Snow White Supremacist? Klan Snowman with Noose Angers Idaho Man's Neighbors

HAYDEN, Idaho (CBS/AP) Neighbors of a white separatist, Markus Eliseuson, were appalled and complained to the police when they noticed a snowman on his front lawn shaped like a member of the Ku Klux Klan.

Then sheriff's deputies from Kootenai County came calling Wednesday, and told Eliseuson he could be charged with a crime, because his 10-foot-tall creation was holding what appeared to be a noose.

He could have been charged with creating a public nuisance. Idaho law defines such a nuisance as anything "offensive to the senses" or that interferes with the comfort of an entire neighborhood. Eliseuson removed the noose and toppled the snowman after he talked with officers.

He also told KXLY-TV of Spokane that he sees nothing wrong with the snowman. Others beg to differ.

"It's such a message of hate," said Amber Caldwell, who saw the snowman while visiting her cousin in the neighborhood. "My kids asked me about it and I had to explain what that symbol means."

Deputies were called by neighbors who were outraged by the pointy-headed snowman with two dark eyes.

Eliseuson has angered neighbors in the past by flying Aryan Nations flags at his home. At Halloween he passed out bullet casings after he said he ran out of candy. (editor's note: you may want to read that last sentence again).

For decades the community of Hayden earned notoriety for being near the former rural compound of the Aryan Nations.