missoulian.com

Travis McAdam, executive director of the Montana Human Rights Network, said the Flathead Valley’s white supremacist and anti-government movements have been reinvigorated by drawing nationally recognized members who actively recruit others to the region.

“The Flathead is one of the places where we have seen a real increase in activity over the past couple of years, and one of the reasons is that you have quite a few people with status and profile in the national movements,” he said.

McAdam was the recent recipient of a letter written by local white supremacist Karl Gharst, who says he intends to convene a citizens’ grand jury in Kalispell to indict members of the Montana Human Rights Network, which he characterized as “a Jewish criminal organization” and an “enemy of the state of Montana.”

“It can be proven that this organization, often using the acronym ‘MHRN,’ is a Jewish Defamation Organization and operates within the Jewish terrorist networks,” Gharst wrote.

McAdam said he was initially dismissive of Gharst’s letter, but notified state and federal law enforcement after considering the man’s reputation.

“The claims are so ridiculous they would be funny if we weren’t dealing with someone like Karl Gharst,” McAdam said.

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Gharst has identified himself with a group called Kalispell Pioneer Little Europe, which is dedicated to encouraging white nationalists to move to the Flathead because of its high concentration of Caucasians. Members of the group post job openings and housing information on the white nationalist website, Stormfront.org, in hopes of enticing others to the valley.

One of the most prominent members of the movement is Kalispell resident April Gaede, who uses her blogs and other Internet forums to promote “the immigration of racially conscious whites who want to leave multicultural areas (known as white flight) into NW Montana,” according to one recent post.

Gaede has also recently posted demographic reports showing Kalispell’s high Caucasian population, and a photograph of white bodies sunbathing on a local beach. The caption reads, “This is how white our beaches are, and I am not talking sand.”