Idaho Sect Staying Put, Leader Says

Aryan Nations leader Richard Butler vowed Saturday that he will not leave northern Idaho, despite a $6.3-million judgment against his organization.

At a news conference on the 20-acre Aryan Nations compound, Butler said he did not have the $960,000 cash bond that would be required for him to appeal the judgment issued Thursday by a civil jury. But he said his neo-Nazi sect would continue, even if, as he expects, the compound is seized to pay the judgment.

“They cannot run me out of northern Idaho with my tail between my legs,” Butler said from a church pulpit, standing next to a silver bust of Adolf Hitler. He said he may seek a new trial.

A jury found that Butler and his organization were negligent in selecting and overseeing security guards who assaulted Victoria Keenan and her son Jason in 1998.

Butler compared his trial with trials in the former Soviet Union under dictator Josef Stalin. He said that local “politicians want to improve the image of Idaho by mongrelizing the white race up here.”

There has been speculation that two wealthy computer industry executives who have been supportive of Butler in recent years might come to his financial aid. However, Butler said Saturday that he has not asked R. Vincent Bertollini or Carl E. Story, both of Sandpoint, Idaho, to pay the judgment.