.: Corvallis Gazette-Times :. History Channel updates Aryan Nations story

The History Channel's documentary on the Aryan Nations didn't have enough recent history for northern Idaho residents who were reluctant neighbors of the neo-Nazi group. So they were happy when the cable network updated its oft-rerun show, "Nazi America: A Secret History," to include the news that the Aryan Nations' founder was dead and his compound was kaput. The new version, which first aired last Tuesday, is OK, but gives short shrift to the demise of Aryan Nations in northern Idaho, said Tony Stewart, a civil rights activist who provided information to The History Channel. "It helped but it wasn't as complete as it could have been," said Stewart, a North Idaho College professor and a co-founder of the Kootenai County Task Force on Human Relations. "Unless you were following closely, it might not be completely clear that the Aryans are gone." "We appreciate the fact they did update it, but we were hoping the casual viewer would get a clearer message," Stewart said. Only a few moments at the end of the two-hour program were devoted to the 2000 trial that bankrupted the Aryan Nations, the subsequent sale and destruction of its compound, and the 2004 death of founder Richard Butler, Stewart said. The bulk of the program was the history of the neo-Nazi movement in the United States, from its origins in the 1930s.