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HEIDI DESCH | Hagadone News Network | UPDATED 8 years, 3 months AGO
by HEIDI DESCH
Heidi Desch is features editor and covers Flathead County for the Daily Inter Lake. She previously served as managing editor of the Whitefish Pilot, spending 10 years at the newspaper and earning honors as best weekly newspaper in Montana. She was a reporter for the Hungry Horse News and has served as interim editor for The Western News and Bigfork Eagle. She is a graduate of the University of Montana. She can be reached at hdesch@dailyinterlake.com or 406-758-4421. | January 5, 2017 4:06 PM

Despite the fact that The Daily Stormer neo-Nazi website claims its planning a march in Whitefish on Jan. 16, the city of Whitefish has not received an application for such an event.

Whitefish City Manager Chuck Stearns Thursday afternoon said the city had not received an application for a special event permit for a march on Jan. 16 or any other date around that time.

“Therefore, no such permit has been reviewed, approved, or denied,” Stearns said in an email.

The website on Thursday posted a copy of a completed application form for a “James Earl Ray Day Extravaganza” set to take place on Martin Luther King Jr. Day in Whitefish. The post, by Andrew Anglin, says the event is to be a march on Second Street from City Hall to Memorial Park, where a rally will be held with speakers.

The time is proposed for 4 to 7 p.m. with more than 200 expected to participate.

James Earl Ray in 1968 assassinated civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr.

Since late December, The Daily Stormer has been threatening to hold a march in Whitefish sometime in January. Previously no date had been specified for the event. The website also created a call to action last month prompting an online “troll” storm directed at Whitefish businesses and Jewish families.

The website said it was defending Sherry Spencer, Richard Spencer’s mother, who claimed that she was pushed into selling her commercial building downtown over her son’s white nationalist viewpoints.

Richard Spencer, a part-time Whitefish resident, is the self-appointed leader of the white nationalist movement called the “alt-right.” Sherry Spencer has said she does not support her son’s views.

In an email to Whitefish residents and the press, Stearns said that the city will notify folks if an application for a special event permit for a march is received and of the nature of the event.

“If a march were ever to happen, please be assured that the Whitefish Police Department has a critical incident plan in place aimed at ensuring the public safety of our citizens and visitors,” he said.

Under city regulations, the city manager is authorized to grant or deny applications for a special event permit for events in the city, and “may decline to consider an application for a special event permit, and refer the application to the city council for consideration, if the city manager determines that an application is significant to the public, or might create unnecessary disruption, congestion, controversy or crowding.”

The decision of the city manager can be appealed to the City Council, which can affirm, deny or modify the city manager’s decision, according to city rules.

City Council meets next on Jan. 17.

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