Huckleberries: Still-vivid memory in fight for equality

As Norm Gissel greeted friends prior to the annual Human Rights Banquet in Coeur d’Alene recently, he stopped at The Spokesman-Review table.

“Remember that night in Noxon?” the veteran human-rights leader asked.

How could I forget? Twenty-nine years ago this week (May 26, 1988), the late Bill Wassmuth, Tony Stewart, Marshall Mend, Walt Washington and Gissel met with Montanans who wanted to combat the spread of racism in rural Sanders County. I tagged along to report.

We were met at the Montana border by armed officers in bulletproof vests. That was the first indication that we were no longer in Idaho, Toto. At the Noxon High gym, where chairs were set up for the coming graduation ceremonies, 350 Montanans waited, about 40 to 50 of them supremacists, some dressed in neo-Nazi and KKK regalia. James Doxtater, the Sanders County sheriff at the time, told me there were 24 hardcore separatists in his county, including “six to 12 who would pull the trigger.”

The sheriff called for backup when he saw separatist J.B. Artman, of Victor, Montana, in the audience. Artman later told me that he considered Wassmuth and the others to be an “agitation group” and warned that trouble was brewing in Sanders County.

Several of the speakers were interrupted by a bearded man holding a colored Aryan Nations sign who clapped every time the name of a supremacist was mentioned. However, most of the crowd showed support for the Kootenai County contingent with spontaneous applause.

When the speeches began, Stewart whispered to Mend that the white shirt he was wearing made him a prime target for anyone looking for one. Gallows humor.

We survived. We received a police escort back to the border. We were glad to stop at Sandpoint for a bite and a debriefing. I filed my story for The Spokesman-Review from a Sandpoint restaurant.

Now, we enjoy reliving a story of a night that could have turned out much differently.

Kellogg’s new officer

Seems the Kellogg Police Department has a new officer on the beat, a youngish-looking one, judging from an item in the latest Kellogg PD Facebook Roll Call. The KPD Facebook chronicler assures residents that Officer Matt Crawford is, indeed, old enough to drive a patrol car. Quoth: “He is fresh out of North Idaho POST and even old enough to do bar checks.” The Facebook note encourages Kellogg residents to wave at Officer Crawford when they see him on patrol, using “all fingers.” Of course.

Huckleberries

Poet’s Corner: “Oh great heap of grime/all gritty and gray,/shall I still see thee/Memorial Day?” – Tom Wobker, The Bard of Sherman Avenue (“To a Snow Pile in the Street,” Feb. 25, 2009) … Quotable Quote: “Man, I love the elderly. Except when they ask me directions. On the phone. During crunch time” – Melissa Luck/KXLY … Councilwoman Kerri Thoreson said the Post Falls City Council experienced two firsts at Tuesday’s meeting: a unanimous vote on an annexation issue and a round of applause … In her blog, A Business Doing Pleasure, author Heather Branstetter tells fans that more of her books on the history of the sex trade in the Wallace area will be available in the first week of June. She sold out the entire first run of 900 to 1,000 books before the release date last Monday.

Parting shot

After Huckleberries blog reader John Austin, of Medimont, received 212 votes to be elected to the rural East Side Highway District commission Tuesday, another regular quipped: “Congrats John! Now don’t go giving the Russians all our highway secrets.”

D.F. “Dave” Oliveria can be contacted at 509-319-0354 or daveo@spokesman.com.