Word: butlers
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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 1972, 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 each summer he is host to an Aryan World Congress. At the three...
...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 KKK 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 judgment against a KKK 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...
...image for Coeur d'Alene. Also looking for a P.R. boost, the state of Idaho will build a memorial in Boise to the Holocaust victim Anne Frank. As for this week's trial, many residents hope its publicity will be the last of its kind-and that maybe Richard Butler will leave town, an isolated, if still angry...