ARYAN NATIONS NOT WELCOME IN OREGON!

We are glad that Dick Butler lived long enough to see his beloved Aryan Nations go down in flames the way it did. We only wish he could have lived to have seen it get even worse as Aryan Nations, once a group that could get hundreds to their events in the Northwest, become nothing more than something you see on the internet every now and then. Still, we are sure he is looking up at all the goings on of the past month seething that he cannot save his group from the nimrods that run whatever the hell it is now. Butler was used to hundreds of people coming out to oppose them, but when you are an organization that is so down and out that you can’t even legally use your own name (the name “Aryan Nations” was lost in a civil suit in 2000 to a Native American mother and her son whe were attacked by Aryan Nation members outside their compound two years prior), you might not be in the best position in the world to announce that you are going to set up a compound in a community that is flat out opposed to your presence. That’s what residents of Grant County, Oregon made clear when they voiced their outrage at a town hall meeting to the announcement that of one of the several fragments of Aryan Nations is planning to set up in the town of John Day, OR. Knowing the boneheads of Aryan Nations, they more than likely aren’t getting that message, but knowing how people react to them, it will be driven home for them, that you can bet.

OregonLive.com

CANYON CITY — Grant County residents turned out in force Friday morning to send a message to a white supremacist group: Stay out.

About 375 people — in a northeast Oregon county of fewer than 8,000– attended a town hall meeting to fight a plan by a group calling itself the Aryan Nations to plant a national headquarters in John Day.

“Never have I been to a community who reacted so quickly as you have to say no,” civil rights activist Tony Stewart of Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, told a standing-room-only crowd at the Canyon City Community Hall just south of John Day.

At least 100 others were turned away because of fire code restrictions. About 300 more watched a live stream on the Internet, said Scotta Callister, editor of the Blue Mountain Eagle newspaper in John Day, which sponsored the meeting.

“It gave this community a chance to put a voice to its values,” Callister said. “That’s powerful.”

The community was reacting to a visit last week by Paul R. Mullet of Athol, Idaho, who told townspeople he is the leader of the neo-Nazi group and is shopping for John Day property for a new headquarters.

At Friday morning’s forum, Stewart was joined by Coeur d’Alene attorney Norman Gissell to offer encouragement and advice. The pair have battled neo-Nazi groups for 29 years and helped win a landmark judgment in 2000 against Idaho’s original Aryan Nations, leading to the group’s downfall.

Many in the crowd, unmistakably rural in jeans and cowboy boots, said they’ve never dealt with white supremacists and neo-Nazis and aren’t sure what to do.

“I’m worried about my children,” said one woman, fearing the group might try to recruit her 14-year-old stepson.

Others asked Stewart and Gissell how they could recognize hate-group members, how to interact with them in chance encounters at the grocery store or post office, and what their rights are if they have land for sale but don’t want to sell to members of the hate group.

Some fretted about potential damage to the economy and the county’s image. One man asked whether media coverage is likely to encourage the neo-Nazis or keep them out.

Stewart assured him the attention will work in the community’s favor.

“Evil can grow in darkness,” he said. “The greatest danger is ignoring them and letting them grow.”

Gissell told the gathering that supremacists have sought a racist homeland in rural America since the 1970s on the mistaken assumption that rural people are racist and would join them.

Stewart advised vigilance because, he said, the presence of a hate group inevitably leads to violence. “They won’t stop with just literature,” he said. “After a period of time, they will go over the line.”

Callister said the intentions of Mullet and his associates remain unknown. “They could move in. They could go away and never come back,” she said.

“If they do come, they won’t have any success,” Stewart told residents. “You have spoken with one voice, and there is no way hate can penetrate that kind of unity. You will win.”

At the end of the morning session — another was scheduled for Friday night — retired bus driver Meliana Lysne stood to speak.

She told how she feared racism when she moved to John Day 36 years ago but found “the people of Grant County are beautiful people.”

“They are standing against this,” she said, adding: “Loving one another is going to break this hatred.”

Those gathered gave Lysne a standing ovation, some brushing tears from their eyes.