Ohio may get Aryan headquarters

The Associated Pres/October 14, 2001

Dayton -- A man recently picked to head the Aryan Nations white supremacist group plans to set up an office in Ohio.

Harold Ray Redfeairn, formerly of the Dayton area, told the Dayton Daily News for a story Saturday that only a state office would be opened in Clinton or Franklin counties. But state authorities believe the group plans to set up its national headquarters in Ohio.

The group has been based in Hayden Lake, Idaho, for 25 years.

Ted Almay, superintendent of the Ohio Bureau of Identification and Investigation, said Mr. Redfeairn spent the past week seeking donated land and buildings in less developed areas around Dayton to set up an office. Mr. Almay declined to specify locations where Mr. Redfeairn was looking.

"They're looking for prop erty to set up their headquarters," said Mr. Almay, who tracks domestic terrorist groups in Ohio.

Mr. Redfeairn said the group already has land in Clinton and Franklin counties that would be used for the state office.

"We've had it for quite awhile," said Mr. Redfeairn, while declining to provide exact locations.

He could not be reached for additional comment.

In 1996, Mr. Redfeairn headed a chapter of the Church of Jesus Christ Christian in New Vienna, in Clinton County. The church espouses the white supremacist doctrine of the Aryan Nations.

In 1999, Mr. Redfeairn and Kale Kelly discussed an armed uprising against the U.S. government at a restaurant in Waynesville, according to federal documents. Mr. Kelly is serving a four-year prison term on weapons charges.