Swastikas fuel courthouse controversy

IDAHO FALLS — Swastikas in the tile pattern on the Bonneville County Courthouse floor disturb some visitors, one saying they invoke the horrors of the Holocaust.

But officials say there is no racism involved since the swastikas were installed a decade before Americans began to take notice of Adolph Hitler and his Nazi party, which adopted the German hooked cross as its symbol.

Reginald Reeves has tried to get rid of the swastikas ever since he noticed them on the courthouse floor more than 50 years ago.

“Imagine a Holocaust survivor walking through this court,” the Idaho Falls lawyer said. “What picture of justice would come to her mind?”

The county has painted over the swastikas several times since the courthouse was built in 1921. But this time, the design may remain uncovered.

The symbols can be removed even though the building has a historical designation, said Tricha Canaday, an architectural historian for the Idaho State Historical Society. But she said they should stay and that people need to see the symbols in their historical context.

Reeves said people should not tolerate a symbol of hate, especially at a place that represents justice.