Word: butler
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Sitting in his office near Hayden Lake, Idaho, the leader of the Aryan Nations has the grim demeanor of a man under siege. Richard Butler growls that "Jews run the government" and that "Jewish conspirators" are intent on destroying him. A portrait of Butler's hero, Adolf Hitler, hangs on the wall, and white-robed figurines of Ku Klux Klansmen decorate a shelf. He fiddles with a booklet of Nazi war art and clicks his teeth as he talks. At 82, he has failed in his goal of founding a whites-only homeland, and now he faces the prospect...
This week, in nearby Coeur d'Alene, Butler will be in court facing a civil suit that could cost him his most prized asset: the 20-acre compound where he has lived since 1973, providing a haven for the nation's racist misfits. Featuring a chapel, bunkhouses, gun tower and stage, the $238,000 spread serves as headquarters for Butler's activities, which include a direct-mail operation and a website. Each Sunday, at his Church of Jesus Christ Christian, he preaches hatred of Jews and racial minorities. And each summer he is host to an Aryan World Congress...
...recent history is any guide, the suit against Butler could succeed. It has been filed by Morris Dees and his Southern Poverty Law Center, based in Montgomery, Ala. In similar suits, they have won more than $40 million in damages for victims, from nine K.K.K. factions and other hate groups. Among Dees' victories: a $12.5 million judgment against the White Aryan Resistance in 1990, and a $21.5 million judgement against a K.K.K. group...
Dees' suit against Butler aims to hold him liable for an incident involving his security guards on July 1, 1998. That evening, according to the complaint, three of his guards assaulted Careywood, Idaho, resident Victoria Keenan, 44, a seasonal berry picker, and her son Jason, 21. The Keenans had stopped outside Butler's compound to retrieve some papers that had flown out of their car window. Their vehicle reportedly backfired. Driving off, they noticed a pickup truck following, with Butler's guards inside. One of them shot at the Keenans with an assault rifle, forcing their car into a ditch...
...civil complaint, Dees argues that Butler owes the Keenans damages, basically for the terror of it all. By arming the men, Butler was negligent, he says, because one of them?Warfield?had previously been charged with assault, while another, John Yeager, was thought to be emotionally unstable. Both men, among six defendants in the suit, are in prison, convicted of aggravated assault, while a third remains at large. Because none have any assets of note, Dees wants to seize Butler's property as a civil punishment...