Letters To The Editor

Wed., July 14, 1999

Rights and radicalism

JDL did what it should do

Barbara J. Welch (Letters, July 9), states in regard to “Irv Rubin, Jewish Defense League leader, ” that she “let him know that I didn’t like his presence in our town.”

Why? Because he was Jewish or because he was from out of town? Has no American from out of town the right to protest racism and hatred in any part of America? If not, that makes most of Martin Luther King’s leadership activities in the American civil rights movement out of line.

Welch concludes, “I know a lot of good Christian people feel like we do.” However, Rubin is not Christian; he is Jewish and American and as such has every right, and even duty, to protest the activities of neo-Nazis. Nazis did, after all, kill six million Jews - while “good Christian people” smugly looked the other way, much as Welch’s letter suggests should be done today in Coeur d’Alene. Fritz Blackwell Pullman

There’s better to way manage this

A pity the $40,000 constitutional attorney consulted by the city of Coeur d’Alene couldn’t prevent the two-bit, I’m-dumb-and-proud-of-it Aryan Nations morons from shredding Coeur d’Alene’s parade ordinance.

The so-called constitutional expert apparently forgot that we are all equal under the law. Goose-stepping around that concept will only lead to trouble, and if I were in Duane Hagadone’s shoes, I’d be asking for my money back.

A simpler course of action and one that will stand the equity test in any court, is to establish in the ordinance a fee system for parade permits that includes a security permit. After all, it is not fair to impose costs on Kootenai County or Coeur d’Alene taxpayers for The Rev. Richard Butler’s march or anyone else’s. Set the parade fee at a modest sum and require the applicant - whomever it may be - to obtain a security permit from the police department or an approved, bondable private security company.

If it’s a parade of Girl or Boy Scouts, for example, costs associated with the parade are likely to be reasonable and within reach of the applicant group. But trouble generators like the Aryan Nations may find the security costs reach well into the tens of thousands of dollars.

How much did Coeur d’Alene and Kootenai County taxpayers pay for Saturday’s brouhaha? However much it was, I doubt Butler and his corps can or will spend what it costs to secure the public safety of county and city residents.

The Saturday march would have been pathetically laughable had the city not spent enormous funds not only to provide public safety but also to defend its onerous parade ordinance. Dick F. Wolff Cocolalla, Idaho

Puny event hardly a parade

For much of Saturday, the beautiful city of Coeur d’Alene was held hostage. Forty-plus police officers blocked off nine blocks of Sherman Avenue and threatened to arrest anyone crossing the yellow police line. This rule included shoppers, employees, tourists, business owners and citizens. All for a ragtag group of not more than 20 Aryans.

I suggest to the city of Coeur d’Alene that a parade is not a parade if a certain number of participants are not involved. While First Amendment rights must be protected, I can easily muster a bigger turnout at a family reunion. Will the city also tape off Sherman Avenue, close down businesses, arrest anyone crossing our parade route and guarantee my 50 or so assorted relatives eight blocks of prime real estate in beautiful downtown Coeur d’Alene?

Where do I sign up? Sharon D. O’Brien Spokane

ACLU goes beyond the pale

I seriously doubt if the framer’s of the Constitution believed the First Amendment’s freedom of speech part meant any hate organization had the right to do whatever they want. It is one thing to allow parades that benefit everyone and quite another to force parades that benefit no one.

The Spokesman-Review ran an editorial on “civility” in June and here is a perfect example of why morality, ethics, character and values are deteriorating. Organizations like the ACLU defends these type groups way beyond the point of common sense. These organizations (American Civil Liberties Union) start with noble goals but seem to lose sight of their original objectives and start supporting fringe groups and principles that should not be supported.

If left alone and without legal or financial support, most of these organizations would disappear. Sooner or later, with the help of organizations like the ACLU, one of these fringe groups will become the next Hitler of the 21st century and more blood will have to be shed to remain free. Is this what we are all about? I hope not.< The ACLU has seen the last of any future contributions from me and I hope all current financial supporters will join me. Wayne Lythgoe Colbert

Aryan’ rights are to be respected

As a citizens who respects the rights of all Americans, I was appaled to learn that protesters blocked a march by the Aryan Nations, obtensibly because the march violates the other citizens’ rights. Apparently, they forgot that blocking the Aryans’ march is itself a violation of Consititutional rights. The rights enshrined by the Constitution allowing peaceful assembly and free speech apply to all Americans, including Aryan Nations members. Protesters who interrupted their march should be ashamed. Michael C. Saad Spokane

A blind eye only eases their way

Fifty-five years ago, the Nazis poisoned the minds of the German people because most Germans chose to look the other way, thinking that this would pass. But it did not. It is the same thing that the people of Coeur d’Alene and the rest of this beautiful country are doing again.

History repeats itself.

I understand that most of them don’t want to confront the Nazis and therefore the rally at North Idaho College, with the human rights organization, was supported by a mere 200 to 300 people. In Coeur d’Alene we have a population of 25,000 who attended the Fourth of July fireworks. Where were they on July 10?

If we don’t like what the Nazis preach, we have to demonstrate that we don’t want them here and not be silent because that is what happened in Nazi Germany.

Being neutral is showing acceptance and that is what we have been showing to the rest of the world - that we don’t care about human rights.

The news media, television and newspapers are giving the Aryans exactly what they want, which is publicity. Instead they should be featuring in bold print what the opposing groups such as the Kootenai County Task Force for Human Relations is doing. Some people object to having outsiders protest the Aryans. They are not outsiders but concerned Americans.

The nation has been subjected to endless and continuous incidents and deaths in violation of our constitutional rights to live and worship as we wish. Don’t be blind. Indifference will not make the problem go away. Where will you be next year? Clara Shaur Hayden

Protesters are just Aryans’ fall guys

While my initial reaction to the news of the sit-in was one of glee, I rapidly changed my mind. The ultimate goal of the Aryans is violent conflict. Protests such as this one almost always result in some level of violence with the protesters, not the Aryans, being arrested.

The Aryans train themselves to draw people into confrontations in which this is the result. They are a hate group. Their goal is to stir hatred, even toward themselves. Do not give them what they want.

We must do everything in our power to stop the hate. Using the Aryans themselves to raise money for human rights organizations and staging a free carnival on the other side of town to draw crowds away are wonderful ideas and should be expanded. Use their tools against them.

If the Aryans want to march, thanks to our Constitution, they have that right. Thanks to our Constitution, we do not have to join them. How long will they continue to march if marching does not accomplish their goals?

Although I grew up in Spokane, I now live in St. Paul, Minn. I have a large family still living in Spokane and Post Falls, so I keep up with the news in your area. Caryl Nickell St. Paul, Minn.

Malignancy must not be ignored

Regarding Phil Lindemann’s July 7 letter, “Radicals - a pox on all their houses.” I find it exceptionally hard to equate organizations that support and defend human rights with the stated positions of the Aryan Nations.

Lindemann is badly in need of a history lesson. During the 1930s and 1940s, the despot the Aryans revere and worship was responsible for millions of deaths. The Jewish people suffered atrocities beyond comprehension. I am amazed and gratified that the Jewish Defense League is as restrained as it is toward any followers of Nazism.

Good people and nations sat on their hands and refused to confront what was going on in Germany in the late 1930s. Lindemann’s attitude is not unlike that of Charles Lindbergh and the rest of the America First movement. When good men and women close their eyes and ears to evil, our freedom is placed in jeopardy. Gail Parke Jr. Post Falls

Protesters showed their trashy stuff

Last year, I saw part of the Aryan parade in Coeur d’Alene. What shocked me most was the supposedly Christian bystanders holding their toddlers on their shoulders, screaming numerous four-letter obscenities at the Aryans as they passed by. At that point, I had to question who was worse, the Aryans or the so-called non-Aryans teaching their children how to be as trashy as white trash could be.

And of course, the media were filming for all the world to see how ignorant some of our area residents can be.

As my eighth-grade science teacher once told our class, “Every time you open your mouth, your mind is on parade.” Think about it, people. Jo Young Pinehurst, Idaho

Pathetic parade wasn’t the big deal

The shops along Sherman Avenue remained closed. Coeur d’Alene Police roped off the sidewalk. Orderly protesters quietly waited behind police lines. And then the Aryans marched, all 20 or so of them. Just before they reached Third Street, protesters formed two lines of bodies and sat on the street in front of Butler’s truck.

There were cheers from the sidewalk, no obscenities. The parade was turned around, marched down Fourth to Lakeshore, and Butler and his great nation of 20 or so marched past the resort to Sherman. At that corner, there was no loudspeaker, no goose-stepping, only a bedraggled band of misfits, one of whom was so proud to be a Nazi that he covered his face in a Confederate flag. Then there was the woman who had her 5- or 6-year-old daughter in that pitiful army. The little girl had her hands drawn up to her chest and was staring at the pavement. It broke my heart.

The motley marchers disbanded. We joined the Task Force For Human Relations Rally. It was inspiring. After we held hands and sang “We Shall Overcome,” we put on our Stop Hate T-shirts and returned to Sherman Avenue, shopped at the stores displaying the “Proud To Live In A Community Committed To Human Rights” posters, and ate lunch at the Oyster Bar (also displaying the sign). Our server was a very likable young man with a shaved head. Embrace diversity, one heart at a time. Kristy Johnson Post Falls

Ignore them and they’ll go away

I know this is a delicate subject, especially for the Holocaust survivors and their families. However, my question is, why did the people who protested the Aryans even show up?

Granted, the American Civil Liberties Union got them the right to parade through the streets of Coeur d’Alene. But if the shop owners had closed up for the hour and nobody showed up on the streets, media included, they might as well have marched in their own compound or by the old garbage dump. That is probably the best way to protest anything.

Remember the old saying, If you ignore them, they’ll go away. Try this next year and see if it doesn’t get them wondering where everybody is. Let’s tell them that they don’t matter by not showing up. Patrick D. Rushing Airway Heights

Why didn’t local people protest?

Re: “Neo-Nazi leader nearly drowned out by shouts of protest,” (July 4). I’m from Bonners Ferry. I moved to New York City about 20 years ago. So nothing has changed. I read the list of anti-Aryan protesters with despair; weren’t any of them from Idaho? How can the ones who tolerate the Aryan Nations live with themselves? Michael Isbell New York City

We’re not exactly dealing with geniuses

Re: “Neo-Nazi leader nearly drowned out by shouts of protest,” (July 4). A few years ago, a couple of Richard Butler’s cronies were arrested at his Hayden Lake compound and he came outside to rant at the media staked outside the gates. A television station had its camera on him when he proclaimed that the arrests were really about integrity and honor.

To drive home his point, he, as forcefully as he could, spelled the word “honor,” punctuating his statement. The funny thing was that he spelled honor, “H-O-N-E-R.” At the time it seemed to us that no one really noticed it. I can tell you that we laughed. I think it also was a bit telling. Stephen M. Dornbirer Spokane

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