Seattle Post-Intelligencer: Former Aryan Nations headquarters to go on auction block

The swastikas are gone. So are the racist parades that snaked their way through Coeur d'Alene almost every summer. And the man who was once the linchpin in northern Idaho's racist scene is dead. Now, the Aryan Nations' former headquarters near his this resort town on Lake Coeur d'Alene is due to go on the public auction block Wednesday because nobody picked up the mortgage payments. Richard Butler, founder of the white supremacist group, lived out his final days here before collapsing with a fatal heart attack at age 86 last September. Human-rights advocates who watched him raise the profile of the region as a hub for racist hatred say the looming sale of his old home is one of many signs of the Aryan Nations' decline. Its notoriety was once strong enough to raise eyebrows and incite knowing glances around the world whenever Idaho was mentioned in casual conversation. siehe auch: Aryan Nations fading from view in North Idaho, Former Aryan Nations Headquarters in Idaho to Go on Auction Block, Former Aryan Nations HQ up for auction