Constitution’s Guarantees Extend Even To Nasty Parties
Steve Judy, Coeur d’Alene’s new mayor, will meet this morning with local imagemeisters and human rights activists to discuss the Aryan Nations’ latest publicity ploy: an April 18 march on Sherman Avenue.
I wish city officials the best of luck because there’s no easy way to deal with the devil.
If Judy refuses to grant the goosesteppers a parade permit to celebrate Der Fuehrer’s birthday, Richard Butler and his ilk will sue - and probably win. Our Constitution covers the profane as well as the wholesome. If Judy grants the permit, he could put the downtown at risk. Out-of-town zealots from both sides likely will be on hand, itching to fight - and possibly vandalize.
On the other hand, Butler may already have what he wants: a couple of headlines letting the nation know he’s still around. That’s necessary for his cause because local followers of the tired, old hatemonger have dwindled to a handful. Only eight racists were with him last year when he was arrested for trying to disrupt Coeur d’Alene’s image conference. Five surrounded him last week when he attended a North Idaho College play about diversity, a performance, incidentally, that was interrupted by a bomb threat. Who knows how many would follow him up Sherman Avenue?
Butler has threatened to march on Sherman for years and never followed through. Coeur d’Alene should take his latest stunt seriously but not overreact to it.
Welcome aboard, Mayor Judy.
NIC up to old tricks in presidential search
North Idaho College, which has been plagued by controversy since the trustees canned President Bob Bennett last year, is at it again.
On Monday, an NIC attorney, acting on behalf of interim President Ron Bell, stirred things up by threatening to sic Coeur d’Alene police on Spokesman-Review reporter Andrea Vogt. Vogt wanted to attend meetings between the presidential finalists and various campus factions. NIC journalists were present at one of the meetings.
Vogt had attended similar meetings during presidential searches at the University of Idaho and Lewis-Clark State College. She figured the public might like to know something about the NIC finalists beyond the standard press releases.
Who knows? Maybe the college had the right to close such meetings. But why should it?
In the end, Vogt left without a police escort, which, in a way, is a shame. It’d be nice to know what the candidates thought of a college that would have a reporter arrested - for trying to quote them.
, DataTimes MEMO: D.F. Oliveria’s “Hot Potatoes” runs Tuesdays and Thursdays. You can comment on the items by calling (800) 344-6718 or (208) 765-7125, or by sending e-mail to daveo@spokesman.com.