Character City Program Taking Root Four N. Idaho Mayors Say They Hope To Promote Principle-Building Systems In Their Towns

Character should be formally promoted in North Idaho cities, say the mayors of four Kootenai County towns.

The topic of “good character” has surfaced since the Idaho Character Foundation sponsored a trip for 12 people - six of them Panhandle mayors - to the International Conference for Building Character Cities last month in Indianapolis.

Since that conference, the mayors of Post Falls, Rathdrum, Spirit Lake and Worley say they’ll try to establish character-building programs in their towns.

The International Association of Character Cities is closely aligned with Bill Gothard, an evangelical Christian known for his seminars for adults and teenagers.

The “Character First!” curriculum is an offshoot of Gothard’s programs. It is used by businesses and schools in cities that endorse the character program and is based directly on Gothard’s teachings - but without any references to Christianity.

Gothard’s controversial “chain of command” teachings, in which specific authorities such as mayors take precedence over other individuals, have caused cities such as Federal Way, Wash., to abandon efforts to establish character programs. However, officials in Fresno, Calif., and elsewhere praise the character program.

Because of the group’s ties to religion, Worley Mayor Charlene Waddell said she doesn’t want her city to endorse the International Association of Character Cities specifically, but she wants to promote character in the community. She hopes to introduce the idea at a June council meeting.

“It seems as though we are on a spiral downward as a nation,” Waddell said. “This (conference) just seemed to have some positive things about it. The content was good and worthwhile.”

Because Waddell doesn’t want the issue of good character to be confused with religion, she said the city won’t immediately endorse the association.

“We intend to present the program, but not on the leg of religion,” she said. “I want everyone - or at least the majority - to be happy with whatever we do.”

After Fresno passed a resolution to be a “Character City” six years ago, auto thefts dropped by 66 percent, murders dropped 67 percent and assaults with firearms dropped 73 percent, according to Ken Steitz, council member and initiator of IACC’s program.

“I can’t believe a city leader wouldn’t want to promote character in their city,” Steitz said. “We need to be promoting good character. … The IACC provides you with ways and resources to be able to do that.”

The drop in crime also corresponds with the city’s hiring of 270 new police officers, said John Fries, administrative assistant to the police chief.

While the new police officers use the character program’s training videos, the program has yet to be introduced to the Fresno school system.

“We’ve seen remarkable successes,” Steitz said.

Spirit Lake Mayor Bill Moe said he hopes to present a resolution to council members sometime soon.

A resolution to become a “city of character” would make Spirit Lake available for help from IACC to develop a character program, Moe said. Any change, however, would come slowly, he said. The City Council has not yet voted on whether to adopt the program, but police are already using the program’s training video.

“I would like us to become a city of character based on the fact that we are willing to look at the good side of things rather than look at the bad things,” Moe said. “It may help and it can’t hurt.”

Rathdrum Mayor Tawnda Bromley, Post Falls Mayor Gus Johnson, Waddell and Moe have placed their names on a newspaper ad - expected to be published in Kootenai County following primary elections. The ad is sponsored by the Idaho Character Foundation and calls for an initiative to support a character program in North Idaho.

Of the other conference attendees, Hayden, Sandpoint, Coeur d’Alene and Athol are not represented in the advertisement.

Chris Copstead, Coeur d’Alene council member, represented Mayor Steve Judy at the conference. Last month, Copstead said he was held against his will there to listen to “religious talk.” Hayden council member Nancy Taylor felt she was taken to the convention “under false pretenses.” Sandpoint Mayor Paul Graves said he doesn’t want to confuse religion with politics and has no plans to pursue the program.

Despite other cities’ objections to the program, Johnson said Post Falls is ready to endorse character emphasis - whether it’s IACC or not.

Because the IACC literature doesn’t include religion, Johnson said the program could benefit the city - especially in the schools.

“Don’t kill the message because of the messenger,” Johnson said. “You instill (character) at an early age so it carries on.”

In Federal Way, after the city’s former mayor attended IACC’s conference last year, he came back “all fired up” about the character program, said Phil Watkins, a Federal Way City Council member.

The program was then introduced to the school board - at a cost of $50,000 to put material in the district’s elementary schools, according to Watkins.

The Federal Way City Council decided to create a committee to investigate IACC, Watkins said, and the idea to endorse the program throughout the city died quickly be cause of concerns over its religious ties and uncertainty about how the money would be spent.

Johnson said he’s looked at the program’s materials and read about its organization. Although he hasn’t presented the idea to the Post Falls City Council yet, he believes any character program will make communities in North Idaho more aware and more tolerant of one another.

When a city decides to endorse IACC’s character program, the taxpayers pay for all of the program’s materials. Watkins said he worries that taxpayers’ money is spent to pay for Gothard’s other religious projects.

Watkins, who considers himself a conservative politician, said he disagreed with the notion of hierarchy within the program - where “somehow us politicians are anointed to point the way.”

But submission to authority is what has made Fresno’s efforts so successful, said Bruce Kinabrew, assistant to Councilman Steitz. The program calls for people to recognize and obey authority figures.

“People in society don’t like the word `submission’ or `authority,”’ Kinabrew said. “All this (program) is, is bringing the community back to an authority-based structure. Life is better that way.”

More than 200 citizens work with Fresno’s Police Department each year, Fries said. The character programs help citizens understand the duties of the police department, Fries said.

But Watkins said residents, not their government, should determine their own morals and good character traits.

“In the United States, political power derives from the people, or the bottom up, not the top down,” Watkins said.

“Yes, government is about ethics and conduct,” he said. “We set the standard - they’re called city and state laws.”