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But in a move to exploit the Aryan Nations' parade, a coalition of civil-rights groups has come up with a savvy plan to turn the march into a fund-raiser that could generate up to $1 million for human rights causes.

Coeur d'Alene Mayor Steve Judy still is considering Aryan Nations' request for a permit to hold a parade on Saturday, April 18, two days before Hitler's birthday. Judy denied a request for a permit, for the same day and at the same place, from the JDL.

"We don't have to have two conflicting parades on the same day," he said.

He is expected to grant the Aryan Nations a permit next week. Judy has said he doesn't want to allow the parade by the supremacist group, which has its headquarters in nearby Hayden Lake, but he may not have the legal grounds to deny it.

But the townspeople plan to show their disdain for the Aryan Nations by attending a human rights rally that day in Spokane, Wash., turning the Idaho city of 24,000 into a ghost town. They want shopkeepers to post signs in their windows saying "Closed to hate." They hope the only people on the parade route will be police.

"We feel they have the right to march," said Marshall Mend, a local real estate agent, human-rights activist and one of an estimated 100 Jews in Coeur d'Alene. "But such an event cannot go by without a response."

Mend and other activists have started the "Making Lemonade" pledge.

"We are taking something bitter and turning it to something sweet," he said. "In essence, by marching in Coeur d'Alene, the Aryan Nations will be raising money for human rights and Jewish human-rights organizations."

Enlisting the support of the Anti-Defamation League and human-rights groups on campuses across the country, a coalition in the Northwest is circulating petitions that state: "I agree with the right of free speech, but I abhor the message of white supremacy." For each moment of the Aryan Nations' parade, signers will pledge an amount of money for the human-rights agency of their choice. The parade is expected to last 45 minutes, Mend said.

"Locally, we could raise $30,000," Mend said, adding that nationwide, the amount could top $1 million.

As home to the Aryan Nations, "Idaho gets the reputation of being a racist state, which is the farthest thing from the truth," Mend said. To restore its image, state authorities recently granted permission for local governments to post signs that would say: "Welcome to a community committed to human rights."

Meanwhile, Irv Rubin of the JDL told the Associated Press that he will seek help from the American Civil Liberties Union to counter both the mayor's decision and the Aryan Nations parade, if granted.

"Free speech is just as important for us as it is for the Nazis," Rubin said. "If they're going to let the Aryans march, then they should let us march."