At the Kootenai County Fair, I witnessed a so-called attraction that I hadn't seen since my childhood at circuses during the 1950s in Moscow, Idaho. That was the display of "little Linda" - loudly announced by a loudspeaker as "the World's Smallest Woman - she's from Haiti, only 29 inches tall." To make things worse, the sign read "$l0,000 reward if not found alive."

People crowded in to pay 75 cents to see her, a black woman. People congregated, and murmured "she is black, fat, and this tall" as they gestured with their hands. Little Linda was put on display, like some caged animal, not even human - the humiliation she must have felt had to be beyond understanding.Do you remember that one time that someone made fun of you at school? Linda was subject to this humiliation every hour, of every day, while this show was on the road - and all to make the owners, Midland Co. some money.

My normally easygoing son, Shane, was enraged beyond description; he confronted the management of Midland Co. And their response? Just like what was happening to little Linda, they laughed at Shane and pointed at him. After all, they weren't going to dump an act that was bringing in lots of money for them even at the expense of someone's dignity.Shane followed this event up with an article in the Nickel's Worth on Sept. 2. Another article was also written in The Press by Sholeh Patrick.

In the meantime, Nickel's Worth Editor Carol Stacey, on Sept. l6, reported an incident in the park in the summer, where husky men in military fatigues waved Ku Klux Klan banners and blared loud music. The article indicated that this could be a statement of "we're back."On Oct. 1 in The Press, longtime attorney Bliss Bignall described the white supremacist events of the past, where Pastor Wasmuth's house was bombed. Later four more bombs were boldly planted, one went off at the federal courthouse - that bomb rocked the windows of my law office across the street. Three other bombs were planted and did not go off - at a business on Northwest Boulevard, the post office, and at the Army recruiting offices. They later even held a parade down Sherman Avenue.

Our community quickly obtained an unwarranted reputation as being a white supremacist haven. Believe me, Coeur d'Alene suffered.Hayden resident Richard Butler was the mastermind behind these events. His reign ended only by a civil rights lawsuit that closed his compound after white supremacists shot at a Native American woman and her son.

But the question becomes, because of racial sign carrying at some businesses near Best Avenue this summer - and other cases presently in trial - are the white supremacists back because we have fallen back into apathy and denial. Our Kootenai County Task Force has a policy that provides, "We oppose the discrimination of anyone based upon race, color, ethnic origin or disability." I wrote to our county task force, asking for their response to the little Linda incident, and received NO RESPONSE whatsoever.

Do some people here have short memories?"Evil thrives because the good do nothing." Another saying states, "a man who stands for nothing, will fall for anything."

I then wrote our county commissioners who referred this matter to the Fair Board and initially, I received no response as they apparently did not think I was serious. I am very pleased to report that after my urging about the negative effects of this act to our county, that our Fair Board made a wise decision. On Oct. 5, they wrote me and and advised that this act will not return to Coeur d'Alene again.

1 Samuel l6 provides "man looks at the outward appearance, while God looks at the heart." We all have our differences, and some are more noticeable than others - yet all of us are God's perfect creation.

Steve Bell is a Coeur d'Alene resident.