Skinheads reportedly planning weekend concert

White separatist skinheads have planned a concert for Saturday at an unspecified Las Vegas area location, according to two Internet websites and a Southern California telephone recording.

Spokesmen for Metro Police and the local FBI said they had no knowledge of the event.

"There is definitely a First Amendment issue here," FBI Special Agent Kevin Caudle said. "We would not begin to interfere."

But Lt. Chris Van Cleef, head of Metro's special events section, said no skinheads have applied for a special events permit that would be required if the concert is held outdoors. Failure to obtain such a permit is a misdemeanor punishable by up to six months in county jail and a $1,000 fine.

"If they don't have a permit, they would be shut down," Van Cleef said. "The ordinance was developed to ensure public safety and health."

If the concert does occur, it will happen a day before the one-year anniversary of the shooting deaths of anti-racist Las Vegas skinheads Daniel Shersty, 20, and Lin Newborn, 25. Their bodies were found in a remote area of Clark County's northwest desert last July 4.

Suspect John Edward Butler, an alleged member of the local Independent Nazi Skins gang, pleaded not guilty to murder charges and faces a Nov. 2 trial.

Two websites provide scant information on the event dubbed Las Vegas Skin Concert. The California telephone number instructs the caller to call back on the day of the concert for details on its location.

The phone number belongs to Brian Sawyer, lead singer of Aggressive Force, an Orange, Calif., hard-core "White Power" band that is supposed to be one of the featured acts at the concert. Sawyer failed to respond to repeated phone messages seeking comment.

Other bands on the bill with similar separatist leanings include Intimidation One from Portland, Ore., Youngland from Orange County, Calif., Pure Rampage from Arizona, Extreme Hatred and Warfare 88.

Some of the bands have their own websites. Youngland's website says that considering the band's Southern California home base "you can expect true patriotic and nationalistic lyrics stemming from the bombardment of multiculturalism and race-mixing." Photos of the band show one of the guitarists wearing a T-shirt with a Nazi swastika.

"Youngland stand true to their beliefs and consider themselves a strong adversary for the World Wide White Struggle at hand," the website states.

Intimidation One's website also is peppered with swastikas and criticizes anti-racist skinheads.

"This is not music for the weak minded, poor hearted and communist scum who like to think they have the corner of the market on skinhead music," the band's website says.

The two websites that refer to the concert belong to Aggressive Force and the Nationalist Observer. The latter organization, headed by Alex Curtis of Lemon Grove, Calif., publishes white separatist magazines and offers website links to other racist groups.

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