COEUR d'ALENE - A large medical group considering Coeur d'Alene as the site of its annual meeting in 2015 is wondering whether the area is tolerant enough for the culturally diverse group of professionals.

The short answer from Coeur d'Alene officials: Yes, it is.

Western Orthopaedic Association President Dr. Ellen Raney sent a letter April 5 to Mayor Sandi Bloem asking for information that points to local efforts to "promote the inclusion of racial and ethnic diversity" to ease concerns if the group would feel comfortable here should they chose the Lake City as the spot for their annual summer retreat.

"Our group is ethnically diverse," Raney, an orthopedic surgeon from Portland, Ore., wrote. "In reading about Coeur d'Alene, our members have expressed concern about whether our group would feel welcome given the activity of racially intolerant groups in the area."

The annual week-long gathering is usually attended by 450-600 people, the letter says.

Bloem mentioned the letter at Monday night's Kootenai County Task Force on Human Relations banquet. The task force promotes cultural diversity across the region. On Tuesday, Bloem said that after she received the letter she asked Human Rights Education Institute Director Tom Carter to respond to the group, and Carter has a conference call with the association's president scheduled for today.

"Sure I'm concerned. It would be nice not to have anyone feel that way," Bloem said about receiving such a letter addressing a stigma from which North Idaho has been working to distance itself. But "I feel grateful this community has taken a strong message against hate and bigotry."

In fact, few areas can point to such a detailed list of what it has done to combat hate, she said.

The history, well known locally, is that the task force was formed to combat hate in the Inland Northwest, and in 2000 it was instrumental in a lawsuit that bankrupted the Aryan Nations, which had established a compound in Hayden Lake.

"I'm not aware of a mayor anywhere who would have the ability to show a group of people what has been done to be sure that we are a community that accepts all," she said.

"Meaning," she added, "we have volumes and volumes of effort."

Raney was in surgery and unavailable for comment Tuesday. The WOA has 1,700 members, all licensed medical or osteopathic doctors. The city of Coeur d'Alene, meanwhile, will consider adopting an anti-discrimination ordinance in the next few weeks, as other Idaho cities have such as Pocatello and Boise.

Like it or not, however, the racist stigma is something that is attached to Coeur d'Alene to some degree. On Coeur d'Alene's Wikipedia page, it clarifies that the Aryan Nations' home was in nearby Hayden Lake, not Coeur d'Alene. Hayden Lake's Wikipedia page also addresses the issue.

Google 'Coeur d'Alene racist' and stories of Nazi literature being distributed on lawns and highway posts appear, as does then compound leader Richard Bulter's Wikipedia page and stories on Coeur d'Alene School Board trustee Brent Regan's remark comparing assault rifles and President Barack Obama, a comment for which he later apologized.

A small group of protesters picketed the Monday night banquet as well.

But Carter agreed with Bloem that few areas have done more to combat racism, and that the area has distanced itself from the stigma. The letter isn't the only question about Coeur d'Alene's reputation the HREI director has heard from tourists, or prospective tourists.

"We're 100 miles away from that," he said of the Butler days. But "it shows the awareness of people saying, 'is this something we really need to worry about?' They're asking instead of assuming. All that it is, it's a stigma that's left around, that's all that it is, and it's good that they ask.

"And no, there isn't," he added.