Flathead County officials seek civil environmental discourse

Associated Press

Open letter objects to describing conservationists as 'Nazis'

KALISPELL - Top Flathead County officials are asking residents to cool the angry rhetoric that has erupted over a local radio talk show host's attacks on environmentalists.

An open letter signed by the county attorney, the sheriff, the Kalispell police chief and other community leaders asks for a more "civil level of public discourse" in the Flathead.

Written and circulated by Ben Long, the letter objects to the term "green Nazis," which talk show host John Stokes uses to refer to conservationists.

The letter does not name Stokes or his radio station, KGEZ. Stokes frequently accuses environmentalists of being a main source of social and economic problems in northwest Montana and the rest of the country.

On Monday someone left a green swastika sticker on the door of the Montana Wilderness Association office. And Stokes found the word "hater" spray-painted on his radio station.

Two of the stickers were left on the Kalispell office of Citizens for a Better Flathead late last week. Long is the group's communications committee chairman, but he said he is circulating the letter privately, not for Citizens for a Better Flathead or any other group.

"Recent use of the term 'Nazi' to describe members of our community goes beyond the bounds of proper civil discourse," the letter said. "To use this term too lightly dilutes the lessons of history, insults the memory of millions of people killed by the Nazis, and dishonors the entire generation of Americans who fought to stop Nazism."

Scott Nicholson of the Helena-based Montana Human Rights Network recently asked Stokes to stop using the term and stop making "implied threats of violence."

Stokes called the requests an affront to his right of free speech for the sake of being "politically correct." He insists that he does not encourage violence or vandalism.

County Attorney Tom Esch said he supports the statement that Long is circulating.

"We have to have appropriate dialogue about issues," Esch said.

"Nobody wants to stifle that dialogue, and sometimes it gets pretty intense. You have to have boundaries, and I don't think the boundaries should be set by government. They should be set by citizens and communities."

Although the word "Nazi" is not profane, Esch said, "it's a word that is so powerful that it should only be used when you are talking about Nazis."

Tanya Gersh, chairwoman of the Flathead Valley Jewish Community, said a swastika is always threatening, even when not aimed at Jews.

"It's a symbol of death and destruction," she said. "There's no way of getting around it. No matter what their intention was, they surely conveyed their intention poorly by using that symbol."