Editorial: Dishonor belongs to writer, not mayor

Nowhere in the electoral contract between the citizens of Coeur d’Alene and Mayor Jim Hammond is there a clause covering what follows.

At the end of this opinion piece, we’ll share with you, unedited, one of many messages the mayor and other city officials received after the June 11 arrest of 31 potential terrorists.

Yes, terrorists.

We do not use that word lightly. Misguided souls are siding with the men charged with planning riots in downtown Coeur d’Alene to coincide with a Pride in the Park event. Here’s how the Department of Defense Dictionary of Military Terms defines terrorism:

The calculated use of unlawful violence or threat of unlawful violence to inculcate fear; intended to coerce or to intimidate governments or societies in the pursuit of goals that are generally political, religious, or ideological.

There’s nothing misdemeanor about what those 31 white nationalists intended that day. In the aftermath of their arrests, Hammond, Police Chief Lee White and other officials have been the target of threats and basic human putridity.

Maybe it’s one vile, knee-jerk reaction to a thwarted act of terrorism. Or maybe it’s just another clear exhibit of why Eric Ward, director of the Western States Center, recently wrote, “Idaho is a bellwether state for where the rest of the country may be headed in terms of how anti-democracy groups try to build power.”

The good people of Coeur d’Alene and all of North Idaho must stand firm against those attempting to knock democracy off the tracks — many clearly from outside our area, but with abettors inside, too.

The following email was sent to Hammond and nine other Coeur d’Alene city officials:

Hammond, you stupid, weak faggot. Kill yourself, It's your only honorable way out you absolutely repulsive piece of shit.

Mayor Hammond needs no defense. He’s as honorable a man as you'll find.

The gutless, anonymous writer, on the other hand, wouldn’t know honor if it walked up and kissed them on the lips.