Grant County residents are taking steps to fight any effort by members of a white supremacist group calling themselves the Aryan Nations to find a new headquarters in John Day.

On Friday, residents will gather for two town hall meetings in Canyon City, just south of John Day. Speakers will include Coeur d'Alene, Idaho, attorneys Norman Gissell and Tony Stewart, who helped win a landmark judgment against the Church of Jesus Christ Christian-Aryan Nations in 2000.

On Monday, 60 to 70 protesters carried signs in downtown John Day with slogans such as "One Race: Human," "No to Aryan Nations!" and "Say No to Hate and Violence!"

View Larger Map

The gatherings come in the wake of a visit to John Day last week by Paul R. Mullet, who described himself as the Aryan Nations national director. He told townspeople he was in town to look at two large downtown properties for a possible national headquarters for the group, said John Day Mayor Bob Quinton.

Mullet, of Athol, Idaho, added that Grant County, with its wide open spaces, would be an ideal setting for both a headquarters and a neo-Nazi national gathering in September 2011.

Mullet also said he was looking for a property with enough space to train recruits, house them in a barracks, and hold gatherings. The group would pay cash "from legal means," he said.

Wearing a uniform shirt with a swastika patch, Mullet was accompanied by Leif Berlin, described as the group's Washington state leader, and Grant County residents Jacob Green of Mount Vernon and Christopher Cowan of John Day, said John Day Police Chief Richard Tirico.

Quinton expressed surprise that anyone in the county would be affiliated with the hate group.

"If they've got a presence here, it's been pretty much under the radar," he said.

But Grant County Undersheriff Todd McKinley said officials aren't dismissing the group's plan. "We are taking it seriously," he said.

Grant County, with fewer than 8,000 residents in an area twice the size of Delaware, "would rather be known for cattle and timber and their rivers, and not be known as an area that harbors a hate group," McKinley added.

Monday's rally drew a broad cross section, Quinton said.

"There were grandmothers and people in their 20s and every age group in between," he said. "There were log trucks honking and cars honking and people waving."

The supremacist group advocates so-called racial purity and claims that Jews and nonwhites are natural enemies of white people. The group seeks to establish a state for the "Aryan race," where nonwhites would be prohibited.

The group's interest in Grant County may have been piqued by a 2002 ballot measure declaring the county a "U.N.-free" zone. The designation has occasionally attracted outsiders with the mistaken idea that Grant County is lawless and a good spot to lie low, law enforcement officials said.

Lt. Stuart Miller of the Kootenai County Sheriff's Office in Coeur d'Alene monitors separatist, neo-Nazi and white supremacist activities. He said the group has been relatively inactive in the Idaho panhandle since the 2004 death of Richard Butler, the group's longtime leader.

Butler owned a 20-acre compound and neo-Nazi church near Hayden Lake, north of Coeur d'Alene, for many years. He was forced to sell it in 2000 after losing a $6.3 million lawsuit brought by two Native Americans, a mother and son, who were shot at by Aryan Nations members.

The group's current national leader is August B. Kreis 3rd of Lexington, S.C., according to the group's Web site. The site says the group's national headquarters will soon move to St. Cloud, Fla.

Mullet, meanwhile, and two associates were accused in August of scattering supremacist literature on lawns around Coeur d'Alene, Miller said, but charges of littering were later dismissed.

Grant County remains on guard.

"I can guarantee you we are probably not done with the issue," said Tirico, the police chief. "Most of the population is agreeing they will stand together on this. I am very happy with the community on the way they handled this."

--

Related content: