APwa 07/20 0616 Human Rights COEUR d'ALENE, Idaho (AP) -- Human rights activists have made

APwa 07/20 0616 Human Rights


   COEUR  d'ALENE, Idaho (AP) -- Human rights activists have made
progress over the last year in battling racism, but the  struggle
against  hate  groups  is not over, participants at North Idaho's
second annual Human Rights Celebration were told.

   The Rev.  Bill  Wassmuth  was  one  of  several  speakers  who
addressed about 500 people at the gathering Saturday sponsored by
the Kootenai County Task Force on Human Relations.

   Wassmuth,  task force chairman, said Idaho has come a long way
in the past year.  He noted that  in  the  past  12  months,  the
Northwest Coalition Against Malicious Harassment has been formed,
the  Legislature  has  passed  laws to combat violent racists and
Coeur d'Alene has received the Raoul Wallenberg Civic  Award  for
its  efforts  to  resist  the  white  supremacist Church of Jesus
Christ Christian (Aryan Nations).

   "That is a growing, learning process that none of  us  can  be
said  to  have  completed,"  said  Wassmuth, who is pastor of St.
Pius X Catholic Church in Coeur  d'Alene  and  president  of  the
newly formed Northwest Coalition.

   The  crowd  was down by about half from last year's gathering,
which organizers blamed on overcast weather and  having  to  move
the event to inside an auditorium at North Idaho Council.

   The speakers  also  included  Idaho  Gov.    Cecil Andrus, who
praised the task force  and  the  people  of  Coeur  d'Alene  for
standing up to the Aryan Nations, which is based at nearby Hayden
Lake.

   "The  people  of  Idaho  are  united,"  Andrus said. "In every
corner of this state they agree that we are not going  to  permit
one tiny group which preaches the nonsense of intolerance to ruin
our good  name.    We  are not going to be polarized, but neither
will we be intimidated."

   Two weeks ago, the task force triggered  controversy  when  it
rescinded  its  invitation for Jo Staples, a self-described witch
from Coeur d'Alene, to sing British folk songs at the gathering.

   But on Saturday, Wassmuth apologized to Ms.  Staples  and  the
half-dozen  witches,  or  Wiccans,  who  had come from Spokane to
support her.

   "I make mistakes," he said. "The task  force  makes  mistakes.
We  have  things to learn about each other when we make mistakes,
but that's why we're here."

	Although  two  of  the  women  walked  out  during  Wassmuth's
address, Ms.    Staples  said  she  was ready to put the incident
behind her.

   Ms.  Staples said she had been invited to join a support group
set up by the task force to help people who had been harassed  or
discriminated  against  because of their race, religion or ethnic
background.

   "I think with my religion and background  I  can  help  people
take  affirmative  action  to stop them from being harassed," she
said.

   Among the guests Saturday  were  state  Attorney  General  Jim
Jones  and  Rachel  Haspel, president of the New York-based Raoul
Wallenberg Committee of the United States.

   
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