Spokane7
49°
February 3, 2010 in Idaho
Reward offered for tips in North Idaho hate crimes
The Kootenai County Task Force on Human Relations is offering up to $1,000 for tips leading to the solution of any of the hate crimes that have plagued the Inland Northwest since spring.
The task force is working with Crime Stoppers of the Inland Northwest in collecting tips and is asking other organizations and individuals to pledge money to the reward fund. That money would not be disbursed unless it led to the resolution of a hate crime, a task force news release said.
“We shall send a message that the people of Coeur d’Alene, Kootenai County, northern Idaho and the Inland Northwest will never tolerate hate crimes or malicious harassment of our citizens,” Marshall Mend, a founding member of the task force, said in a prepared statement.
Recent incidents of racial harassment and assault include a noose left on the doorstep of black residents, beatings of Native-American and black men, spray-painting of swastikas on vehicles and the pasting of a swastika sticker on a human rights education center. Three men are due to go to trial later this month after what police say was racial harassment of a Hispanic family in Coeur d’Alene.
Coeur d’Alene Police Sgt. Christie Wood, a member of the task force board, will serve as liaison to Crime Stoppers. The task force has supported victims of hate crimes for three decades through criminal prosecution and civil action, the release said.
Two Fernwood residents dead after Monday accident 
southie4573 on February 03 at 6:55 p.m.
CDA police you better nip this in the bud quick or your little perfect tourist town will soon be empty of visitors.
PhiltheBibliophil on February 03 at 7:10 p.m.
Sounds like Butler and the Boys are back! Maybe Sarah Palin, Glenn Beck, and Rush Limbaugh can come up and talk to them? The right wing media spreads and foments this kind of thing to happen the same way Muslim Clerics inspire people to commit Jihad! Sad commentary that were still dealing with this crap after 300 years! Well, it is Northern Idaho after all! As much as things change, some things never change!
spokanecommunistparty on February 04 at 5:52 a.m.
Why is Christianity still associated with the republican party? Jesus would never throw poor people under the bus and he was never a retarded hick. My religion has been hijacked by the republican’t Party and they are giving it a very bad reputation….wait, isn’t that what Bin Laden did with the Muslim religion?
spokanecommunistparty on February 04 at 5:57 a.m.
They should set a red neck trap
buffalokill on February 04 at 3:58 p.m.
Do they offer a reward for love crimes? And what about thought crimes?
buffalokill on February 05 at 9:45 a.m.
The government has determined that people’s thoughts now come under federal jurisdiction and we can be prosecuted more stringently for harboring what the government has determined to be unacceptable thinking while committing a crime.
Hate crime is therefore thought crime and the instant we accept this legal premise as valid, we have opened the door to limitless interpretations and applications of that concept.
If Moe kills Larry during a fight and Moe calls Larry a black SOB during the murder, somehow that is worse than if Moe kills Curly and says nothing. The fact remains however both Curly and Larry are dead at the hands of Moe. Under the Hate Crime Law, the prosecution of Moe for Larry’s murder can be treated differently and the punishment much more severe than for Curly’s murder.
The difference here, according to the federal government, is what was in the mind of Moe when he killed Larry. What Moe was thinking however can only be found within the personal depths of Moe’s mind and nowhere else.
Murder is an overt act but hate, by its very nature, stems from thought… an internalized process. What is “hate crime” then if not the ability of the state to determine and then prosecute man based on his thoughts?
greyhound2 on February 06 at 8:11 a.m.
Some people would turn in their own mother for $1,000 cash. How reliable are these tips going to be? Isn’t it true that the State is considering closing this office because of budget problems as it is of little value. Why is it necessary to start paying people to provide dubious tips which are largely heresay and almost impossible to actually prove. Can’t we waste the money somewhere else?