Aryan Nations revival? Maybe not

COEUR D'ALENE, Idaho — When the Aryan Nations compound was publicly bulldozed eight years ago, many people here thought they had seen the end of a neo-Nazi group that brought notoriety and violence to this part of the Northwest.

But the group has surfaced again, distributing fliers that say it is recruiting members to create a "world headquarters" here.

That has drawn the attention of the human rights activists who helped destroy the old Aryan Nations.

"As best I can find out, it's two men and they operate out of a P.O. box," said Tony Stewart, a longtime activist and board member of the Kootenai County Task Force on Human Relations. "There is no way that this compares to when the Aryan Nations had a compound here and drew hundreds for conferences."

A new Web site lists Coeur d'Alene residents Jerald O'Brien and Michael Lombard as leaders of Aryan Nations. Both hold the title of pastor, which was also used by Richard Butler, who brought the organization to Idaho from California in the 1970s.

O'Brien said a handful of Butler supporters remained in the area after he died in 2004, but kept a low profile. It was the election of Barack Obama as the nation's first black president that prompted them to begin seeking new members.

"He's one of the greatest recruiting tools we could have asked for," O'Brien said. "He's helping to awaken the eyes of a lot of Americans."

The group distributed fliers in a Coeur d'Alene subdivision. The fliers showed a young girl asking her father: "Why did those dark men take mommy away?"

The fliers were widely denounced in the area.

O'Brien declined to say how many people had joined the white separatist, anti-Semitic group. But he welcomed news attention.

"Any publicity is good publicity," O'Brien said. "If the enemy is not screaming for our blood, we are not doing a good job."

In a recent report sent to U.S. law enforcement agencies, the Homeland Security Department warned that right-wing extremists could use the bad state of the U.S. economy and the election of Obama to recruit members. The Southern Poverty Law Center, which follows such groups, reported that there were 926 active hate groups in 2008, up 50 percent from 2000.