At the Whitefish City Council meeting last week, Bookworks manager Marti Brandt said flyers touting white supremacy had been dropped off at the popular store, put into books and placed in the window.

“We’re facing a horrible moment, nationally, right now,” Brandt told Council. “There’s a lot of hate speech. There’s a lot of hateful rhetoric happening and people feel emboldened by that.” 

Brandt asked Council to issue a public statement in opposition to hateful speech, rhetoric and behaviors. 

Whitefish City Attorney Angela Jacobs said leaving flyers in stores is illegal. It violates the city’s law on distributing a handbill and is a misdemeanor offense. 

“They're ripping out pages from books and they’re leaving pamphlets inserted into children’s books,” said Councilor Rebecca Norton. “It's been going on for years now.” 

“On some level, it’s a form of harassment,” she added. “I think we should have a stance about this.” 

Norton suggested creating a notice businesses could display that states it is illegal to leave unwanted items like flyers and that the city will pursue criminal charges as needed. 

“I think putting it in a place where the public sees it, not only reminds the people who are doing this illegally, but it also reminds the public that we have standards of behavior that we expect from everybody who lives here and comes here, and that we will uphold them,” she said. 

Councilors Giuseppe Caltabiano and Steve Qunell agreed with Norton about creating a sign for businesses to post, condemning hateful acts.   

Deputy Mayor Frank Sweeney directed staff to draft a statement that the Council might issue upon the return of Mayor John Muhlfeld, as well as a notice businesses could post. 

Brandt said hateful pamphlets were first distributed in Bookworks in early 2017, when pages of “Anne Frank’s Diary” were torn out, causing the shopkeepers to keep the iconic book behind the counter.  

Last Friday, pamphlets appeared in the store again. 

Bookworks employee Davey Gordon has found flyers in children’s books and in books about philosophy, spirituality and new age thinking. Gordon said those books are often for “people who are looking for something.” 

"It's insidious,” he said of the placement of the flyers. “They know who they are targeting.” 

Bookstore employees visited the website listed on the white supremacy propaganda and found the group also supports the marriage of teenage girls to adult men. 

“These things are loathsome in a number of ways,” Brandt added. 

She said they reported the incidents to police years ago, but distribution of the hateful rhetoric continued. Other shop owners told Brandt that flyers were showing up in their stores, too. 

“If you receive such flyers, those types of things, immediately report it to the Police Department,” said Whitefish Police Chief Bridger Kelch. 

He said the longer a person waits to report the incident, the less information is available to help authorities locate the culprit.  

“My recommendation for any business that receives anything unwanted or concerning to them, is to call us so we can take a look at it,” he said. 

Kelch added that the department will consult with the city or county attorney’s office and, if needed, call upon federal resources to deal with the issue. 

“We all saw, locally, what happened with the horrible hazing of Tanya Gersh and the proposed white supremacy march,” Brandt said, noting a neo-Nazi hate campaign targeting Whitefish that garnered national attention in 2017. “Let's stand up now and not let it get to that level.” 

To report incidents of hate to the Montana Human Rights Network visit mhrn.org.