Council votes to support Whitefish in hate speech issue

The Havre City Council voted 5-1 to back a proclamation to support residents of the city of Whitefish and condemn anti-Semitic activities that have thrust the western Montana city into the headlines in recent months.

When the proclamation passed it did so with applause from local Boy Scouts, mothers and a small assortment of other community members in the Council Chambers.

Havre City Council member Caleb Hutchins, who brought the proclamation before the council for consideration, was joined by Matthew Boucher, Andrew Brekke, Ed Matter and Terry Lilletvedt in voting for it.

Brian Barrows was the lone vote against the proclamation. Council members Karen Swenson and Jay Pyette were absent.

Some audience members expressed their views about the proclamation during the public comment portion of the meeting.

“As a citizen of the United States I am appalled that in this melting pot of the world, founded on the principle of freedom, we continue to be divided by things like race and religion,” said Pastor Tanner Howard of the First Lutheran Church.

The proclamation comes a month after the Daily Stormer, a Neo-Nazi website, encouraged supporters to post anti-Semitic slurs and personal information of Jewish Whitefish residents.

Some white nationalists also said they were planning an armed march through the streets of Whitefish to coincide with Martin Luther King Jr. Day weekend. Last week, Andrew Anglin, one of the march’s organizers said the march was postponed until sometime in February, after the city said their request for a permit was incomplete.

News outlets reported Tuesday Whitefish has approved the march, although it will not allow marchers to carry weapons.

Hutchins said he was inspired to bring up the proclamation after reading about how the Great Falls City Commission passed a nonbinding resolution supporting the city of Whitefish.

He added that with the permission of Great Falls City Commissioner Bill Bronson he used the language of the Great Falls resolution. The Havre proclamation was altered only slightly from that which had been written by Bronson.

Bill Lanier, a local Scout leader, said he is for the proclamation and had encouraged many of his local Scouts to accompany him to the council meeting. Lanier added that he hoped the Scouts supported the proclamation.

At least one did. One of the Scouts present, Dylan Griffith, 15, went before the council.

“Hate and hatred towards other races is not appropriate anymore,” he said.

Griffith said that members of the U.S. military fought against the spread of Nazism.

Lindsey Bennett, who grew up in Havre and said that she recently moved back, stood at the podium with her toddler son in her arms. She said that she sees the proclamation as a chance for Havre to demonstrate leadership to the rest of Montana, and to set an example for younger generations.

“We tell them not to bully, to stand up to bullying, not to bring hate and judgement into their own social groups. I think we as leaders of our community that this is a way to make a stand against that,” she said.

Brian Barrows said he does not condone the actions or comments of the white nationalist groups and that, though he might support the majority of what was in the proclamation, he could not back it as written.

Barrows, pastor at Abundant Life Ministries asked Hutchins how many of the Havre clergy he talked to seeking support for the proclamation.

Hutchins said that he reached out to about a dozen, heard back from four and got the official support of two. He said that he had meant to ask Barrows but did not have sufficient time.

A member of the Greater Havre Area Ministerial Association, Barrows said he sent the proclamation out to his counterparts at other churches in the city and asked them how they felt.

He said that only three had said they were contacted by Hutchins, two who said they were in support of it. Barrows said that the text of the proclamation urged the City Council to stand with representatives of clergy.

“So I would urge you that if you are going to put Havre clergy in something like this, that you do your homework first,“ he said.

Barrows said that a number of his fellow clergy in town felt uncomfortable that they were included as a group in a proclamation by the city, especially when they weren’t consulted.

“The Bible tells us to love the person. You don’t have to love what they stand for, but you do have to love that person,” Barrows said.

Hutchins said after the meeting that he was disappointed the vote wasn’t unanimous.

“I’d prefer to focus on the 'X' number of people who showed up in person to support it, it takes guts to do that,” he said later in a Facebook message.