Posted on 03/06/2005 11:58:23 AM PST by dukeman
SARASOTA-- State records call a recent inspection at a Sarasota child- care home "routine," but some activities at the house are anything but typical.
The child-care center, in a modest residential neighborhood, is also home to a self- professed white supremacist and neo-Nazi who has hosted a well-known Web site and Internet radio show.
Michael Herbert Blevins, who calls himself "Von Bluvens," has been a leader in the white supremacist movement, according to national watchdog groups.
In interviews posted on various Web sites, Blevins, whose wife, Bernadette, operates the day care, has advocated "shipping blacks back to Africa," deporting Mexicans and wholesale "extermination" of non-whites. He also has called for "putting Jews to sleep" and produced artwork of an apparent gas chamber with the title "Holocaust: This Time It's for Real."
A neighbor says she has seen a Nazi flag in a back bedroom of the home, down the hall from where young children spend the day.
Sarasota County officials, who regulate child-care homes under a state contract, say they have no reason to close the day care. They stress they have found nothing that violates health and safety regulations, and they must also consider Blevins' constitutional right to free speech.
Bernadette Blevins, formerly Bernadette Heikkila, has run the day care for a decade with no serious violations, according to county regulators. She has been married to Michael Blevins for less than a year.
And because the home is following the rules, the county has no reason to inform parents about his racist views, said Homer Rice, the county Health Department manager who oversees child-care regulation under the state Department of Children & Families contract.
"I can only go by rules and procedure," Rice said. "I cannot put my personal feelings into something. As far as we know, the children are safe. The rules right now are not being violated. There's no reason I can give for denying this family child-care home."
Rice said he was surprised when he recently learned of Michael Blevins' white-supremacist ties. He said the situation troubles him personally, but legally there's nothing he can do.
"It's the parents' responsibility to look into the personalities of the day care and our responsibility to look into the legality of the day care," Rice said. "It's not our responsibility to do the due diligence. The parents should take the time to know them."
When approached at home, Blevins refused to discuss his background and beliefs.
"I have nothing to say, and I'd like you to leave this property," he told a reporter.
The next day, a man identifying himself as Bill White contacted the Herald-Tribune by phone and e-mail and issued veiled threats warning a reporter not to return to Blevins' house. White is a national figure in the white-supremacist movement.
Asked about the business and her husband's activities, Bernadette Blevins responded: "Let them say what they want. I have nothing to say." She then abruptly hung up.
The Blevins' day care will remain open and can continue to receive state and federal funding though a subsidy program for poor families. The day care is one of about 200 in the county that gets government money through the state's School Readiness program.
Authorities say they inspect only areas of the home used for child care. And they haven't interviewed parents or neighbors about the home.
State records show Michael Blevins is also listed as qualified to care for the children in his wife's absence because he completed a three-hour training course at the Charlotte County YMCA in June.
Critics, including the watchdog group Citizens Against Hate, call it outrageous that a neo-Nazi is allowed near small children in a day care. Citizens Against Hate is a loose-knit group that monitors hate speech nationwide and pushes officials to take action on its Web site and through e-mails sent to communities where white supremacists are operating.
The group contacted Sarasota authorities and media about Blevins last month.
The group warned on its Web site that unsuspecting parents who use the Blevins' day care could find their children spouting racist language.
Michael Blevins shot back on his Web site, calling it a "cowardly" attack on his family.
"Why didn't these haters attack me?" Blevins wrote. "My wife's only crime is she married me. My wife is not involved with my religious/political activism."
Carl Weinrich, head of the Sarasota County YMCA, which once oversaw the subsidized day-care programs countywide, feels Health Department officials could take a tougher stand.
"There is kind of a fine line between when the health department can step in to remove someone's license if there isn't physical danger to the children," he said. "Once someone is granted a license, there is a legal threshold that has to be met before it can be taken away."
But Weinrich said if regulators believe there is any kind of danger to children, they should be willing to pull a day-care license -- even if they fear a lawsuit.
"If it was under my jurisdiction, they'd be history," Weinrich said of the Blevins' day care. "I'd worry about the legal suit later."
Weinrich said when the YMCA oversaw the government subsidy programs for day-care centers, several businesses were investigated and shut down. In some cases, YMCA regulators interviewed people who lived near the day care and parents of the children. Such interviews are proper when regulators suspect danger to the children, he said.
Conflicting goals of child safety, free speech and parental rights make the issue complex, experts said.
"It is a hard one," said University of Florida law professor Sharon Rush, co-founder of the Center on Race and Race Relations. "But not telling the parents is still troublesome."
Bernadette Blevins has run a child-care business in her home for a decade and has maintained a generally clean record, according to state inspection records. The couple, who married in June, also passed national criminal background checks to gain approval as day-care providers, officials say.
Bernadette Blevins is a statewide figure in home-based day-care circles. She also has been a leader in a Sarasota child-care association and took an active role in the recent drafting of new Sarasota County day-care regulations by attending public meetings and offering proposals, county officials said.
That's where Rice met her. She appeared to be conscientious and well-informed, he said. Her day-care inspection file includes numerous training certificates and a glowing recommendation letter from officials.
The revelation that her new husband and partner is a neo- Nazi has sent shock waves through the Florida home child-care community. After her husband's racist ties were revealed to local regulators by Citizens Against Hate, Bernadette Blevins was pressured into stepping down as treasurer of the Florida Family Home Child Care Association, a statewide home child-care group.
Bernadette Blevins, who goes by "Bernie," had been on the state board for nearly four years and no one ever heard her voice racist views, President Tammy Tener said.
Michael Blevins has been a leader in the neo-Nazi movement since at least May 2000, according to Joe Roy, a veteran investigator with the Southern Poverty Law Center Intelligence Project, which tracks hate groups and extremist activity. While in Roanoke, Va., Blevins served as a "unit commander" for the National Socialist Movement, which is part of a national white supremacy movement, Roy said.
"It's up to the parents if they want their kids around that," Roy said. "We have no way of knowing what he's saying and not saying around these kids. But we know what he says on his Web site."
Michael Blevins' Web site offers live audio and CD recordings of his Internet radio show, the "Von Bluvens Show," and an urgent plea for "cash, checks or anonymous money orders," adding he "desperately needs your support." It asks money to be sent to "Mike Blevins" via a post office box in Sarasota.
His radio show titles include "Top 10 Reasons to Hate Kikes," "Adolph (sic) Hitler Award," "Hitler/Holocaust Special," "N------ Be-Gone" and other titles that contain racist slurs.
The site says he "does not advocate any unlawful or criminal acts" and his statements are "protected by the basic human right of freedom of speech as guaranteed by the First Amendment of the Constitution."
The home is licensed to care for up to 10 children, from infants to age 5, but usually has had only four or five children during semi-annual inspections.
Each Sarasota County inspector must check more than 100 day-care homes. Inspections typically last less than an hour.
Nearly half of the 12 inspections at the Blevins' home in the past five years found problems, from incomplete medical or immunization records for children to an empty fire extinguisher and a first-aid kit that lacked anti-poison medicine. But Rice and others call such violations minor and said all were quickly fixed.
State records show state and county officials have investigated at least two complaints from parents that infants or small children at the day care have been left alone for up to 30 minutes in a car. Neither could be proven, officials said.
After meeting with attorneys, officials did a special inspection Wednesday that included a rare visit from a supervisor. They reported the day care remains in compliance on every item checked, including gun safety, a background screening of family members, staff training and naming a backup for child care -- Michael Blevins.
As long as he keeps christianity out of it, he can do and say anything he wants.
Of course, just use the word Jesus or Christmas and there will be Hell to pay
{sarcasm}
It's not easy supporting a fourth Reich on a day care income.
Sadly, you're not far off.
Is it my imagination, or am I hearing a WHOLE lot more about white supremacists these days? Has a memo gone out or something?
That's what I was thinking. This is just off-beat enough to be grist for a cop/lawyer TV show. They need odd stuff like this for viewership. I've said for years that a truly authentic lawyer show would be so boring, no one would watch. "On next week's episode,.....Shepardizing!"
Funny!
Would you be surprised if it had?
The media has a new scent...I wonder where they are going with it.
Please see my post #6 for a reason why this may be coming about. I am not a Supremist, or anything like that, but I can see why they are getting "loud".
The photo accompanying the story makes Blevins look like a junior bank officer or an accountant. I'll bet his neighbors didn't know about his racial/political beliefs. Of course, they do now...
Strange, huh? You just never know who you live next to. {looks around cautiously}
They're after Republicans, don't you know we're all David Duke followers. They just conveniently forget to check into Robert Byrd's past. /sarcasm off
Are there any other Dems with the skeletons in their closet to match Sen Byrd's?
Extreme hatred and prejudice is sick in any form.
Ted Kennedy ... John Kerry ... Bill Clinton
They've got skeletons alright, especially Kennedy, but I was wondering about KKK skeletons or maybe I should say sheets.
Yep, free market economy will take care of business.
Clinton has skeletons between the sheets, does that count?
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