[Vision2020] Coeur d'Alene Officials Mull Hate Charge

[Tom Hansen]

Courtesy of today's (August 26, 2009) Spokesman Review.

----------------------------------------------

Officials mull hate charge
Man held after encounter with Hispanic residents

The Kootenai County Prosecutor’s Office is considering charging a man with
a hate crime in a confrontation with a Hispanic family outside their Coeur
d’Alene home.

Ira G. Tankovich has been in Kootenai County Jail since Aug. 16, charged
with unlawful possession of a firearm and providing false information to
police in the incident, which occurred in the 1900 block of East
Pennsylvania Avenue.

A Hispanic man told police Tankovich and three others were in a truck
decorated with swastikas and the words “born to kill” when they stopped
and approached him as he stood outside.

The resident’s yard had been littered with Aryan Nations literature and he
“felt these men were Aryans and were going to hurt him,” the police report
said.

Tankovich and the other men left but returned about 20 minutes later
yelling racial slurs, according to the police report.

When police arrived, one of the men said “the Hispanic pulled a gun and
threatened our lives,” according to the report.

Tankovich, who police say has Aryan pride tattoos, gave police a false
name before they found his identification and learned he was wanted for
violating his probation in California on a stolen property conviction.
That conviction also prohibits him from owning a gun. According to the
report, an officer saw Tankovich throw a handgun into a neighboring
driveway.

Idaho’s hate crimes law makes it a felony to “intimidate or harass another
person because of that person’s race, color, religion, ancestry or
national origin.”

Tankovich and his friends used racial slurs throughout their interviews
with police, according to reports. Each maintained the homeowner
approached them unprovoked.

Kootenai County Prosecutor Barry McHugh said his office is working with
police to see if the law applies to the allegations against Tankovich.

“We certainly are reviewing it,” McHugh said.

------------

Litterer gets more tickets

A man who says he wants to resurrect the Aryan Nations in North Idaho
received three more littering tickets Tuesday.

Paul R. Mullet, 36, went to the Coeur d’Alene Police Department seeking a
report about a littering ticket he received earlier this month for tossing
fliers in yards.

Three people who also received fliers had filed complaints, and detectives
cited Mullet for those incidents Tuesday, Sgt. Christie Wood said.

----------------------------------------------

Not here, not ever!

Seeya round town, Moscow.

Tom Hansen
Moscow, Idaho

"Why a person does what he does is at least as important as the objective
behavior."

- Princess Sushitushi (September 10, 2006)