North Idaho men cited for distributing racist fliers

Three men were cited for misdemeanors over the weekend after Coeur d’Alene residents found racists fliers in their yards. Paul R. Mullet, 36, and Kevin B. McGuire, 27, were ticketed for littering Saturday after police say they admitted to distributing fliers advertising the Aryan Nations along Mullan Street in Coeur d’Alene. Their driver, Todd N. Weston, 32, was ticketed for aiding a misdemeanor. Coeur d’Alene has seen a resurgence in Aryan Nations literature appearing in yards since about April. Mullet, who lives in Athol with Weston and has a history of white nationalist activism in Minnesota, said Monday that he’s responsible and vowed to fight any legal action against him. “We’re going to recruit and we’re going to recruit hard,” Mullet said. Racist literature and advertisements have increased nationally since President Obama’s election, according to national organizations that study hate groups. Residents have complained to police about Aryan Nations flyers in Coeur d’Alene at least twice in the last few months, but Saturday was the first time police could tie anyone to the distribution, said Coeur d’Alene police Sgt. Christie Wood. A man called police about 6:30 p.m. Saturday and said men in a small blue truck yelling “white power” had tossed bags of Aryan Nation literature at children playing in a yard in the 1500 block of East Mullan Avenue, according to a police report. Police stopped the truck a couple of blocks away and searched it after Weston said he was “exercising his freedom of speech rights” by helping McGurre and Mullet distribute the fliers, according to the report. Two residents told police they wanted to pursue charges, and officers cited and released the men for the misdemeanors. If Mullet fights the littering charge, it won’t be his first legal battle over his beliefs. The Minnesota Attorney General sued Mullet in 2000 after he wrote threatening letters to Jewish business leaders. Then a member of the national Socialist Party of America, Mullet reached an agreement that allowed him to distribute literature but prohibited him from contacting Jewish people or groups, according to The Associated Press. Mullet said in an interview Monday that he moved to North Idaho to help Jerald O’Brien, a follower of the late Richard Butler, who had established an Aryan Nations compound in Hayden. Mullet said he’s since broken ties with O’Brien and moved the Aryan Nations headquarters to Athol.