Idaho

Park can't refuse Aryan permit request
Racists have right to use Farragut for Aryan World Congress, state parks director says

Bill Morlin
Staff writer

The director of Idaho state parks says there is no legal way for her to block the Aryan Nations from using Farragut State Park in North Idaho.

The homeless Aryan Nations wants to use the Nighthawk group-camping site at Farragut as the site for this year's Aryan World Congress.

"I do have the application on my desk and I expect to sign it," state parks director Yvonne Ferrell said Thursday from her office in Boise.

Shaun Winkler, staff leader for the white supremacy group, has made a $325 deposit to use the state park site from July 5-9. The use permit will cost $900.

Ferrell said she had reviewed the Aryans' application with Assistant Attorney General Nick Krema but had not asked for a formal legal opinion.

"I know what the First Amendment is all about," the parks chief said.

"You can't deny them registration for a group-camping permit if they meet the expectation and conditions that all campers are required to meet," Ferrell said.

The Aryans won't be allowed to burn a cross, as they usually do at their annual gatherings. But they will be allowed to display their Nazi flags in a state park where U.S. servicemen were trained to fight Nazis in World War II.

"We'd prefer that not happen," Ferrell said, "but there's nothing we can do to stop it.

"The courts have repeatedly upheld the First Amendment rights of such groups to exercise freedom of speech and assembly," she said.

An outlaw motorcycle gang, Brothers Speed, has obtained group-camping permits for Niagara Springs State Park, near Buhl, Idaho, for more than a dozen years, Ferrell said.

"They have been very good guests while they're there," the parks boss said. Ferrell said she expects the same from the Aryans.

"If we were to deny them this permit, it would result in a needless waste of taxpayers' money as the result of a hopeless court battle," Ferrell said.

Similar comments came from Bob Haakenson, the North Idaho representative on the six-member State Park Board.

"I just wish they'd dry up and go away," Haakenson said. "That's how I feel."

But from a legal standpoint, he said, the State Park Board can't block the Aryans from using Farragut.

"The city of Coeur d'Alene tried to block them from parading down the street and ended up losing all that money in the legal fight," Haakenson said.

Ferrell said the park's five rangers, who are commissioned law enforcement officers, should be sufficient to handle the Aryan gathering and other summer visitors in the park, Ferrell said.

"If the need arises, we could ask for assistance from the sheriff's department or rangers from other state parks," she said.

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