APut 05/05 1746 Richard Butler


   SPOKANE, Wash.  (AP)  --  The Rev.  Richard Butler's condition
was upgraded to "fair and  improving"  Tuesday  at  Sacred  Heart
Medical Center, where he underwent heart bypass surgery four days
earlier, a spokeswoman said.

   Butler,  69, was stricken with chest pains April 28 in a north
Idaho jail where he was held  after  being  arrested  on  federal
sedition charges.    He  and other white supremacist leaders were
indicted in Arkansas for  allegedly  plotting  to  overthrow  the
government.

   Transfered  to  a  larger  Spokane hospital the following day,
Butler  continued  to  experience  an  irregular  heartbeat   and
underwent surgery late Friday.

   Butler  heads  the  Church  of  Jesus  Christ Christian (Aryan
Nations), near Hayden Lake, Idaho.

   
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