Bail Jumper Rains On April Parade

Hitler isn’t going to get a birthday party parade next month in Coeur d’Alene - thanks to an Aryan who was caught by police with his muffler dragging.

Aryan Nations founder Richard Butler is out $2,200 after posting a jail bond for Thomas Barklett Elliott, who was arrested Sept. 13 in Hayden Lake for “driving without privileges.”

Elliott has since disappeared.

Now Butler must repay a Coeur d’Alene bonding company.

Butler said he was counting on using the $2,200 for food, transportation and a bond required for an April 18 parade in Coeur d’Alene celebrating Adolf Hitler’s birthday.

“We were counting on that money for expenses we will have for this march,” Butler said.

The “100-man march” will now be held on July 25, he said, during the annual Aryan World Congress.

That event at the Aryan compound north of Hayden Lake attracts neo-Nazis, Ku Klux Klan members, skinheads and others with anti-government, anti-Semitic agendas.

To march down Coeur d’Alene streets in July, Butler must resubmit an application for a “special event permit” from the Police Department. City law requires final approval by the Coeur d’Alene mayor.

Butler said he spoke with Coeur d’Alene police officials Thursday and has submitted a new parade permit request.

Coeur d’Alene police Capt. Carl Bergh confirmed that Butler had withdrawn his application for the April 18 permit.

“At this time, we haven’t received anything in writing from the Aryan Nations for a special event permit for July 25,” Bergh said.

Butler scoffed at the suggestion that the parade postponement came because Aryan Nations might be having trouble getting 100 marchers.

Other white supremacy groups also are planning rallies that same weekend in observance of Hitler’s birthday.

The Aryan parade invitation was posted in February on the Internet. Butler said there was “a lot of interest and support.”

Aryan Nations received inquiries or confirmations from Aryan sympathizers in France, Ireland, Britain and Sweden, Butler said.

“I think we’ll have an even better turnout in July, making 200 to 250,” Butler said.

The Aryan Nations posted a “wanted poster” on the Internet for the man Butler blames for the cash shortage.

Elliott left the Aryan compound after Butler posted his bond and got him out of jail.

“He’s a sawed-off little thief with a big mouth,” the Aryan Nations poster says of Elliott.

It describes him as “unshaven and scroungy,” with “brownish-stained teeth.”

Butler said Elliott, who may be from South Dakota, showed up at the Aryan Nations last fall and wanted to become a member.

On Sept. 13, Elliott was arrested by the one-man police department in Hayden Lake on a charge of “driving without privileges,” meaning his driver’s license was suspended.

“I stopped him at night because his car muffler was dragging, sending sparks all over the place,” Hayden Lake Police Chief Jason Felton recalled of the arrest.

When Butler got the phone call from jail, he said he put up $200 to have Elliott released on a $2,000 bond.

The bond forfeiture occurred after Elliott, 30, failed to show up in court in Coeur d’Alene on Feb. 26.

“He took off early one morning last month, and we haven’t seen him since,” Butler said.

The Aryan Nations leader said he has posted jail bonds in the past and been repaid.

“I guess I learned my lesson this time,” he said.

, DataTimes