Northern Idaho: Anti- Government Streak Hampers COVID Fight - Coeur d'Alene, Aryan Nations

[appalachiablue]

- A vehicle with a Gadsden flag sticker parked at Independence Point, Sept. 10, 2021, Coeur d'Alene. Northern Idaho has a long & deep streak of anti- govt. activism that is confounding attempts to battle a COVID outbreak.
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- AP News, Sept. 10, 2021.

COEUR D’ALENE, Idaho (AP) — Northern Idaho has a long and deep streak of anti- government activism that has confounded attempts to battle a COVID-19 outbreak overwhelming hospitals in the deeply conservative region. A deadly 1992 standoff with federal agents near the Canadian border helped spark an expansion of radical right-wing groups across the country and the area was for a long time the home of the Aryan Nations, whose leader envisioned a “White Homeland” in the county that is now among the worst hit by the coronavirus pandemic.

Hospitals in northern Idaho are so packed with COVID-19 patients that authorities announced last week that facilities would be allowed to ration health care. “This is extremism beyond anything I ever witnessed,” Tony Stewart said of people who refused to get vaccinated and wear masks. Stewart is a founding member of the Kootenai County Task Force on Human Relations, which battled the Aryan Nations for decades and helped bankrupt the neo-Nazi group. “I’m almost speechless in seeing so many people have lost concern for their fellow humans.”

Only 41% of Kootenai County’s 163,000 residents were fully vaccinated, well below the state average of about 56%, officials said. Anti-government sentiments are strong in northern Idaho. State Rep. Heather Scott, a Republican from Blanchard in the northern part of the state, refused an interview request, saying reporters were liars. Scott promoted mask-burning protests around northern Idaho and the rest of the state earlier this year. She is also among the lawmakers that have frequently pushed misinformation about COVID-19 on Facebook. Stewart called fierce opponents of vaccines an “irrational segment of the population.”

But not everyone agrees there is a problem. David Hall, 53, who co-owns a restaurant in bustling downtown Coeur d’Alene, said Friday he “serves hundreds of customers a week and I’ve heard of nobody that’s been hospitalized.” “Not a single person who worked for me got it,” Hall said of COVID-19. “I don’t know where (patients) are coming from.” One thing Hall does know is news of packed hospitals is bad for business, saying his revenues have dropped. Don Kress, 65, of Coeur d’Alene, said he believes that Kootenai Health, the town’s major hospital, is overflowing with patients. “It’s become such a politicized issue,” he said of COVID-19. “If you take the politics out of it and let common sense prevail, people will get the shot.”

Northern Idaho has had an anti- government segment of the population for decades. It was the site of the standoff at Ruby Ridge, north of the town of Sandpoint...

- Read More,
https://apnews.com/article/health-coronavirus-pandemic-race-and-ethnicity-racial-injustice-idaho-47e59fd796ec4f3ece8676c2810d876f

- Wiki, Coeur d'Alene, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coeur_d%27Alene,_Idaho






- Dan Kress speaks about his support for efforts to stop the coronavirus at Coeur d'Alene City Park. Northern Idaho has a long & deep streak of anti- govt. activism that is confounding attempts to battle a COVID outbreak.

[Thomas Hurt]

1. Northern Idaho has been a home to christofascist extremists since at least The Order in the 80s.

[2naSalit]

2. At least.

[kimbutgar]

3. I went to a wedding in Coeur dAlene in 1996.

The wedding was in the late afternoon so we drove around the area. We stopped at this park the town over Hayden lakes where a fair was going on and realized within 5 minutes it was a kind of aryan white power fair with black dolls hung like they were being lynched. I never got into my car so fast. I am a light skinned black woman and realized I’d wouldn’t be welcomed at that fair. We went back to the hotel and stayed there the rest of the day of the day. My husband laughs to this day when we realized we were among white supremists.

[appalachiablue]

4. A public fair, in the open, daytime with that- shocking.

[Enter stage left]

5. We're full time RV'ers and love Coeur d'Alene...

It is an amazingly beautiful area with all kinds of water sports and fishing for anyone so inclined.

I'd move there in a heartbeat, but if I was ever going to, you'd have to exterminate 90% of the population of northern Idaho before I'd ever consider EVEN GOING BACK!

[appalachiablue]

8. Visited it once in summer, late 80s. Beautiful area, the lake

we enjoyed on a pontoon plane ride, saw gorgeous mountains, pristine sky and views.

[hoosierspud]

6. I live on the WA/ID line.

You would think that Corona didn't exist if you went to Northern Idaho. There are a lot of locally owned businesses that my husband and I have supported in the past, but we avoid Idaho like the plague ( literally) these days.

[keithbvadu2]

7. And now Idaho has big gov't death panels.

And now Idaho has big gov't death panels.

[pfitz59]

9. My Niece and her hubby just moved to Coeur d'Alene

He is a big time MAGAt. I worry for my Grand Nephew and Grand Niece