Task force denounces Aryan Nations flier
SANDPOINT — Fliers advertising the Aryan Nations that have been turning up in Kootenai County have made their way north.
A handful of residents awoke Sunday to find the fliers sealed in sandwich bags and weighted down with a rock. One side of the flier advocates for whites to band together, while the other side is an Aryan Nations application for membership.
“One of the people who got one of these messages is actually on the board of the human rights task force and she’s Jewish,” said Bonner County Human Rights Task Force Executive Director Christine Holbert.
Sandpoint Police Chief Mark Lockwood said his office has received two or three reports from residents who received the fliers.
“I think the only thing we’d have is littering,” Lockwood said when asked if criminal charges were being contemplated.
The fliers appear to be the same as ones that were found in Coeur d’Alene last spring. The fliers have also been found in Spirit Lake, Athol and Spokane Valley, Wash.
The fliers deposited in Sandpoint bear a Web address for a group which purports to be the Aryan Nations. Athol resident Paul R. Mullet was cited three times for littering in connection with the fliers found in Coeur d’Alene.
The prosecution, however, moved to dismiss the cases earlier this month, according to the Idaho Supreme Court Data Repository.
The Bonner County Human Rights Task Force released the following statement on Monday:
“While the Bonner County Human Rights Task Force supports freedom of expression as stated in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, we strongly oppose the clandestine distribution of an application to join their organization by a group from Athol, Idaho calling themselves, ‘The Aryan Nation.’ The application specifically states they are ‘National Socialist in Political Orientation,’ and therefore racist, and a hate group. Our community has repeatedly expressed that they neither agree with, nor advocate the actions, beliefs and alleged facts promoted by racist and hate groups.”