Aryan leader fined $6.3 million
By Jodie Salz Argonaut Senior Staff
A Coeur d'Alene jury fined Aryan Nations leader Richard Butler $6.3 million Sept. 7, for a July 1, 1998, shooting and assault near the Aryan Nations compound north of Hayden Lake.
Prosecuting attorneys will be forced to confiscate Butler's property
and possessions in order to award their clients, Victoria Keenan
and her son Jason Keenan, with their judgement, stated the Idaho
Spokesman Review.
Unable to pay for an appeal bond, Butler's attorney, Edgar Steele,
is expected to apeal. First District Judge Charles Hosack, who
presided over the trial, will have until Sept. 18 to make the
decision. But according to the Idaho-Spokesman Review, it is
possible that two wealthy California businessmen, Carl Story
and Vincent Bertollini, who now live in Sandpoint and head the
11th Hour Remnant Messenger, will support the estimated $9 million
appeal bond required by Idaho law, according to the Idaho Sokesman
Review.
Though he will likely lose his property, and was also denied
service in his favorite restaurant, Rustler's Roost, Butler told
the Idaho Spokesman Review, "I'm not going to leave like
a whipped dog, period."
Instead Butler filed a request to hold a parade in downtown Coeur
d'Alene on either Oct. 15 or Oct. 28.
Bob Gmeiner, a 22-year-old Aryan Nations member, was quoted in
the Idaho Spokesman Review as saying, "You can take the
church from us, but we are not going anywhere." He also
said, "I have about six skinhead friends. If we have to
start our own organization, we will. We will be here forever."
Coeur d'Alene City Councilman Ron Edinger told reporters that
Butler has the same right as anyone to apply for the parade and
that a permit can not be denied. The city discovered this in
1999 when the Aryans sued and won, after the city tried to move
their parade from Sherman Street, the main road, to Ramsey Road
by the old city dump.
Though on the parade application Butler said he expects more
than 100 participants, Coeur d'Alene officials do not seem worried.
Doug Cresswell, president of the Kootenai County Task Force on
Human Relations, told the Idaho Spokesman-Review, "It's
a nothing event. Nobody showed up for the trial, nobody [should]
show up for the march."
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