Aryan Nations to Open Pa. Outpost

The Associated Press/October 4, 2001
By Nicholas K. Geranios

Spokane, Washington -- The white supremacist Aryan Nations want to establish a branch in Pennsylvania where supporters can gather after the loss of the white supremacist group's Idaho compound.

The new location in Ulysses, Pa., will allow members to "gather and worship without interference of the media and so-called authorities,'' August B. Kreis III, the group's director of information, wrote in an e-mail to The Associated Press.

Aryan Nations founder Richard Butler, 83, long maintained a 20-acre compound near Hayden Lake, Idaho, that was a home and meeting ground for his followers. He lost a civil rights lawsuit last year, which resulted in a declaration of bankruptcy and the sale of the compound.

Butler has since been living in a home - paid for by a supporter - in nearby Hayden.

"The headquarters will stay here,'' Butler said by telephone Wednesday. The Pennsylvania property will be a branch of the group, Butler said.

Ray Redfeairn of Dayton, Ohio, was recently named the group's new national director and will succeed Butler upon the latter's death. Redfeairn has said he will move to the Pennsylvania property soon.

The Aryan Nations is part of the so-called Christian Identity movement, whose followers believe white people are the lost tribe of Israel. Members of the movement are anti-Semitic and anti-minority.