the country who claim the mantle of the Aryan Nations.”

-- Richard Cockle

CANYON CITY --

residents turned out in force Friday morning to send a message to a white supremacist group: Stay out.

About 375 people -- in a northeast Oregon county of fewer than 8,000-- attended a town hall meeting to fight a plan by a group calling itself the

to plant a national headquarters in

.

"Never have I been to a community who reacted so quickly as you have to say no," civil rights activist Tony Stewart of

, told a standing-room-only crowd at the Canyon City Community Hall just south of John Day.

At least 100 others were turned away because of fire code restrictions. About 300 more watched a live stream on the Internet, said Scotta Callister, editor of the

newspaper inJohn Day, which sponsored the meeting.

"It gave this community a chance to put a voice to its values," Callister said. "That's powerful."

The community was reacting to a visit last week by Paul R. Mullet of Athol, Idaho, who told townspeople he is the leader of the neo-Nazi group and is shopping for John Day property for a new headquarters.

At Friday morning's forum, Stewart was joined by Coeur d'Alene attorney Norman Gissell to offer encouragement and advice. The pair have battled neo-Nazi groups for 29 years and helped win a landmark judgment in 2000 against Idaho's original Aryan Nations, leading to the group's downfall.

Many in the crowd, unmistakably rural in jeans and cowboy boots, said they've never dealt with white supremacists and neo-Nazis and aren't sure what to do.

"I'm