Spokane last March. No arrests have been made in that ca.se either. ln 1996, a pipe bomb exploded outside Spokane City Hall. No one was injured; two white supremacists were later convicted in the case.

This time, Chief Kirkpatrick said, "It's scary the level of the calculation that was involved."

Ln the weeks since the bomb was found, investigators have asked people to check cellphone photos and video that might have been taken in the area at the time. They have also returned to the scene at the same time on a subsequent Monday, hoping to gather information from people who routinely travel the area.

"Oh, I wish, I wish I had seen something," said Kandy Conrad, who works at Auntie's Bookstore, directly across Washington Avenue from the bench where the bomb was found and who parked nearby that morning. "AIi 1 was thinking about was did I .have to put money in the meter, because it was a holiday. ~

"I'm much more aware of my surroundings now," Ms. Conrad said.

Since the bomb was follnd, officials in Spokane have organized meetings with various community leaders to look for ways to publicly respond, whether th.rough some kind of one-time event or a continuing campaign. Tony Stewart, a longtime civil rights campaigner in northern Idaho whose work helped shut down the Aryan Nations there, is among those involved in the discussions.

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Bombs and Explosives

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pokane, a Mystery With No Good Solution - N

imes.com

In Spokane, a Mystery With No Good Solution (Page2of2)

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"Tony told u it ' always best to tand up to bulli , and that' kind of our point," said Marlene Feist, a spokeswoman for the City of Spokane. "Thi isn't representative of our community as a whole. We are au accepting place, and we are a good place to raise families and live and work and retire.•

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"We have had issu in Spokane, but primarily they have been in northern Idaho,· M . f.ei t sa id. ·w kind of g t painted with the same brush.• ::>

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The two areas largely function as a connect d regi n, and the are de rnogr<1phicall s imilar.

Spokane County i about 91 percent whit and 1 lhan 2 percent black. Kootenai County, just across the state line in Idaho, is 95 percent white and less than 1 percent black.

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A week before the bomb was found, the Spokane City Council approved a contract to build a new road that will be the city' first street named for Dr. King. Previous efforts to rename isting str ts were rejected . Th a pplication for the street name was submitted by Ivan Bush, the former director of the Martin Luther King Jr. Family Outreach Center in Spokane and one of the organizers of th Jan. 17 march.

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Mr. Bush said he helped organize the city's first march honoring Dr. King, in 1984.

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"There were 49 of u back the n, and w marched from lhe jailhouse to the federal courthouse," said Mr. Bush, 60.

"Now we have thousands."

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ked whether the increa e in numbc m a nl that Spokane had made progress, he said, "Yeah, but we need deeper progress."

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While not everyone is convinced that racism was a factor in the bomb incident - the march included many prominent elected officials who are white, including the mayor and county commissioners - Mr. Bu h i among man people who find it impossible to believe that it was not.

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The city should be more assertive in confronting the questions of racism stirred by the bomb, Mr. Bush sa.id. For him, the days in the 1980s and 1990s when it was common to see white supremacists openJy promoting their views feel like they were "just yesterday. " "We've moved beyond those days as far as active, visible things,• Mr. Bush said. "But we need to pull the covers back and take a look at what's underneath. l think if we did that, we would find that those sentiments are very much prevalent."

Mr. Winkler, the Klansman, said he still believed that the region was a good place to nurture a racist movement. And as for the bomb in Spokane, be added, "Even though w

EDITORIAL

Lassman chrunpioned tolerance to the end ''When we are able to instill in people a desire to respect and be tolerant of all humanity, we may eventually have peace. If not, we will continue to experience the inhumanity of war and terrorism, and the deaths of children and other innocent victims of violence."

Holocaust survivor Eva Lassman

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Those words, from a letter to the editor of The Spokesman-Review on May 28, 2004, eloquently describe the dedication and spirit of the diminutive hero who wrote them.

It seems noteworthy that Eva Lassman's death last week at 91 came at a time when some voices are demanding a firmer community response to the bigotry believed to be behind the bombing attempt on Martin Luther King Jr. Day. Indeed, at least three decades of Lassman's life were largely a response to Nazi atrocities. She labored to make sure this and future generations never underestimate the consequences of hate. She made hundreds of presentations, mostly to children, and her powerful message made the Holocaust chillingly real for thousands.

Even in the final weeks of her life she was still heeding the challenge she heard fellow survivor Elie Wiesel make in 1983, that if those who lived through the Holocaust don't tell their stories, others who died in the Nazi extermination camps would die a second time.

How arduous it must have been, reliving the oppression, the suffering, the degrading sting of anti-Semitism. Lassman once said her own children were in their teens before she was able to tell them why they had no living grandparents, aunts or uncles.

But she assumed the burden selflessly, and the Inland Northwest, tainted as it has been by Hitler worshippers, is a better, more ethical region as a result of her efforts.

The Spokane area is fortunate for the Eva Lassmans, the Jim Chases, the Tony Stewarts, the Bill Wassmuths who stir our sense of decency and summon us to the defense of hatred's innocent targets.

Lassman not only repeated her personal account of the Holocaust, of the injustice and inhumanity inflicted on Jews, she applied that lesson on behalf of the homeless, gays, racial minorities and anyone whose difference turned them into scapegoats.

Lassman's passing is a sorrowful loss, but her legacy will be endless.

To respond to this editorial online, go t~ www.spokesman.com and click on Opinion under the Topics menu.

DIRECT QUOTE

'

My story is not a very happy one. It is a st ory of pain and sufferi ng. But it needs to be told ."

Eva Lassman, 1919-20TI In a presentation on March 19, 2001, at Coeur d'AIE\ne Charter Academy

Volume 28

umber 3

new @lhefigtrec.org (509) 535- 1813 • 535-41 12

Montlr/y newspaper and website coverin.g f aitlr in action tlrr~11gho11t the Inland Nortlrwest

online in color at www.tliefigtree.org

Gandhi's grandson speaks in North Idaho Arun Gandhi, the grandson of Mohandas Gandhi, a nonviolent Indian political and spiritual leader, will speak at a 6:30 p.m. banquet on Monday April l 1, at the annual b nefi t banquet for the Human Right Education Institute (HREI). It will be held at the

Best Western Coeur d Alene Inn at 506 W. Apple Ave. Arun was born in Africa, where he was frequently beaten by both white and black youth because of his color and was sent to Uve with his grandfather in India.

He will speak on " Lessons

Learned from My Grandfather. ' The banquet and a 5:30 p.m. reception are organized by the KootenaL County Task Force on Ruman Relations.

For information. call 208-765-3932 or visLt www. idahohumanrights.org.

Toe Fig Tree is published 10 months each year, September through June.

Spiritus presents

Deadlines:

John Philip Newell

COPY • 3rd Fridays ADS • 4th Tuesdays II is published by The Fig Tree, 1323 S. Perry St., Spokane, WA 99202, a non-profit 501 (c) (3) organization.

Editorial Team Edttor/Publlsher/Photos • Mary Stamp Associate Editor - Yvonne Lopez-Morton Mary Mackay, Nancy Minard, Sara Weaver, Eugenie Alexander

Coordinators &contract

Malcolm Haworth - Directory Editor Loma Kropp • Website Developer Fig Treg Board Nick Block, Barb Borgens, Kevin Dow, Bi11 8 1is, Mary Ann Farley, Deidre Jacobson, Scott Kinder-Pyle, Yvonne Lopez-Morton, Nancy Minard, Roger Ross, Mary Stamp, Marilyn Stedman, Happy Watkins, Don Weber Emeritus: Jo Hendricks, Car1 Milton © 2011 (509)535-1813 or 535-4112 Email: news@thefigtree.org

from Edinburgh, Scotland 'A New Harmony: the Spirit, the Earth,

and the Human Soul' speaking about his passion for peace and a fresh vis ion for harmony between the great spi ritual traditions of humanity

7-8: 30 p.m., Friday, May 6 10 a.m. -2:30 p.m., Saturday, May 7 at St. John's Cathedral - 12 7 E. 12th Ave. For information and registration: www.spokanediocese.org 509-624-3191

NORTHWEST

FEBRUARY 19, 2011 â&#x20AC;˘ SATURDAY â&#x20AC;˘ PAGE B3

THE SPOKESMAN-REVIEW

Gandhi's grandson to address human rights event From staff reports

Mohandas Gandhi's grandson, Arun Gandhi, will be this year's keynote speaker at the 14th annual human rights banquet hosted by the Kootenai County Task Force on Human Relations.

The event benefits the Human Rights Education

Institute and pays for college scholarships for minority students, a task force news release said.

Arnn Gandhi grew up in South Africa during apartheid and frequently was beaten by both white and black youth because of his race. When he was 12, his parents sent him tolndia to be with his famous grand-

father when they discovered how angry he'd become. Through his grandfather's guidance, he learned to appreciate peaceful nonviolence.

In 1991, Arun Gandhi and his late wife, Sunanda, founded the M.K. Gandhi Institute for Nonviolence at the University of Rochester in New York.

Gandhi's speech is titled: "L~ssons learned from my grandfather: Nonviolence in a violent world."

The banquet will be held at 5:30 p.m. on April 11 at the Best Western Coeur d'Alene Inn, 506 W. Appleway Ave. Tickets are $40 per person. For more information, contact Tony Stewart at (208) 765-3932.

The Press, Tuesday, M arch 1, 20 11

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C Civility: Time to relearn it

Sh leh Patti k

o a a o iety w mu t r learn to apply ba ic manner in matt r of civil di cour . Four conferen pon or d by th ational Endowment for th Humaniti in Philad lphia, hicago, Lo Ang l and pokan will xamin th relationhip b tw en ivility and d mocracy.

Beginning thi Thur day in pokane, Coeur d'AI n own Tony tewart, former North Idaho College in tructor and lifelong human right advocate, will help moderat Civility and Am rican Democra y: Wh r We Have Come and Wh r Wi ar Headed." TI1 three-day om rence featur p aker and panel-I d di u ion of American hi tory, religion, art, philosophy, archite ·tur and Ground Z ro r building, communication/media, and a work hop with th hopeful title, 'Coo tructing Public Program to Fo t r a Productive Civic Dialogu . '

Th confer nee will explor : • How con ept of civility hav evolved and r lat to ocial equality and political pow r; • EH t of incr a ing thnic and cultural djver-

ity; • Fo t ring civility through art, architectur , and communication · and • Wheth r in i tence on ertain form of civil b havior i n c ary or detrimental to a democra y.

Op ning with form r Speaker of the Hou e Thoma Foley (the Foley In titut for Public Policy and Public ervice at see PATRICK, C4

PATRICK C1

Church, Kenton Bird of Ul's journalism school, Gini from Woodward of the Boundary CoWJty Historical Society, WSU co-sponsors the and David Townsend of event) and a keynote the Coeur d'Alene Public speech about rational diaLbrary. Carter's keynote logue by author-attorney speech at 5:30 at the Stephen Carter, the 25 Davenport HoteL as well participants range from as the daylong session at academics and politicians WSU on Friday, are free to museum directors and and open to the public. broadcasters. Others from For more information see Idaho .include Rev. Marilyn http://foley.wsu.edu/civilMuehlbach of Unity ity.

Yes, Virginia, it is possible to express opposition while remaining considerate of others.

Yours is never the only perspective. Respect gets better results, saves time and stress, and best of all: you may tum perceived enemy into friend.

Sholeh Patrick, J.D. is a columnist !or the Hagadone News Network. Civil responses guaranteed at Sholehjo@hotmail.com.

Task force honors local prosecutor From staff reports

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Kootenai County's prosecutor and two new paper executives from Oregon were among the recipients of human rights awards Monday night at the Kootenai County Task Force on Human Relation 14th annual banquet.

Arun Gandhi, grandson of the Late Mohandas Gandhi, delivered the keynote address at the banquet, which sold out for only the second time in its history. Some 483 people attended the event at the Best Western Coeur d'Alene Inn. A Civil Rights Award was given to county Prosecutor Barry McHugh for his 'courageous and determined efforts" in successfully prosecuting hate crimes, a task force news release said.

A second award was given to ¡ Marissa Williams, publisher of the Blue Mountain Eagle in John Day, Ore., and Scotta Callister the paper's editor for organizing rallies that prevented a neo-Nazi's attempt to establish a compound in Grant County, Ore. The 2010 Bill Wassmuth Memorial Volunteer-of-theYear Award was given to Doug Cresswell, a task force board member since 1985 who served as president from 1997 to 2001.

Cresswell was _praised for his leadership during an era that included a trial that bankrupted the Aryan Nations.

The Human Rights Education Institute and the North Idaho College Foundation introduced four recipients of the Sen. Mary Lou Reed and Gov. Phil Batt NIC Minority Scholarship: Tim Clark and Katherine Sailto from the Native American community, Rose Childs from the Asian-American community and Igor Sivov from Russia.

The task force also presented a check to Gonzaga University Institute for Hate Studies to establish a permanent scholarship in the memory of Eva Las man, a Holocaust survivor who recently died at age 91. For many year , Lassman lectured about the horrors of the Holocaust and urged people to work for human rights.

A

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ACI NORTHWaBT INC.

www.cdapress.com

Tuesday April 12 2011

The mea 1ng of peace Arun Gandhi peak about his grandfather at Human Rights Banquet

By MAUREEN DOLAN Staff writer

Partly cloudy High 51 Low 33 Weather, A2

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COEUR d' ALENE - Wt have to b ome lhe change we wi h to in th world.

It wa hi grandfath r's mes age, and Aruo Gandhi, grand on of the legendary pacifi t and piritual I ader: Mahatma Gandhi, carried that me -

age Monday to orU1 fdaho.

Aruo hared om of Ih Je on be learned from ru granclfath r with more than 450 people who attended the Kootenai ounty Ta k Force on Human Relalion '14th annual Human Right Banqu t at th B t We t rn Coeur d'Alen Inn. " on-viol nee i, about lear ning how to b with your anger and learning bow lo channel it po itively and con tru tively," Arun told the

crowd.

SHAWN GUST/Press

Arun Gandhi, grandson of Indian civil rights activist Mahatma Gandhi, visits with attendees of the Kootenai County Task Force on Human Relations see GANDHI, AS 14th annual human rights banquet on Monday.

From the front

GANDHI

from A1

Llke his grandfather, Arun learned the benefits of peaceful conflict resolution from his own life experi-

ences.

Arun grew upfu apartheid South Africa. He was beaten at the age of 10 by blacks who thought he was too white, and whites who thought he was too black.

Arun began working out, trying to gain strength because he was planning a physical response. That's when his parents sent him to live with his grandfather in India Anger is like electricity," Arun said.

If electricity is channeled properly, it can be used for the good of humanity, he said. Without proper direction, electricity becomes dangerous and destructive.

His grandfather showed him how to become aware of his own anger through daily self-assessment Arun was told to keep an anger journal, with a caveat He had to write with a focus on finding a solution, and then commit to it Another of his grandfather's lessons came from a pencil. It had become too small, so Arun threw it away, because he assumed his grandfather would give him a new one.

That didn't happen. His grandfather grilled Arun about the pencil, and then made him go find it outside in the dark, which took several hours.

Hi grandfather then told him. "Even in the making of a simple thing like a pencil, you are using the world's resources. When you throw it away, that is violence against nature."

That led to a lesson about over-consumption, "violence against humanity," that occurs, Arun said, when affluent communitie and countries use more resources than they need, leaving Jess for others who are disadvantaged.

"We are all committing violence, directly or indirectly;" he said.

His grandfather taught him about physical and passive violence by again, having Arun review and analyze his own thoughts and behaviors. The problem with passive violence, he said, is that it generates anger in the victim.

"Passive violence fuels physical violence," he said.

It serves no purpose to wait for others to change, he said. People can only change themselves, and be the change they wi h to see in the world.

"Our relationships today are so poor because they are all based on self-interest," Arwi said.

Another problem he sees is a justice system based on revenge and punishment rather than refor-

The Press

Tuesday, April 12, 2011

~ation, a culture that seeps mto homes where children are raised.

'This perpetuates a culture of violence," Arun said. '.'In a non-~olent society, it is not purushment that is important. but penance."

People need to stop trying to divide the good from the evil, he said, and begin focusing on bringing out the good in all people.

Try finding forgiveness instead of reacting in anger, be ~uggested. Violence only cuJtivates more violence, hate, prejudice, and evil.

He told a tory about bow his grandfath r, while preparing an anti-apartheid campaign, was approached by striking railway workers who were marching and spewing angry slogans. The workers asked the elder Gandhi to join their cause, because they were .fighting 'the same enemy."

Arun's grandfather told them, "I'm not .fighting enemies. I'm trying to refonn my friends."

The workers' anger weakened their cause allowing the governm~nt to ''cru h them."

The elder Gandhi's campaign could not be cru hed Arun said, because he ' didn't treat the other as hi enemy, and work d to transfonn them with Jove and r pect.

AS

Before closing, Arun told a story about an ancient king wbo sought the meaning of peace. An old sage placed a grain of wheat in the ancient king' palm and told him that was the meaning of peace. The king didn't understand it, but he put the grain in a box, and opened it every day looking for answers. Eventually the king asked an intellectual what the grain of wheat meant The king was told that as Jong a he keeps the grain in the box, it will eventually rot and perish.

He must expose the grain of wheat to the element , to allow it to grow and flourish.

'That is the meaning of peac ," Arun said.

It cannot be kept locked

up and expected to grow.

"I have come here this evening to give you a grain of wheat." he said Arun Gandhi and his late wife, Sunanda, founded the M.K Gandhi Institute for Nonviolence atThe University of Rochester in New York. He travels throughout the nation, and the world, promoting his grandfather's teachings.

The task force's annual Civil Rights Award wa presented to Kootenai County Prosecutor Barry McHugh in recognition of his efforts in uccessfully prosecuting hate crime .

Marissa William pubti her, and Scott Callister

editor of the Blue Mountain Eagl ,a weekly newspaper covering Grant County, Or ., were also given a civil rights award by the group. Th newspaper was recognized for organizing a community response in 2010 that prevented a white supremacist leader from establishing a homeland in that county.

The Bill Wassmuth Memorial Volunteerof-the-Year Award was given to former Coeur d'Alene School District Superintendent Doug Cresswell, a longtime former board member of the task force. Cresswell was president of the task force board from 1997 through 2001. During that time, the task force countered parades organized by Aryan Nation leaders with a successful "Lemons to Lemonade'' fundraising campaign that raised thousands of dollars for human rights groups. It was also during that time that the Keenan v. Aryan Nations trial took place. The case eventually bankrupted the ":hit~ upremacist orgaruzation, and forced them to lose their Hayden Lake compound.

Recipients of this year's Senator Mary Lou Reed and Governor Phil Batt North Idaho College Minority Scholarships are Tim Clark, Katherine Sailto, Rose Child and Igor Sivov.

The Press

Thursday, April 14, 2011

A3

North Idaho

Human rights panel prepares for action Benewah County Group in process of incorporation

By MAUREEN DOLAN

Staff writer

COEUR d'ALENE - A

fledgling human rights group is preparing to move into action in B newah County.

The Benewah Human Rights Coalition, led by former county commission r Christina Crawford began forming earlier thi year.

"Our goal i to provide education to make sure that people are treated fairly and to keep a record of incidents and activities that are not in keeping with peaceful coexistence " Crawford told The Pre s. ' The group, now in the proce of official incorporation, will be a nonprofit led by private citizens.

'We are not a government entity. We are not political We are not partisan, neither Democrat nor Republican," Crawford said.

Crawford, who ha li:'ed in Benewah County mce 1993, wa appointed to the board of commi ion rs in Dec mber 2009

by Gov. Butch Otter. he was in the Disbict 2 position, which covers much of the Coeur d'Alene Indian Reservation. Crawford lo ta November bid for el ction to the po ition, and left offic in January aft r ompl Ung th la t v ar of th t rm.

"During that time in office, 1 realiz d we needed a bum.an right organization, ' Crawford said.

Herd cision to t up a ounty human rights coalition wa not ba ed on any single i ue.

"It' a cumulative situation where there is misunder tanding," he aid.

"Information is a powerful

tool, di information is also a powerful tool.

Crawford cited the recent controversy over policing authority on the re ervation a an example.

Th Co ur d'Alene Tribe and Benewah County have long been at odd over poll e jurisdiction within the ection of the re ervation ituated in Benewah County.

Without a crossdeputization agreement in place, a the Tribe ha with Koot nai County, tribal police lack authority to arrest non-Indians, creating a public afety i sue. According to the Trib , criminals are going fre on the re ervation becau e heriff s deputies fail to re pond quickly when called for assi tanc by tribal police.

The tribe has sought legislative intervention during the last two sessions in Boise, igniting contentious debate. Those who oppose giving tribal officers policing authority over non-tribal members raised concerns that nonIndians would be subjected to tribal law rather than state law, and that citizens with concealed weapons permits would have their guns taken away from them by tribal officers. A policing bill failed passage in February.

"One of the things that has been so frustrating about that is that there was basically no need for the upset," Crawford said. "It could have been negotiated, but there really wasn't any good will to negotiate it, and in my opinion it became completely out of proportion. The average person wasn't given accurate information about the situation."

That's where the new human rights coalition

plans to step in, she said, to promote good will by providing accurate information and respect, without confrontation.

They plan to be at community events throughout the summer.

"It's not about agreement It's not about argu, ing with people to change their mind. It's about accuracy, consistency, and tolerance," Crawford said. "I think they are very, very important We're here to help people understand and get along through education and information."

The group bas designated an initial six-member board. They have about 20 founding members which Crawford expects will grow significantly.

A human rights task force was previously in place in Benewah County, but has been inactive for several years.

When the new group was forming, Crawford reached out to Kootenai County human rights activist Tony Stewart. and asked him to mentor the group.

Stewart and other members of the 30.yearold Kootenai County Task Force on Human Relations set up a one-day workshop for the Benewah group.

"What is so wonderful about a countywide task force is their mission to bring all constituency groups to work together in unity and hanÂľony, supporting the dignity of all persons," Stewart said.

"Task forces are inclusive.

That's what democracy is all about" The Benewah Human Rights Coalition is developing a website. They can be reached by sending mail to P.O. Box 111, Plummer, ID 83851, or by phone, (208) 274-2839.

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PRIL I , 2011

Arun Gandhi, grandson of Mahatma Gandhi speaks about peace at the Human Rights Education Institute. Gabe Green/Sentinel

Arun Gandhi shares desire for peace New hopes for better ways ofchallenging anger through forgiveness, /,ove Raebel Rogers Staff Contributor

"Gandhi-one word full of meaning," said Kootenai County Task Force On Human Rights (KCTFHR) board member.

Michelle Fink as she introduced the banquet's keynote speaker.

Arun Gandhi, grandson of spiritual and political leader Mahatma Gandhi, made a local appearance lo share "Lessons Learned from my Grandfather: Nonviolence in a Violent World.''

Arun spoke of his grandfather's philosophy with those who attended the KCTFHR's 1401 annual banquet at U1e Best Western Coeur d'Alene Inn. Botll Arun and his grandfatller were victims of prejudice and hate but learned to channel that anger through a belief there was a better way to change people's hearts and minds.

Describing it as a Llp of an iceberg, Arun spoke of his grandfather's philosophy toward nonviolence and the impor tance of turning anger into positive energy.

"There is a lot ofil that lies undiscovered and we need to have U1al kind of an open mind so that we can discover the philosophy and make it a part of our life."

Aruo said.

Speaking of the dominating cuit,ire of violence, Arun told the crowd of the devastating impact of Ule cycle of violence and anger. ''lnsteacl of learning how to deal wiU1 anger positively and constructively, we ignore Ulat very powerful emotion tol'lllly and the result is that everyone ends up abusing it. And when we abuse anger. the next step is violence." he said.

At U1e age of 10 Arun was beaten by whites because lhey thought he was loo black and then again by blacks because they thought U1al he was too white. As a resull, Arun began taking steps to increase his strength. His parents decided to take bim to lndia to live wilh his grandfather.

By the age of 12. Arun was taught an

important lesson on how to understand Instead he chose to forgive l11em in anger and deal with it effectively. their presence and allowed them to walk "Anger is like electricity," Arun said of out of prison free men. hoping only lhat his granclfather's words. ''Just as we chan- they would learn a lesson lhal not everynel electrical energy and bring it into our one is evil and not to judge by the color lives and use it for the good of humanity, of skin. we musl learn to channel anger in the Three of the four men ended up besame way so that we can use that energy coming lifelong followers of Gandhi. intelligently and for the good of humanity through which Arun said was a simple act rather than abuse the energy and cause of forgiveness. deatl1 and destruction."

"We have lo become the change that Arun's grandfather suggested he write we wish to see in the world,'' he said. his feelings down in an anger journal with He spoke of religious. economic. race the intent of finding a solution and then and gender labels that are used today committing himand suggested reself to finding the moving labels and ¡we conunit acts of solution, which he viewing each other violence all of the tin1e, says helped him as human beings in considerably. every day~ consciously or order to appreciate Another lesour own humanity. tmconciously, and that son Arun spoke of "Every time we dealt with the tip generates anger put a label on someof a pencil. When body, we are buildin the victim.'' his pencil became ing a wall between s mall, he threw that person and ourit away. When he selves," Arun said.

11ral1llSon of Mahatma Gaadbl asked his grandAnm told a story fath e r for a new about an ancient one, instead of receiving one, he was sent king curious about the meaning of peace. out in the dark with a flash(jght to retrieve After questioning a sage regarcling the the old one. issue. he was given a grain of wheat. He Tius story brought out two imporplaced the wheat in a box and checked tant lessons to Arun. Lesson one, even every morning for an answe,~ bul did not someUliog as simple as a pencil uses find one. When he asked an intellectual the world's natural resources. When we what it meant, he was told thal the grain U1row them away, lhat is violence against in the box will eventually rot and perish nature. Secondly, overcons umption of unless it is able to interact with all the elethe resources of U,e world deprives other ments. The grain must be planted in soil people of the resources and is violence in order to s_prout and grow. against humanity. "'11:iat is the meaning of peace," Arun "We commit acls of violence all Ule said. "If someone finds peace and locks it time, every day, consciously or unconup in their hearts for U1eir own personal sciously, and that generates anger in the gain. it will perish wiU1 them. lf they let it victim." Arun said. interact witll all the elements il wilJ grow.

Findillg out how we contribute to vioI have come here this evening to give you lence. hate and prejudice in society and the grain of wheat I got from my grandU1en rectifying it, was urged by Arun. fal11er and 1 hope that you won't tel it rot In South Africa. Arun's grandfaand perish but let il interact so U1at all of tller was given the opportunity lo press us, together, can transform this world and charges against four individuals who had make it a better place for future generabeaten him. tions.''

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Arrested felon posted to racist website 'WhltePhoenlx' boasted about taco-truck picket

By Meghann M. Cunlff meghannc@spokesman.com, (509) 459-5534

A Whitman CoWlty man who bragged online about being involved with racist taco-truck protests in Kootenai County was arrested on a federal gun charge Wednesday.

Jeremiah Daniel "J.D." Hop, who describe himself as an an-

ti... race-mixing activist on the racist website Vanguard News Network, is accused of being a felon in po ses ion of a firearm.

Investigators spent most of Wednesday searching Hop's home near Pullman, as well as another property in Whitman County associated with the suspect, said Don Robinson, supervisor fo r the FBI's Coeur d' Alene office.

Hop, who was arrested Wednesday morning, is not a member of the Aryan Nations but is involved in racist circles, Robin-

son said. He was convicted of third-degree rape of a child in 2005.

Hop, 29, is to appear before a federal magistrate in Spokane today.

Under the name WhitePhoenix, a man who identified himelf as H op wrote on the racist website Storm.front about his work protesting taco stands in the Coeur d'Alene area.

The commenter said he lived in Pullman and that his name was J.D. Hop. In a post on Feb. 7, White-

Phoenix said he wasn't worried about the law.

"We see them plenty and the general public bate that they can't do a legal thing ... to us," according to the post.

Two days later, he titled his post ''North Idaho five weeks and going ..." and said he was working to bring 'the mexican taco cart foothold to the attention of the locals here in coue.r d alene/Hayden."

In hls last post on April 13 See FELON, A6

COEU

Wednesday April 27, 2011

NIC mulls free speech policy

By MAUREEN DOLAN Staff writer

COEUR d' ALENE - A policy that would regulate fr speech activitie on th North Idaho College campu is being considered for adoption by the college's board of tru t-

heldon Nord, NIC's vice pre ident for tudent Servic , will a k tru lee to approve a ''Tim , Place, and Mann r Policy" at the board' monthly meeting taking place on campus at 6 p.m. today.

The protest held on NIC ground la t fall by memb r ofWestboro Bapti t Church highlighted the college' lack of uch a policy, Nord told The Pres . see SPEECH, A7

d'ALENE

SPEECH A1

from

'Toe intent is to ensure that our campus maintains a safe and productive learning environment while allowing for the free exchange of ideas," wrote Nord, in an email.

The proposed policy has already been approved by members of NIC's upper-level administration, the college senate, and NIC's attorney.

In his email, Nord acknowledged that the U.S. Constitution's First Amendment guarantees freedom of speech.

'This guarantee generally safeguards the right of individuals to express themselves without governmental restraint," Nord wrote. "Nevertheless, the free speech clause of the First Amendment is not absolute. It has never been interpreted to guarantee all forms of speech without any restraint whatsoever."

Supreme Court ruling reflect that government agencies may place reasonable restrictions on the time, place and manner of inclividual expression, he wrote.

"Before the Westboro Baptist visit, what we discovered is that most colleges and universities now have free speech zones, and NIC clid not have a policy," said retired NIC in tructor

and local civil rights activist, Tony Stewart Free speech zone policies must be "content neutral," Stewart said.

There are, he said, two constitutional amendments that must be considered: the first amendment right to free peech, and the 14th amendment's right to equal protection under the law.

"How you balance those two in a democracy is really important," Stewart said. "You have to craft policies in a way where you don't infringe upon free speech during peaceful assembly, and you protect peoples' right to freedom from physical threats and violence."

"Most colleges and universities do have this kind of policy," he said.

Barbara Chamberlain, director of public affairs at Washington State University Spokane, said her campus bas a similar policy in place.

"Wi designate a p cif~ ic location for something that's going to attract a large group of people,'' Chamberlain said.

It's the same place for every type of group, Chamberlain aid, and does not discriminate ba ed on the content.

'1t's not meant to infringe on the free speech rights of anyone, but to balance the interests of tuition-paying tudents with those right ,"

Chamberlain said.

If approved, NIC' policy will prohibit "leafl ting, pie~ ting, peech-making, demon tration, petition circulation, po ting signs, and imilar peech-related activitie ' if those activitie : • impede driving or walking on campus; • cli rupt regular or authorized activitie on NIC' ground of facilities inducting cla rooms, offi e and laboratorie ; • are conducted within 20 feet of all exit , ntrances. stair a , parking lots and roadway ; • are conduct data volume that disrupt the normal use of classrooms, office and lab .

The policy gives the colleg ' vice pre ident for Resource Management th authority to de ignate a portion of the campu , and the time of day, when the ground are not available for peech activiti s in ord r to me t traffic, emergency ac e and public transit n d .

D mon trators will be required to give the campus saf ty departm nt 48-bour noti prior to pickting or oth r activiti .

Violator of the policy, if th y ar taf:f or tudent , would b ubj ct to campu di ciplinary proceeding . Others would b ask d to leave carnpu , and would b ubj t to arr t for criminal tr pa . if th y failed to leave.

PAGEA7 I FR IDAY, APRIL29, 2011

SPOKESMAN.COM/BLOOMSDAY

TAKE US ALONG SUNDAY FOR THE 35TH EDITION OFT

Love and hate - it's all in how you look at it

M

aybe this is what they mean by a lo e-hate relationship.

Call a bigot on their hatred and all they can talk about i love. Their love of white people. Their love of We tetn culture. Their love of' our" ''values."

Their deep and abiding love of their own skin.

We've had a good, trong dose of this lately. First there was the arrest of J.D. Hop last week on weapons charges by federal agent . Hop, it turns out, has been a passionate pre ence on racist websites.

Then came the new that Hop had a tangential connection to a new group at Washington State University that, among other tired stunt , had erected a symbolic fence as part of h s campaign against "radical multiculturalism" and illegal

immigration.

Then, this week, Michael Hop came ru hing to his brother' defense. He claimed - in a long story the S-R published on its website, and a shorter version that appeared in the paper - that hi brother is merely proud of his white heritage, and there's nothing wrong with that. The reason he picketed taco trucks in Coeur d'Alene - an activity that is deeply offensive to both heart and tomach - is because the Hop brothers being from California and all, truly understand what will happen if we Jet tacos and the people who make them

SHAWN VES TAL

proliferate.

In his interview with the S-R, Michael Hop tried to whitewash these things the way bigots always do - it's not that they hate anybody¡ it's just that they're proud of their race see'? Nothing,vrongwitb that.

Michael Hop talked about his association with a man who's affiliated with the KKK, for example. Hop just happened to see some Aryan-style flags one day at the man's home.

"I stopped because I share an intere t in those flags," Michael Hop told -R r porter Thomas Clouse. "He was a family man and a good hard worker, just like myself. It' not illegal to associate with people."

See VESTAL, A14

Contact the city desk: (509) 459-5400; f~x (509) 459-5482; email news spokesrr-3n.com

VESTAL

Continued from A7 Yes. Those flags are just so ... interesting.

Michael Hop said he's vis1ted the flag-flier's home a couple of times to let their children play. There's a play date that makes you want to put CPS on speed-dial.

Meanwhile, at WSU, there's the latest of the periodic outbursts of white-kid boorishness over race. A WSU chapter of Youth for Western Civilization has formed to defend the poor, beleaguered white Christian from the onslaught of multiculturalism. Phil Tignino, a WSU student and leader of the group, recently posted a screed online about his group's erection of a fence on the Glen TerreJl Mall at WSU earlier this month - their subtle way of poking a stick in the eye of liberals.

"I don't think the U.S. should be known as the country that is home to every culture, language and belief system in the world," Tignino, a 22-year-old political science major from Los Angeles, told the Murrow News Service.

There's a difference between the Hop boys and the Youth, of course, but both seem to think that anyone with brown skin is an illegal immigrant. Just a few years ago, another group of WSU students

@

On the Web: Read archived columns by Shawn Vestal at spokesman.com/columnists.

Americans and such.

Of course, even in a region like ours, full of bigotry against white people and rampant, u.n bearable multiculturalism, some people just don't get it. Like the good folks at Millwood Community Presbyterian Church, who took a look around and asked themselves whether this community was having a true dialogue about race. There was this matter of an attempted bombing of an MLK Day march after all.

A friend of mine, Dan Hansen, helped organize a speakers' series at the church on Culture, Race and Understanding, kicked off last week

by Ryan Crocker, the former U.S. ambassador to Iraq and Spokane native. The ne:i..1: speaker in the series, on May 24 will be Coeur d Alene's To.ny Stewart, and organizers are hoping that, as an added attraction, there'll be some tacos from the people that J.D. Hop and his ilk picketed.

That's right. Tacos. At a church.

Somebody sound the cultural alarm.

Whatever else Michael Hop has to say about race and bigotry and tacos, he manages to get one thing just right: "As we all know, there is trash in any race."

pulled the same fence stunt and got just what they wanted: A professor cursed at them. Called them white (bleep)-bags.

Outrageous, isn't it? Sometimes I wonder how those brave white dudes bear up under it all.

Tignino is probably headed for a fruitful career in politics. In his blog post on the fence protest, he unveiled the "true" reasons people oppose him and his group, besides general liberal bigotry: Mexicans are trying to steal America to create a homeland.

"Many students openly wore shirts depicting Aztlan and the reconquest of the American Southwest for Mexico by demographic attrition from illegal immigrants south of the border," he wrote. "Make no mistake, these openborder advocates that cantillate the wonders of a world without borders is nothing but a clever hoax. What they want is territory from the United States.

When illegals and their supporters say they are Americans, and when they somberly wave the American Shawn Vestal can be reached at (509) flag, don't fall for it. It's a lie."

459-5431 or shawnv@ Such a clever hoax. Claiming to be spokesmanx om.

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Benewah coalition promotes tol ranee Group works for better relatlons among tribal, nontrlbal residents

By Alison Boggs ahsonb¡aspokesman.com, (208) 765-7132

A fledgling human right organization in Benewah County ha formed with a goal of promoting b tter relations b tween members of the Coeur d'Alene Tribe and nontribal re idents.

"If you }jve on th west side (of Benewah County), you see the benefit of the tribal) medical facilitie , the free transportation and the employment that they provide both tribal and nontribal member , said Christina Crawford, president of the Benewah Human Rights Coalition and a former county commi ioner. ''If you ee the good parts and the positive aspect you perhap have a different attitude than if you don't ever see them. Our hope is to be able to bridge the gap of inadequate information."

The tribe is not involved with the coalition, aid tribal pokesman Marc St wart, but applauds it formation and its effort to promote human rights.

Crawford was appointed in 2009 to 611 a one-year vacancy on the board of commi sioner but wa defeated fo the next election cycle.

During her time on the board Crawford said, she noticed mi und r tanclings about tribal policy that he attributed in large part to inaccurate information .

Three y ars ago, Tony Stewart a Kootenai County human righ expert, aid racism again t the Coeur d'Alene Tribe had come hi top human rights concern in See COALITION, AS

COALITION

Continued from AS North Idaho. He attributed it to a variety of factors, including reactions to the 2001 U.S. Supreme Court decision that the lower third of Lake Coeur d'Alene belongs to the tribe.

Stewart said although racism is a nationwide issue, every community addressing human rights "must determine how it wants to approach its work based on its uniqueness."

Crawford said in Benewah County, the new coalition is incorporat-

ing as a nonprofit organization and plans to attend community events armed with ''Did you know?" fact sheets on topics about which there may be misunderstandings.

'We're not involved in changing peoples' minds," Crawford said.

'We're going to be involved in giving people information so they can make up their own minds. It's really, really important for people to have accurate information. And they can do with it what they choose."

Crawford said the group hopes to create a "climate of tolerance and acceptance because that's the basis of human rights."

By the middle of summer, the group intends to have a website and will have general meetings open to the public in June and December.

The two-month-old organization is run by volunteers but has established bylaws allowing for paid staff in the future.

cross-deputized five of the Coeur d'Alene Tribe's police officers last month, swearing them in at an informal ceremony in St. Maries.

The action gives the tribal officers authority to enforce state law within reservation boundaries and helps resolve a long-simmering dispute between the sheriff and the tribe over law enforcement practices within reservation boundaries.

In each of the last two state legislative sessions, the tribe has attempted to pass legislation requiring cross-deputization. It failed this year, but last year, the tribe pulled its bill after reaching an agreement with the county. After the legislative session ended, the county backed out of the agreement.

The tribe operates a IS-person police department serving 10,000 reservation residents.

In a joint news release, tribal Chairman Chief Allan said last month's action "is a small step forward" that makes the reservation safer.

Kirts said the "more cooperative relationship" with the tribe will benefit county reside.nts.

EDITORIAL

Education can ease irrational fear, bigotry

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The cultural tensions in Benewah County, Idaho, are long-standing and problematic. The western portion of the rural county is dominated by the Coeur d'Alene Indian Tribe, where economic opportunities are expanding, thanks largely to the successful tribal casino. But the eastern portion is struggling. Add to this the 2001 U.S. Supreme Court decision that handed control of the lower third of Lake Coeur d'Alene to the tribe and there is plenty of fodder for resentment and, yes, outright bigotry.

But the situation isn't hopeless.

With the recent formation of the Benewah Human Rights Coalition, the founders hope to combat unwarranted fears by patiently and respectfully shining a light on the fact that reality isn't so scary. The overall goal is to improve cooperation between the Coeur d'Alene Tnbe and nontribal members.

Former County Commissioner Christina Crawford and others believe the divide is unnecessarily widenedbymisinformationand misunderstandings, so they formed the nonpartisan coalition in the hope that accurate information can narrow the differences. The tribe is not involved in the coalition but approves of its formation.

The model is the Kootenai County Human Rights Coalition, which arose in response to virulent strains of in~your-face racism. Tony Stewart's group has done a fabulous job of spreading the message of tolerance with grace and dignity.

Along with being plain ugly, the discord in Benewah County is also fomenting dysfunction, with the latest example being the inability of county officials to come to a sensible solution to the problem of nontribal members committing crimes on tribal land. Before 2007, there was a cross-deputization plan that allowed tribal officers to enforce state law on the reservation. But that agreement was discontinued and efforts to renew it have been frustrated by unfounded fears. Recently, five tribal officers - but not all - were cross-deputized by the Benewah County sheriff, so perhaps a breakthrough is on the horizon.

Meanwhile, neighboring Kootenai County happily continues its cross-deputization agreement with the same tribe. None of the Benewah County fears about basic rights being abrogated, guns being seized and tribal deputies being untrained in state law has come to pass.

The Benewah Human Rights Coalition plans to set up a website and become a steady presence at community events. With this educational buffer in place, perhaps more people will open their minds, challenge their assumptions and banish their fears about sharing a county with a tribe.

DIRECT

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Never st epping foot on campus isn 't rea lly what educators had in mind when they came up with onli ne courses, but that's w hat's happening."

Randy Spaulding, director of academic affairs for the Washington Higher Education Coordinating Board On the increasing use of computer-based distance learning to the exclusion of in-person attendance on college campuses

The Press, Saturday, M ay 14, 2011

Tribes gather in Plummer

SECTION

C

Cd'A Tribe to host hundreds at ATNI conference

North Idaho

PLUMMER-TI1

Coeur d'Alene Tribe i ho ting the Affiliated Tribe of Northwest Indian mid-year conference at the Coeur d'Alene Casino Resort Hotel next week The conference, which starts Monday and runs through Thur day, i expected to draw hundreds of tribal leaders from Ala ka, California, Idaho, Oregon, Montana, Nevada and Wa hlngton.

'The Coeur d'Alen Tnoe is honored to be hosting the AlNI conference thi year," said Coeur d'Alene Tribe Chairman Chief Allan. "Wi ¡ve got an exciting agenda for this conference. Raul Labrador will be here. Gonzaga m n basketball coach Mark F w is going to be giving a talk and women: ba k tball star honi Shimmel is a featured peaker."

Tribal lead will cliscuss myriad i u in luding economic development, health care, natural resourc , ducation, trust r form and over ignty. see TRIBE, C4

TRIBE from C1

"Each tribe has issues unique to our individual tribes, but it is paramount that we find common ground to unify our voices to make a difference.

Only together tribes can affect real and last change."

ATNI President Brian Cladoosby referenced the organization's founder Joseph Garry message a the conference theme, "We need one another in these crucial years on Indian Affairs," Garry said in 1947. ''We must plan jointly in the spirit of unity and divine guidance."

"We can all find strength in the message that embodies these powerfu I words and continues to hold true today," said Cladoosby, chairman of

the Swinornish Tribe. "It's springtime and, a we celebrate thi ea on of renewal, may we also be renewed of the strength needed to care for our familie , our communitie and, to tackle the work that lay before us."

Monday's opening ceremqny begin at 8 a.m. ATNI delegates will set their agenda in dealing witb the United States Congress. Idaho Congressman Raul .Labrador will peak to tribal leaders at 9:30 a.m.

Labrador i a member of the House Committee on Indian Affairs.

Monday night Tony Stewart, director of the Kootenai County Task Force on Human Relation will speak at a banquet about civil rights and the challenges Nativ Americans fac in today' world.

On Tue day at noon, Gonzaga Univ r ity Men's Basketball coach Mark Few will peak about leadership in the casino event c nter. Tuesday morning at 8:30 a.m., Rep. Bob Nonini will be giving a talk about the relationhip between tribes and tate government. Nonini is the chairman of the Idaho Council on Indian Affair .

On Wedne day at noon, Loui ville women's ba ketball tar Shoni himmel will di cuss her life experiences growing up on the Umatilla Indian Re ervation in Oregon.

The Coeur d'Alene Tribe information and technology director Valerie Fast Hor e will p ak to delegat s about communication i ue and th tribe ' relationhip with the FCC at 11 a.m. Wi do sday.

THE SPOKESMAN ¡REVIEW SATURDAY, MAY 14, 20TI

SOMEWHAT STORMY A 78 T 47

CAN IT GET ANY WORSE?

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Angela Rypien finds her calling in lingerie league

MARINERS GIVE AWAY ANOTHER LEAD: C1

SIGNIFICANT STATISTICS Tony Stewart says 2010 Census data show progress In expanding region's diversity

By Alison Boggs atisonb@ pokesman.com, (208) 765-7132

For white supremacists who have made North Idaho home over the years hoping the region would one day become a white homeland, Tony Stewart has this message: Sorry, but just the opposite is happening.

When Idaho's most recent U.S. Census number came out, Stewart, a retired North

Idaho College political science instructor, crunched the numbers dating back to 1990. He came up with results that bolter his greatest passion - human rights. The co-founder of the 30-year-old Kootenai County Task Force on Human Relations says his results show the increasing diversification of one of the country' whitest regions.

"I realized that the numbers confirmed that the Aryan Na-

@ OntheWeb: Explore census data from all areas of Washington and Idaho, right down to your neighborhood, at

data.spokesman.com.

stand here 38 years after Richard Butler and the Aryan Nations arrived in northern Idaho to present to you the overwhelming evidence that dlver ity and a multiculture society is prevailing over the advocates of a whites-only land. ' Stewart studied Spokane County along with Kootenai, Bonner Latah and Nez Perce countie in Idaho. He eHminated Boundary Benewah and Shoshone counties, he said, because the population numbers

tions and other white supremacists' attempt to establi b an all-white homeland in the Inland Northwest has totally failed," Stewart said in a noon address to the Kootenai County Democrats club Friday. "I See STEWART, AS

Human rights advocate crunches the numbers

JESSE TINSLEY Jesset@spokesman.com Retired North Idaho College polltlcal science Instructor and human rights advocate Tony Stewart speaks at a meeting where he explained how census data show minorities In Idaho have grown.

STEWART

Continued from Al were too sm.all to be statistically significant. He also looked at Idaho's total population.

From 2000 to 2010, Stewart found that: â&#x20AC;˘ The nonwhite or multirace population grew from 7,045 to U,918 in Kootenai County; from 154,662 to 251,339 in Idaho; and from 36,006 to 50,946 in Spokane County. â&#x20AC;˘ The white population in the five counties Stewart

studied grew by 11.7 percent, compared to a 44.2 percent growth rate for the nonwhite and multirace population. â&#x20AC;˘ Statewide, in Idaho, the white population grew by 15.5 percent, compared with growth rates of73 percent for Hispanics; 81.5 percent for African-Americans; 59.2 percent for Asian Americans and 46.7 percent for people of two or more races.

From 1990 to 2010, the nonwhite and multirace population grew from 10.8

percent to 16 percent of Idaho's total population; from 3.4 percent to 9.3 percent of Kootenai County's population; and from 7.3 percent to 10.8 percent of Spokane County's population.

Stewart said the statistics don't prove that diversity has been achieved but that progress has been made. He cited recent examples of racism, including the bomb placed at Spokane's Martin Luther King Jr. Day march, neo-Nazis protesting at Coeur d'Alene

taco stands and the portrayal of President Barack Obama as an African witch doctor at political rallies all show "the challenges we still face in establishing a just and fair society."

However, he said, the good news is that white supremacists have not succeeded in turning the Inland Northwest into a whites-only homeland.

"We are becoming a region with an ever-growing diverse population representing many cultures," Stewart said.

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In sports it's sometimes called a moral victory when you fall short of the leader - but make a surprisingly valiant showing.

So it's a moral victory in more ways than one that's reflected in the 2010 Census figures for racial and ethnic demographics in the Inland Northwest.

As human rights activist Tony Stewart stressed during an address in Coeur d'Alene this month, the notion that an all-white homeland could be established here has been utterly repudiated. Richard Butler is gone. The Aryan Nations compound is gone. And while the separatist agenda they tried to cultivate hasn't exactly died, it is showing signs of shriveling.

SteM-art noted that in 1990, 3.4 percent of Kootenai County's population was nonwhite, and 7.3 percent of Spokane County's. In 2010, the retired political science professor observed, the respective figures are 9.3 percent and 10.8 percent.

Yes, this area remains largely monocuJtural, but at least we're a slightly darker shade of pale. Here, about one person in 10 belongs to a racial minority. Nationally, more than a fourth of Americans do.

Still, the degree of change deserves admiring mention.

Spokane County and the state of Idaho achieved diversity growth at a slightly faster pace than the nation as a whole. That's good, but Kootenai County's figures showed a demographic shlft four times as fast as the rest of the country.

Kootenai County - the same Kootenai County where neo-Nazis, skinheads and other racist misfits burned crosses and paraded down Sherman Avenue - made diversity gains over the past 20 years that tower over other areas.

In reality, again, Kootenai County started statistically way back. It had more potential for improvement.

But this is also the same Kootenai County where Butler and his followers thought recruiting an army of bigots would make the community so hostile to nonwhites that they would flee and stay away. The same Kootenai County that stood up to the thugs and won a Raoul Wallenberg award for humanitarianism.

That happened not just because courageous local leaders such as Stewart, Bill Wassmuth and others energized the community's sense of decency and fairness, but also because upstanding citizens heard the call and heeded it.

It wasn't always comfortable for them, knowing some of their neighbors, co-workers and acquaintances might be silently sympathetic with Butler's basic beliefs. Even today, some readers undoubtedly will grind their teeth over these words, so the need for human rights warriors - and followers - remains.

Diversity in numbers is only a statistic unless it's matched by authentic celebration of human values. Compared with the nation, Kootenai County's dramatically changing complexion represents a victory over Butlerian thinking. A moral victory, perhaps, but also moral justice.

To respond to this editorial online, go to www.spokesman.com and click on Opinion under the Topics menu.

THE SPOKESMAN-REVIEW

PAGE A6 â&#x20AC;˘ MONDAY â&#x20AC;˘ MAY 16, 2011

NORTHWEST/ FROM THE FRONT PAGE Northwest Indians meet In Plummer American Indian leaders from throughout the Northwestern United States will gather this week at the Coeur d'Alene Casino Resort Hotel in Plummer.

Today through Thursday, the Coeur d'Alene Tribe is host to hundreds of tribal members from Alaska, California, Idaho, Oregon, Montana, Nevada and Washington gathered for the midyear conference of the Affiliated Tribes of Northwest Indians.

Speakers will include U.S. Rep. Raul Labrador; Tony Stewart, of the Kootenai County Task Force on Human Relations; Gonzaga University men's basketball coach Mark Few; and Shoni Schimmel, University of Louisville basketball star.

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'The Color of Conscience' Idaho Public Television to air Aryan Nations documentary on Wednesday COEUR d' ALENE -

In a n w, l1our-long documentary, Idaho Public T I vi ion¡ Marcia Franklin explor the story of North Idaho a tivi ls who mobilized to oppo e a white upr mad t/neo-Nazi group that .et up a compound near Hayd n in th early 1970 .

The do umentary tell how the Aryan Nation influ n d it m mb r and as o iat to commit many crim , including bombing in Co ur d'Alene. pokan and Boi ; bank robb ri , and the murd r of radio ho l Alan Berg.

Franklin d um nt the 1981 er ation of the Kootenai ounty Ta k orce on Human Relation and th group's efforts to confront the mes ag and activitie of the Aryan Nation near

Hayden.

'We ar convin d that Franklin' Th Color of Con i n ' do umentary is th mo t current well r earch d and in-<l pth a count t lling the 30-year truggle to combat hat and prom le human right in Idaho and ven b yond th tate' border ," aid KCTFHR pok man Tony t wart.

'As the lat human rights I ader Bill Wa muth told me," Franklin said, "It's the people on the str t and the people at the grocery tore checkout counter who mak Idaho a good place for veryon , or a scary place for om people."

The broadca t of 'Toe Color of Con cience: Human Rights in Idaho" will be Wedne day at 7 p.m. on Idaho Public ~ 1 vi ion.

The Wedn day broadca twill be follow d on Thur day vening by a one-hour panel ho ted

by Franklin and her gue t to continue the di cu ion begun in 'The Color of Con cience" documentary on Idaho Publi Televi ion at 7 p.m.

T l vi ion viewer can call in qu stion at 1-800973-9800.

Th phone number for Franklin at ldaho Public ~ levi ion i : (208) 830-

4558 "Franklin' documentary will rve a an es ntial and invaluable ourc for future hi torian , tudent , ducalor , civil rights activi t and the pu blk who are king lo under tand thi ignificant period in the human righ movement in Idaho and the r gion" tewart aid .

The Press

North Idaho

Saturday, May 21, 2011

Stewart to speak in Millwood Longtime anti-hate activist Tony Stewart will discuss the ongoing challenge of racism in the Inland Northwest during the second event in the "Culture, Race and Understanding" community speakers' series in Millwood, Wash.

Before Stewart speaks, attendees will have the

chance to stand in solidarity with Coeur d'Alene vendors whose taco stands were the recent targets of vandalism and protests by white supremacists.

It will begin at 6 p.m.

Tuesday at Millwood Community Presbyterian Church, 3223 N. Marguerite.

There will be a taco '

dinner, with $6 suggested donation.

Stewart will di cuss activities involving the harassment of taco vendors in Coeur d'Alene and the community's response, along with other recent events and the hlstory of the region's racial activity.

He will speak at 7 p.m.

Info: (509) 924-2350

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You may have beard that Aryan Nations follower Vincent Bertollini has urfaced in New Mexico. Where he continues to circulate his racist propaganda. The Hate Watch blog of the outbern Poverty Law Center located Bertollini, who spent time in prison after trying to escape prosecution on a felony DUI charge in Bonner County, where he published the nth Hour Remnant Messenger and underwrote the la e Aryan Nations leader Richard Butler.

Bertolini now goes by the name "Vince Bert.' Recently, Bertollini sent this me sage to my blog, Huckleberries Online (www.spoke man.com/blog / hbo): "Give it a rest! Who care anymore.

To the unending gratitude of the (racist term deleted) in the Caucasian north I will never return." Bertollini once said that his greatest mistake was moving to North Idaho, where he encountered stiff resistance from human rights activists.

Good riddance.

4A

Hagadone News Network

Sunday, May 29, 201 1

I Editorial

Anew day for HREI W: 'r

going to mi s Dan LePow, who emingly arriv d in town ju t ye t rday.

But r ading b tw en the lines, his departure after L s than 11 months as head of the Human Right Education Institut in Coelll" d'Alene seems to b t Hing v ral tori s or on tory with v ral plot . He' r portedly gone to greener pasture in ~ xa but th que tion of hi fundrai ing u c s her ling r unanswered.

W ar ard nt upporter of human rights cau s in g n ral and HREI in particular. What's mor ba i and ntiaJ than oru ' right to Uve p acefully and njoy th am opportunities in 1lf that ar guarant ed to others? But omething em ami with HREI. Th organization has had difficulty finding th right fit for x cutive director, but ther ' more to it than that. As one metaphor illu trat , it om tim eem that HREI' ladd r i ¡ l aning again t th wrong wall. And that might be a big part of th r a on fundrai ing i ven mor of a hall ng than th s clif:fi ult econom1 time hould di tal .

HREI ha plenty going for it People are passionate about the cause. The Kootenai County Ta k Force on Human Relations, in its fundraising banquet last month for HREI, packed the house with hundreds who wanted to hear from Mahatma Gandhi's grandson. But as important as HREI's educational programs are for issues like international peace, women's rights and children's safety, there is a ens in the community that in its keen desire to help HREI, the task force might actually be holding it back.

We believe great r delineation between the two organization i needed, whether thats structural, a matt r of changing public perception or both.

HREI is trying to grow into a broad-based human rights education organization, while the task force seems stuck on racism and its glory days of bringing down Richard Butler and his band of Aryan mi fits.

Ignoring history may guarantee that it's repeated, but living in the past assures one never progresses. In our view, there is too much emphasis from the ta k force on what was, and not enough on what i or what can be. Constantly reliving the rise and fall of Butler's pathetic little empire does more than keep the past alive and give it ever greater significance in the annals of North Idaho; it reopens wounds among a compassionate populace. And it provides parasitic modern-day racists with the attention they must have to survive.

The blurry line between HREI and the Human Rights Task Force should be clarified and clear separation achieved. If HREI is to fulfill its mission - 'We celebrate diversity and promote human rights by educating, raising awareness and inspiring transformation in our community" - then it must be able to focus on what's ahead, not behind.

PAGE AS I FRIDAY, JUNE 3, 2011

SPOKESMAN.COM/FEATURES

READ ABOUT 'X-MEN: FIRST CLASS,' MTV MOVIE AWAR

Racism here? Denial convenien~ misguided

R

emember the KKK snowman?

In December, a Hayden Lake doofus built a 10-foot, pointy-hooded snowman holding a noose in his front yard. Hilarious.

Idaho made the news again.

What struck me at the time was not the bigoted display, but the utter normalcy of the guy's home. Small and white, with gray trim and a two-car garage. Inside the garage hung a Confederate flag and one touting white power - along with the ultimate automotive symbol of the Northwest mainstream: a Subaru Outback.

Honk if you love white people!

We're not a haven for racists exactly. But there is a thread of denial and

SHAWN VESTAL

defensiveness about our reputation as a haven for racists that's woven tightly into the regional fabric - an insistence that what is right before our eyes or alongside us at the stoplight i n t really there. Or that if we ju t ignore it, it will go away. This is our real race problem here in Whiteyville: Our insi tence that we don t have one accommodates the one we have.

The accommodators range from those who don't want any bad vibe troubling the wells at the Coeur d'Alene Resort to those who think the Aryan Nations did sort of have a point. (Have you been to California lately? So many brown people!)

The late t dose of accommodation comes from the Coeur d'Alene Pre s, which is owned by grandiosity magnate Duane Hagadone.

The Press publi bed an editorial last week glibly dismissing the work of the Kootenai County Ta k Force on Human Relation as yesterday's news.

The editorial - which ha drawn outraged re ponse from task force stalwarts Tony See VEST AL, A12

backward. And I wonder: Which wounds among Continued from AS which compassionate Stewart and Norm Gissel people are reopened by - dealt with the departure talk of the Butler saga, of Human Rights exactly?

Education Institute Maybe it's some of the honcho Dan LePow, who folks who commented on raised less money than the editorial online. was hoped.

"I just moved here from The unsigned editorial a state which is in a very assures readers that "We sad state of affairs," writes are ardent supporters of one. ''It is the poster child human rights causes in for 'diversity' and general and HREI in tolerance, etc. I moved particular." But the here to get away from that Press's ardor for human which comes with the rights runs aground on price of gangs, violence the shoals of not really and lots of grafitti. ... wanting to get all specific Nativeidahoans,be about local racism. It's carefull what you ask or such a bummer. Makes it wish for. Go ahead and hard to raise money from sing Cumbaya around the the wine-sipping cheese campfire and welcome eaters who like their everyone here and you'll human rights more along really see Northern Idaho the lines of "children's go by the way of LA, safety" and "international Oakland, etc. and then ... peace."

Jets see just how much "In our view, there is racial tolerance you have. too much emphasis from Take a look at what has the task force on what happened to Moses Lake, was, and not enough on WA. I'm not saying bring what is or what can be," back the Nazi skinheads the editorial says. but you'd better rethink a "Constantly reliving the few things. Trust me!" rise and fall of (Richard) That person does seem Butler's pathetic little wounded, after all. empire does more than Mentally wounded. keep the past alive and Here's another: give it ever greater "If anyone wants to significance in the annals experience first-hand of North Idaho; it reopens serious real racism and wounds among a racial fear go to East Los compassionate populace.

Angeles. Take your And it provides parasitic families for a lovely modern-day racists with evening stroll along the the attention they must streets of Compton and I have to survive." assure you will have a In other words: The mind opening and task force, by going on unforgettable adventure and on about racism, in racial intolerance." fosters racists. I think That poor soul. Visiting they might have that Compton! Hurry back to

VESTAL

Idaho, where there's absolutely no racism!

These bigots are here, and they are here, in their own words, because we're such a white loaf of bread.

For every guy who builds a snowman, there is some unknown number of morons telling horror stories about Compton and Moses Lake. And for every one of those, there is some unknown number who would never say that because they're less socially maladjusted - but who might point out that, while they personally have nothing against people of color, of course, they feel that things have gotten very bad for white dudes. And behind every one of those folks, there's someone saying ignore it, pay no attention, your tee time's coming up ...

Gissel and Stewart have responded to the Press editorial specifically and at length. Stewart pointed out 22 rock-solid reasons the task force remains a vital organization, .ranging from current hate crimes to the organization's many, many instances of leadership in raising money and fighting bigotry.

We'll probably never fully win this battle, but we can sure lose it.

Failing to fight it at all would be an excellent way to start.

Shawn Vestal can be reached at (509) 459-5431 or shawnv@spokesman.com.

Follow him on Twitter at @vestaU3.

The Pre~s, Friday, June 3, 2011

SECTIO

C Editorial was hurtful, off target It i adness, loneness and isolation that I feel a I write this respons to Sunday's Coeur d'Alene Pres editoriaJ regarding the HREI and KCTFHR In my 41 year in Idaho and Coeur d'Alene, I cannot recalJ an instance in which I publicly criticized OPINION the Coeur d'Alene Press but on numerous occasions at press conferTony ence and Stewart other pubMy Turn lie venues thanked and prais d the newspaper for their upport of our human rights work a well a their coverage of uch program as the NIC Popcorn Forum. But on a far more important level, I am heartbroken at the po ible damage thi editorial could do to our constant truggle to eradicat prejudice and bigotry as well as hinder our work in prev oting th ongoing problem of hate crimes as we serve a aJHes to the victims.

It i with no anger or retribution that I hare with all of you my grief over the setback thi editorial could do to the advancementofhUJ11an rights. I know from a lifetime of commibnent to this cause that the peddlers of hate would like nothing better than to have human rights organizations and activists become ileot As long a God gives m the strength to be active, I will not remain silenL Today I did a ilent prayer asking God to give me the sir ngth, wisdom and kindness in making the proper response. I find no examples in history that silenc re ulted in a victory over th,e forces of prejudice, bigotry or the eradication of hate.

The conservative olumni t for the Washington Po t Kathi en Parker, stated it mo t eloquently in her column when she wrote: "When you choose to remain silent, consider yourself complicit in whatever trao pires."

I humbly ubmit the folJowing points in support of our decad s of

see MY TURN, C2

C2

The Press

Friday, June 3, 2011

MYClTURN

from

work for promoting a world that embraces the respect and dignity for all humanity.

First, on behalf of the KCTFHR. I have had the pleasure of working with my friend Jerry Jaeger, president of Hagadone Hospitalities, to recruit conferences to Coeur d'Alene featuring very diverse delegates. Over and over some minority members of those confEirences opposed coming to Coeur d'Alene; yet, Jerry and I used the work of the Task Force to persuade the reluctant delegate to attend.

Thi. editorial makes our task more difficult in the .future.

Second, l>ennis Wheeler, my friend of 40 years, and I have been discussing a media campaign to pi:omote

the meri~ of diversity for our community.

Third, we just recently had a very positive news tory about the increase in th growth of minorities in lh Inland Northwest and tl1 tat of Idaho based on th recent U.S. Census data.

The regional support for human rights work is one of lhe contributing factors in this good news.

Fourth. during the last 13 year . the KCTFHR has raised over $140,000 for HREI at our annual human rights banquets. This sum does not include th many dollars in ca h and in-kind to HREI by Task Force board m mbers over the years.

Fifth, the KCTFHR

e tablish d HREI in 1998 for the purpose of expanding the educational offerings in the area of human rights.

Few people are aware that Greg Carr in 2001 personally contacted Tony Stewart to discuss several major financial contribution to promote human rights in our region including the purchase of the former Aryan Nations¡ compound turning it into a Peace Park. Carr also through lhe good offices of Tony Stewart pledged $1,000,000 to HREI. The Carr gift also included $20,000 to Th Univer ity of Idaho for a lecture erie honoring Bill Wassmuth.

And finally, Carr donated the beautiful marble structure that graces the grounds of the HREI Center. Greg Carr, the KCTFHR and the HREI announced those gifts at a press conference held at NIC

No h Idaho

HREI di covered a Swastika on th door of the Center. Jt wa fue KCTFHR that met immediat ly with th police to pursue th i ue. Also Tony tewart on everal occa ions e corted Rachel Dolezal, th former HREI Dir ctor of Education, to her home when sh was haras ed by the neo-Nazis.

Eighth, unfortunately, we must face the fact that hat activity is a reality around th world including our r gion. ln 2009, we document d nin hat crimes in the Inland Northwest along with th spreading of hate literatur in many neighborhoods. What did the Task Force do? We organized a pre s conferenc at the Idaho/Washington border wiU1 many law enforc ment, city mayors and council members. and the police of in 2001. the Coeur d'Alene Tribe. We Sixth, the KCIFHR con- sent a message that these tinues to promote human crime wouid not be tolerrights through educational ated. projects. For example. the Ninth, in 2010 lhere Task Force in partnership were five incidents effectwith the Coeur d'Alene and ing students' safety on the Post Falls school di tricts NIC can1pus. 1l1e KCfFHR and North Idaho College Executive Committee met have sponsored the Dr. in a private session wifu the Martin Luther King, Jr. Fifth leading administrators to Grade Students' Program share our expertise for the past 26 years. We Tenth, this year we have have had 32,500 children witnessed neo-Nazi demthrough the program. Years on trations and in one case later many of the former 5th a destruction of property grade students, who went at Taco Stands in Coeur through the program, have d'Alene. Again the Task shared touching stories with Force was there to support us about fueir positiv expe- the victim . riences in celebrating human Eleventh, tel us not forrights get the planting of a deadly Seventh, in the not too bomb in Spokane prior to di tant pa t, the. taff at tl1 Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. march on Jan. 17, 2011 .

The KCTFHR wa a k d to attend two me ting in Spokane to discus lh problem. l hope the Coeur d'AI ne Press dHoriaJ is not suggesting that th Task Fore activi m encouraged U1at perpetrator's action .

Twelfth, we are pr ently working on two troubling incidents that involve an African American victim and an Am rican Indian victim Thirteenth, during the past two years, HREI ponored a two-year erie titled "Fa l Forward: Globalization and Human Rights." The serie was brok n into four ix-month quarters. One of the KCTFHR Board members coordinated two of those four quarters and was succes ful in acquiring a $4,500 grant from the Idaho Humanities Council for the HREI eries.

Fourteenth, The Coeur d'Alene Press editoriaJ eems to sugge t that if the Ta k Force would remain silent or just go away then the n o-Nazi's would just disappear. We have h ard that argument for 30 years and even while the Aryan Nation were active at the compound.

Fift entb, I annot express the depth of my hurt for the Ta k Force wh n I read these words in the editorial: "Con tantly reliving the rise and fall of Butler's pathetic little empire does more than keep the pa t alive and give it ever greater significanc in the annals of North Idaho; it reopen wound among a compa sionat populac . 'And it provide parasitic mod roday racists with the attention they mu t have lo survive'" ( 'italics added). The recent Tankovich Brothers' Trial and conviction ought to be a reminder of the challenge that still exist I cannot believe anyone can seriously ugge t that the work of the T~sk Force wa respon ible for that racial incident Sixteenth, The Co ur d'Alene Press ditorial eem to ugg st that th Task Force work is in the past and if we would just

I

b come ii nt all would b fine. I interpreted the editorial to sugge t that the Ta k For e is no longer relevant and we shou.ld leave all matters to our wonderful sister organization, HREI. Both HREI and the KCI'FHR are badly needed.

Seventeenth, sadly, th editorial fails to mention that when Lbe We tboro Baptist Church brought their message of hate to the Inland orthwe t and IC in particular. it was the Ta k Force that organized the very succ ful unity rally at the HREI Center. Should we have been silent a the WBC held sign ijianking God for killing our courageou oldier ; thanking God for breast cancer and the targeting of ~e LGBT community?

How could one ever oe apathetic or ilent wh n such hate ascends on our wonderful community?

Eighteenth. Ta k Force board members travel often at their own ~ o es a ross America to hare the true tory of the goodness and ltindness of Idahoans. And ye we hare the story of our people' victory over the forces of hate. ineteenth, in today' pokesmao Review, Vm nt B rtollini, the former leader of the 11th Hour Remnant in Sandpoint, Idaho, who recently completed a pri on term in ew Mexico. wa quoted as aying that hi greatest mistake was moving to North Idaho. wher he encountered stiff re istance from human right: activists.

Twentieth, I also grieve over the possible demoralizing effect this editorial could have on our region s victim .

Does the ditorial send th message that we must not peak openly in support of the victim as the Ta k Force often ralli public

support for the victims a we did for the Keenan Twenty-One, We should not forget the neo-Nazi threat on the live of some of the KCTFHR board member in earlier years and th use of a bomb i:o the attempt to kill Bill Wassmuth, the Ta k Force pre ident at the time. Thi violenc did not jJ nee Father Bill.

Twenty-Two, The people of the city of Coeur d'Alene have been nationally recognized and honored for their upporl of human rights. Fir t, the Raoul Wallenb rg Committee of th United Sates bestowed its prestigiou award on the city everal years ago.

Second, one of the major rea ons for the City of Coeur d'Alene being choen as the first city in Idaho to r ceive the "All American City Award'' in 1990 wa due to th people' support of human rights.

Let me conclude this statement the same way I b gin. I n ver dreamed th day would come when we would feel uch abandonrn nt by an organization that ha been very upportive, our friend and whose support is so important to our work. My mind races to th experience we had in 2010 in John Day, Oregon. It was th publi her and editor of th ir local newspaper, "The Blue Mountain Eagle , that not only invited us to their b autiful county to rally upport in opposition to the neoNazis but the paper led th very succe ful vocal outcry to counter the peddlers of hate who were trying to relocate to their beautiful region.

I did shed t ars today that the Task Force may not hav the support from our local n wspap r in the future. rt ha been a very ad day for me as well a our human right upporter .

A4

The Press

Wednesday. June 8, 2011

•

•

p1n1on HREI: It's all about education Dan Lepow's resignation has given the Human Rights Education Institute an opportu~ity to examine its structure and its reason for being.

We have determined that our reason for being is sound and stilJ as relevant as it has always been. True, the Aryan Nations is no longer a large presence in oar area, thanks to the Kootenai County Task Force on Human Relations and the work of Tony Stewart, Norm Gissel and Ken Howard (S~e Tony. Stewart's reply to · Mike Patrick's editorial.) The Aryan Nations compound no longer exists and their organizational structure has been dismantled. But the attitudes tha! allowed this group of white ~upremacists to carry on their work are still with us.

The Task Force focuses on ~ate crime response and victim support. HREI is all about education: raising awareness and deepening understanding in order to make Coeur d'Alene, Kootenai County and the Inland Northwest a safe nourishing place for all people - people who are black brown, red, white, yello~ or green; people who are male or female; people ,who are heterohomo- or bi-sexual; people ' who are rich, people who are poor, people who are highly educated, people who are not, people who are old people who are young. We may look somewhat white as a community (and even this is beginning ~o change) , but we are diverse m many less obvious ways.

The more diverse we are the richer the possibilities fo~ our community. HREI is committed to teaching respect, appreciation, courage, trust, integrity and compassion as well as hard core skills for getting along and working together to make this community the best it can be.

We're still exploring the optimum structure through which HREI can serve this community. Meanwhile, we are carrying on with our two-year program focus, "Peace Lives Here: A Challenge for the 21st Century." We will be involved in summer camps throughout the area and will offer family activities at the HREI Building (SE corner of Sherman and Government Way) througbout the summer. In the fall 'w e will be offering a Living Voices production, 'Through the Eyes of a Friend," to augment the eighth-grade curriculum on Anne Frank, and launching a Values Project for high school students. Stay tuned. We have much more in the works. We greatly appreciate the support (your words of support, your presence at our ev.ents

and your donations) this community gives to HREI and the mission we serve: We celebrate diversity and promote human rights by educating, raising awareness and inspiring transformation in our community.

MARILYN MUEHIBACB President, BREI Board of Directors Coeur d'Alene

Readers Write HREI: Stewart on the money Hooray to Tony Stewart's rebuttal to the HREI editorial. I hope the paper read it carefully.

JUDY FRANCIS Post Falls

HREI: Speak out or risk all This is a letter in response to your editorial regarding the HREI and the KCfFHR Perhaps you are too young or not well read or haven't traveled enough to know the importance of keeping the past alive when it comes to hate. Hitler, like Butler, also started out as a "pathetic little empire." · I recently toured Dachau Concentration/Death Camp in Germany. Our extremely well educated guide remarked that while at Dachau there are still survivors that talk to him and tell him of the atrocities. Our guide once asked one survivor why didn't he speak up as groups of people were being taken from their homes. The survivor responded that first he saw politicians that opposed Hitler being taken. He thought, I am not a politician. That doesn't affect me.

Then Jews of many countries were taken. He thought, I am not a Jew. That doesn't affect me.

Then trade unionists, Masons, other religious groups, disabled, ill, gays were taken. Once again he thought, I am not that group.

I am not affected. No reason to speak out Then they came for him and there was no one to speak for him. He survived the camp to tell the horror stories. Dachau was preserved by survivors, for the world to see and keep reminding us that we have to speak out for those who are being victimized. If not, who will speak out for us when we becomeavictim?TheKCIFHR must keep a watchful eye and remind us of what pathetic little empires can become. The KCfFHR is a powerful voice and do so much good for this community, much of which goes unpublished. We need the KCfFHR Otherwise, who will speak out for you, Mike, when they come for The Press?

GAYI.E HUGHES Coeur d'Alene

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TONY STEWART, KootenaiCounty Task Forceon Huma nRelolions

RESIST, RALLY, REAFFIRM WHAT TO DO WHEN A HATE GROUP VISITS YOUR CITY

Fighting the Good Fight These simple steps can help any community rally against the influence or Influx of hate groups.

When the dust settles and you look back, your victory will be democracy at work.

• The community should speak out with one voice for human rights.

• Civic groups-governmental and otherwise-can sponsor public rallies.

• Rally organizers should recru it Individuals, organizations, and institutions to sponsor activities and events.

• Elected officials should issue public statements as the voice of the people.

• City government should issue proclamations of support for the d ignity of all local residents.

• Civic groups can develop longrange plans to enhance democracy (e.g .. an annual human rights banquet).

• Where possible, elected officials can support and cultivate local human rights and civil rights groups.

24

CITYVISION MAGAZIN E

THE KOOTENAI COUNTY TASK FORCE on Human Relations has pent more tban 30 year working to confront and counteract the activities of hate groups in communities across America. Over that time, we have learned that when the people of a city or county build a wall of unjty against the peddlers of hate, the result is a resounrung victory for the democratic principles of freedom, equaJjty, and justice.

The first lesson for a communjty i to accept that history provide u with no examples of silence ever succeeding in reducing prejudke, combating bigotry, or refuting a message of hate. Passivity or a refusal to acknowledge them-however weU intentioned- does not discourage hate groups or deter their activities. But organized citizen resistance can have a huge impact.1\vo recent examples give virtual blueprint for how communities can triumph over those who would invade them with the toxic weapons of hate. ln the first instance, the Kootenru County Ta k force on Human Relations assisted Grant County and the city of John Day, Oregon, in February 2010. Neo- azis had visited the ru toric eastern Oregon community with the intent of establishing a compound there.

After the community united with a fuU day's activitie of rallie , pubHc displays on the treet in upport of human rights, pres conference with the national media, and the announcement of the formation of a human rights task force, the neoNazis have never returned to John Day or Grant County.

The second example took place in October 2010, when the Kansa -ba ed Westboro Baptist Church visited Spokane, Wasrungton, and Coeur d'AJene, Idaho, peddling a me age of hate that included signs thanking God for the death of American soldiers. Many groups in Spokane organized event and Tony Stewart peaceful countermes ages in support of human rights. In Coeur (UJ}Qlitical,cid'Alene the Kootenai County Task Force on Human Relations enll1t. leaturer, hosted a human rights unity rally with 18 speakers representcofounder of ing the many diverse groups and communities in our region the Kootenai Co11111J• Ta,k and a program honoring America's oldiers and veterans. The Poree on flurally was a song of equality, dignity, and respect that resonated man Relation,, throughout the region. and a human lla e ful me ages cont radict the spirit of democracy. When righlJf ac/M1t/ consultanl. the people exercise the power at their disposal byforroinga wall of unity against them, the dark fo rces of hate cannot prevail. C::

Organized citizen resistance can have a huge impact.

JULY/AUG UST 2011

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For more Information: www.ldahohuman

rlghts.org

By Kaye Hult hirty years ago thi past F ebruary eight people gathered at First Chri tian Church in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho, to determine bow to counter the hate crimes that had cropped up in and around Kootenai County.

That night, they formed the Kootenai County Task Force on Human Relations (KCTFHR).

Recently, Tony Stewart one of the founding members, reflected upon the ta k force hi tory.

Richard Butler purchased Jand above Hayden Lake in 1973. At that time fewer than one percent of the residents of Coeur d' Alene and the area surrounding it were non-white. Butler created the Aryan Nations and the Church of Jesus Christ - Christian. He quietly recruited people to join him in these organizations, set up to tout white supremacy.

Toward the end of 1980 he and his compatriots began a campaign to harass people they wanted to leave the Inland Northwest. In particular, they victimized a Jewish restaurant owner in Hayden and a bi-racial family in Coeur d'Alene.

Tony said Dina Tanners a community activist called together the early February meeting in response to these bate crimes.

Accordingly, she has been dubbed the mother of the task force. Others involved from the beginning include Kootenai County Under-Sheriff Larry Broadbent and realtor Marshall Mend. Fr. Bill Wassmuth then priest of St. Pius X Catholic Church, and attorney Norm Gissel came on a few years later in 1984.

Of these early participants, Tony and Norm continue to be active on the board.

T

uThe task force is both reactive and proactive," Tony said. "It reacts to hate crimes. We have learned that we can ' t be silent when these things take place. • He said the group is proactive in supporting legislation and activities that promote acceptance of diversity.

For example, during the 1980s, the task force joined forces with the North Idaho College Board ofTrustees to dedicate 3,200 feet of the beach at North Idaho College to the Coeur d' Alene Tribe.

Historically it bad been a tribal gathering place.

Jeanne Givens a tribe member, played an instnunentaJ role in bringing this about. Then governor ofldaho, Cecil Andrus assisted in the dedication on July 18 1987. The Coeur d ' Alene Tribal Council named the beach ''Yap-Keehn-Um" (The Gathering Place).

Tony described the task force as intentional in how it approaches its work.

Twenty-one people serve on its board. Only nine of the seats are open. The task force has designated the remaining 12 seats to represent the Coeur d'Alene Tribe; Hispanic/Latino, Asian American, Jewish and African American communities; local governments in Kootenai County· the Coeur d'Alene Chamber of Commerce· religious, Jaw enforcement, gay~ lesbian-bisexual-transvestite groups; the North Idaho College Human Equality Club and the education communities. All on the task force volunteer their time.

"We decided a long time ago that we support three great demo-

cratic principles: freedom equality and justice. We wiU work in two arenas: to support victims of bate crimes or harassment, and to oppo e di crimination be aid.

"To carry out this work, we have determined never to remain silent. We can find no example in history where silence has olved problems. Al o we will never engage in confrontation. We will follow tbe manner of Martin Luther King Jr. of doing something of our own el ewhere," he aid. " lt' all about control " Tony said. "Who detennine it? We can let them control our behavior or we can control it."

Tony told of how, In 1998, Butler organized a march down Coeur d' Alene's Sherman Avenue. He wanted the task force to come and heckle him and his supporters. He labeled them as cowards when they refused to do so.

Instead Tony arranged to give a speecb at the Magnuson Club. He outlined the task force ' Lemons to Lemonade project. He invited people to pledge money per minute of the walk.

Tony humorously pointed out that Butler had three responses

to this project. Ifhe decided not to march, the task force would not receive any funds to promote diversity programs in the public chools. If his march was short, the task force would raise a little money. What Tony really wanted was for Butler to march lowly because the longer he walked tbe more the project would receive.

The march la ted 27 minutes.

Of funds they raised, donors de ignated $10 000 to several human rights organizations. The task force divided the remaining $24,000 for three grants for public school teachers to use programs and material on diver ity.

By announcing each award at a separate time over several months they garnered more publicity for the task force .

When asked what made him so dedicated to the work of the task force Tony looked back to when he was a young boy growing up in the South. "I've always been so offended wben people were treated in an unjust way," he said.

His whole family was saddened by hate activity.

He identified one incident that has stayed with him.

. While visiting relatives elsewhere, his family heard an African-American woman with a magnificent voice sing in church.

His parents invited her to their church, but when they told the church elders of their invitation the elder rejected it. They did not want an African American to share worship with tbem.

Tony considers this one of the foundational incidents that formed hjs perceptions about discrimination.

The task force has helped other human rights groups form, both nearby and throughout the country. [t bas taken an instrumental role in anti-di crimination legislation over the past 30 years.

It has joined hands with other human rights organizations to accomplish greater deeds than 'it could do on its own.

It has fought for the right of many people in the courts.

On its website at idahohumanright .org the ta k force Ii ts 42 items of involvement in their stand for human rights.

Recently an editorial in a local newspaper suggested that the work of the task force was done.

Tony replied with a lengthy rebuttal, ayiog that its work will never be done.

"It's like saying there will be no more victims," he said. 'We ' ve made mucb progress. There are al o etback . More than one victim has said to me 'You are our only avenue!' â&#x20AC;˘ The work i bumbling, be reflected. ' We 've been empowered by the citizenry. We' ve been imaginative, and bold at times.

We have much responsibility.

We feel humble and grateful for the support we receive, he said.

"There's Incredible satisfaction to be involved with thi ," Tony continued. 'At the top of the Ii t is the destruction of the Aryan Nations compound and turning the land into a peace park. The task force has been much more appreciated for that than anything. " For information, caU 208-7653932 or email tony.steward@ roadrunner.com.

Kaye Hult a retired United Church of Christ pastor living in Coeur d 'Alene, volunteers with The Fig Tree

A2

The Press

Wednesday, September 21, 2011

'Not in Our Town' event starts tonight Citizens throughout the United States are participating in a nationwide anti-hate campaign and dialogue this week sparked by tonight' public television premiere of the one-hour documentary film, ''Not in Our Town: Light in the Darkness."

The film airs at 8 p.m.

on Idaho Public Television, and the Kootenai County Task Force on Human Relations will provide a venue for North Idaho discussion Thursday evening in downtown Coeur d'Alene.

"Not in Our Town: light in the Darkness" tells the story of how the community of Patchogue,

N. Y., came together to take action after a longtime immigrant-resident is the target of anti-immigrant .violence and murdered. ¡ The event will take place from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. at the Parkside Event Center, 601 E. FrontAve., Floor 3. It is free and open to the public.

AB

The Press

Friday, September 23, 2011

North ldah

JEROME A. POLLOS/Press

Marcia Franklin, a documentary journalist with Idaho Public Television, talks to a North Idaho College journalism class about the importance of understanding objectivity and how it should be applied in the journalism field.

All about obj~~~M:tY

By MAUREEN DOLAN

Staff writer COEUR d' ALENE -

Marcia Franklin, a longtim producer and ho t at Idaho Public Television who e program have won several regional Emmy award and th George Fo ter Peabody Award, took om time Thursday to speak to journali m tudent at North Idaho College.

Franklin vi ited with the tud ts prior to a downtown rec ption ho ted by the Kootenai County Ta k Force on Human Relation . Th group i f atur d in ao Idaho Publi Tel vi ion p cial produc d by Franklin, 'The Color of Conscienc : Human Rights in Idaho. ' h spok to th NIC tud nt about journali m as a car r - the challeng sand expectation - aod illu trat d her poin by sharing om of h r own exp ri n .

Franklin fir t touch d on th halleng ofb ing obj ctiv and it importanc .

'Obj tivity hould be th goal ... My p r onal opinion i that the field of journali rn i rapidly lo ing, or ha lo t, its objectivity in many area ,' Franklin aid. h spoke about th dang r of becoming too clo to ourc , and how it an affe t obj tivity. h point d a an example, to th New York

Time r porter who ''got pull d into the idea that ther w r w apon of ma d structi.on" in Iraq.

Lorie by that reporter w r later found lo b inac urat .

"I do think it take compas ion to be a journali t, and by that l mean you need lo car ," FrankUn said.

That doesn t mean that a journali t i on the same ide of every person he or he intervi w he said, but that ' you hav a heart" Franklin spoke of her own experience working on 'Toe Color of oncience."

The average do um ntary take about v n year h said. Franklin b gan working on "Color of Con cience" 10 y ar ago. It fir t aired on publi t levi ion in May. Th film amine th pa t 30 years of the modern human rights movement in Idaho. It bronicl th fforts of local human rights activi t who in 19 1 found d th Koot nai County Ta k Fore on Human Relation . Task fore members r ponded to act of viol n by memb r of the Aryan Nation by paving th way for a 2002 civil Law uilthatr ult din the disbanding of the group's Hayd n headquarl r .

Victim of a hooting committed by guard of th Aryan Nation ornpound were award d a multi-million dollar ttl m nt that

bankrupted the group.

Following th verdic philanthropi t Gregg Carr purcha ed the prop rty and the building wer cleared from th land.

Franklin wa ther with cam ra rolling when task fore memb r walk d on tho e grounds for the fir t time: "We got this amazing footag ," Franklin aid.

"I cam back with thi thought, Toi i the kernel of omelhing bigger."' h aid that at the time the Aryan Nation w re a tive in North Idaho, 'Th re wer good peopl who did nothing, and al o a lot of good p ople who did a Jot, p ople who did extraordinary thing ."

H I n McFarland, a journali m tudent who lives in Co ur d Alene, said she r members that time.

"People didn't lrnow what they could do," McFarland aid. 'Th y wer di gu t d and outraged. It wa a litU band of creep , really."

Franklin said that while th r ha b n a lot of progre in fighting raci m and bigotry in Idaho problem still xi t a th y do in many plac throughout the nation.

"I want d to how U,at th r r ally w r a lot of good peopl in Idaho, ' Franklin aid.

Th one-hour film featur human rigb a tivi t from throughout th tat .