Mend, a real estate broker, Norm Gissel, a lawyer, and Tony Stewart, a college professor, all from Idaho, were invited by the Boyertown Area Unity Coalition and the Reading Berks Human Relations Council to share their expertise in dealing with hate groups.

They are members of the Kootenai County Task Force on Human Relations -- known for precipitating a $6 million civil verdict against Richard Butler and his white supremacist clan in Coeur D'Alene, Idaho in 1998. 

About 50 people attended the 2½-hour seminar, "Promoting Tolerance and Respect for Different Views in Berks County." No hate groups demonstrated against the gathering -- an occurrence not ruled out by event sponsors.

If hate groups had shown up, the way to address them would have been through "good and democratic speech," Stewart said.

"We don't come here tonight to suggest to you we have all the answers," Stewart said. "One of our greatest successes came from Boyertown."

The Idaho group successfully copied the unity coalition's Project Lemonade, which raised money for human rights work by asking people to pledge money during Ku Klux Klan demonstrations. Stewart's group raised more than $35,000 during a pro-Adolph Hitler march in Coeur D'Alene.

"What a victory -- a peaceful victory for our community," he said, noting the community wasn't always peaceful in recent decades.

In 1973, Richard Butler came to Stewart's town and began building the Aryan Nations "world headquarters." In 1980, Aryan Nations members began committing hate crimes in the town, including bombings of a Jewish-owned business and a bi-racial family.

In the 1980s, the hate crimes worsened, Stewart said. Aryan Nations members murdered a Jewish talk show host, robbed banks and counterfeited money. They stockpiled cyanide to poison a major water supply and bombed the home of a pastor who was president of the human relations task force.

In response, the community had celebrations of human rights -- picnics to celebrate equality, posters and billboards promoting tolerance. They "turned lemons to lemonade," Stewart said. 

"When these things happen in your community and you search yourself, you can come out of it a better community," he said, noting the hate group members were prosecuted for their crimes, and more than 30 are currently serving life sentences in prison.

"We did a good enough job to make the Aryan Nations move. We didn't do a good enough job to keep them out of Pennsylvania," said Norm Gissel, the Idaho attorney. 

Is there a threat in Boyertown? 

"Berks County has a long history of Ku Klux Klan and Aryan Nations activity," said Ann Van Dyke, a civil rights investigator for the Pennsylvania Human Relations Commission.

In Pennsylvania, there are currently 33 known hate groups, down from 56 in 1995, she said. These groups, which include the National Alliance and the World Church of the Creator, white supremacist groups, are very active on the Internet and in racist rock music, she said.

"You need to speak up, speak out," said Mend, the real estate broker. "Market your community. Let people know Boyertown is a community committed to human rights."