This is from the Coeur d'Alene (Idaho) Press:
Maskers on verge of losing home
Posted: Tuesday, Feb 27, 2007 - 10:22:31 pm PST
By DAVE TURNER
Staff writer
Publisher of anti-government newsletter gives county treasurer promissory note to pay taxes for 'conspiratologist'
COEUR d'ALENE -- A Maine-based Constitutionalist paralegal has promised to pay the back property taxes on the home of Hayden 'conspiratologist' Richard Masker.
But Kootenai County Treasurer Tom Malzahn said a promissory note sent to the county by David Everett Robinson will not suffice to settle the Maskers' 2003 tax bill of $2,861.86.
That amount is due by the close of business today. If not, the Maskers will have to come up with that amount, plus interest, by 5 p.m. April 16, or face tax seizure proceedings.
It was Robinson who came up with $11,299.54 cash in 2002 to pay for years of back taxes on the home Richard and Deon Masker share that abuts the Avondale Golf and Tennis Club in Hayden Lake.
"Dave, I thank you for being our friend and I certainly don't want to say or do anything that would change that, but this is exactly what happened before and they made us pay for three years!" said 66-year-old Deon Masker in an e-mail to Robinson. "We don't have any white knights standing in the wings to help us with $12,000.
"Dave, this is reality and I am not only scared, I am terrified! Richard is blind and I have to deal with this alone," she wrote last week.
Prior to the last payoff, the Maskers vowed to shoot anyone who tried to evict them from their home.
Robinson is the publisher of an anti-government newsletter, "The Patriot" and calls himself a constitutional scholar and "self-declared Ambassador for Christ."
Masker, a former associate of late Aryan Nations Church founder Richard Butler, was fired from his job as Sandpoint's water superintendent almost 10 years ago, after he failed to show up for work. The 65-year-old is retired today.
In his latest attempt to help the Maskers save their property from county foreclosure, Robinson first claimed in a letter to The Press that naming the Maskers on a list of delinquent taxpayers was "libelous and incorrect," and the Maskers "are not the 'owners of record' of the property."
Robinson said it was "sold to another party whose identity they have promised not to reveal."
He then sent a questionnaire to Malzahn, arguing that since federal reserve notes are acceptable as cash, they are, in fact, promissory notes.
"Therefore, promissory notes are acceptable as cash."
If that's the case, Malzahn said, then the Maskers should take the note to a bank and cash it, then bring in the cash. He said his office does accept legal tender.
Malzahn also said the Maskers owe back taxes of $1,755.09 for 2004; $1,797.64 for 2005 and $1,229.01 for 2006, for a total delinquency of $7,643.60.
If the 2003 taxes are not paid by April, the Maskers will have until Labor Day to come up with the entire delinquency, as well as pay 2007's taxes, or face seizure and eviction.
If only the 2003 taxes are paid, Malzahn said the 2004 taxes will become due at the next tax cycle, which begins in May.
Neither Robinson nor the Maskers could be reached for comment on Malzahn's decision.
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Dave Turner can be reached at (208) 664-8176, Ext. 2009 or at
dturner@cdapress.com
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