14
Wednesday, August 1, 2018 The Nugget Newspaper, Sisters, Oregon
Sheriff:
Lawsuit settled for student disciplined for pro-Trump shirt
‘Sociable’
couple still
missing
after house
burned
By Andrew Selsky
Associated Press
JOHN DAY (AP) — A
“sociable” couple whose
remote house burned to
the ground last week in
Oregon remained missing
Wednesday, July 25, and
police said there has been no
sign of them on their phones
or social media.
Authorities have stopped
short of calling the disap-
pearance of Terry and Sharon
Smith suspicious, but Grant
County Sheriff Glenn Palmer
said Tuesday, “we’d like
to know where they are at,
whether it’s good or bad.”
The Smiths, both in their
60s, have not been heard
from since July 18, when
their home south of John Day
went up in flames.
They normally split
their time between the east-
ern Oregon residence and
Hawaii, and had arrived back
in Oregon a few weeks ago,
the Register Guard reported.
They visited family in
Springfield after their return.
Cadaver dogs have not
picked up the scent of any
human remains in the ruins of
the burned home on 80 acres
off a remote road, he said.
Their truck — a silver or
gray 2006 Toyota Tacoma
with Oregon license plate 714
EGG — is also missing.
“It’s very frustrating,
because it’s not like them
to just take off and not let
someone know where they’re
at,” nephew Josh Smith of
Springfield said.
A neighbor called 911
around midnight on the night
of the blaze to report what
was thought to be a forest fire
in the distance. Responding
crews found the house
burning.
Josh Smith and his wife,
Amy, went to the John Day
area to help search for the
couple.
Other friends and family
members also have tried to
find the couple and search
the area, but to no avail. They
know the Smiths were at
home earlier on the evening
of the fire.
“Our phone has been ring-
ing off the hook with family
and friends,” Palmer said.
“They’re a very personable,
social couple. It’s just blown
a lot of people away that
they’re not on social media or
their phones.”
SALEM (AP) — An
Oregon high school student
disciplined for wearing a
T-shirt promoting a border
wall reached a settlement of
his lawsuit against the school
district, his lawyers said
Tuesday, July 24.
The case highlights the
struggle among schools to
balance free-speech rights
with keeping students safe,
as acrimony intensifies over
America’s immigration poli-
cies and enforcement.
Under the settlement
announced Tuesday, the
Hillsboro School District in
Portland’s western suburbs
must pay $25,000 for attor-
ney fees and the principal
had to write an apology.
“I brought this case to
stand up for myself and other
students who might be afraid
to express their right-of-cen-
ter views,” Addison Barnes,
who was a senior at Liberty
High School when the inci-
dent happened in January,
said in a statement sent by
his attorneys.
In January, Barnes wore
a “Donald J. Trump Border
Wall Construction Co.”
T-shirt to a class where a
discussion of immigration
issues was scheduled. The
shirt also said “The wall just
got 10 feet taller,” a refer-
ence to a remark by President
Donald Trump.
According to the lawsuit,
a school official summoned
Barnes and told him that at
least one student and one
teacher had been offended
by the shirt. Barnes was told
to either cover the shirt to go
home.
Barnes went home, and
his absence was listed as a
suspension, which was later
rescinded, the school district
said.
One-third of Liberty’s
student body is of Hispanic
origin, some of their family
members have been deported,
there have been recent events
such as a sit-in to protest
immigration policy, and there
have been racially-motivated
incidents, the school district
said in a statement Tuesday.
“Liberty High School
administration believed they
could reasonably forecast
that Mr. Barnes’ shirt might
cause other students to feel
unsafe and could potentially
lead to walkouts, alterca-
tions, or other disruptive
actions,” the school district
said. School administra-
tors “acted out of an abun-
dance of caution on behalf
into
G
N
I
SPR ON
ACTI
not right.”
Mike McLane, partner
with Lynch Conger McLane
and a Republican member of
the Oregon Legislature, said:
“Political speech, whether
popular or not, is protected
by the Constitution.”
The school district said
Tuesday the incident rep-
resents a legal gray area. It
cited cases in which federal
courts have upheld school
bans on speech that would
be protected outside public
schools, including T-shirts
displaying the Confederate
flag, the American flag,
and the phrase “We are not
Criminals” worn by Hispanic
students.
The school district said
that instead of contesting the
lawsuit, which would have
been costly and disruptive, it
instead compromised.
A letter from Principal
Greg Timmons apologizes
for the initial suspension
charged to Barnes for leav-
ing campus and any upset
that may have caused, and
wishes him well in the future,
the district said.
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of the student body to ensure
safety.”
Barnes said his First
Amendment rights to free
speech had been violated.
A federal judge on May 29
issued a temporary restrain-
ing order, essentially barring
the school from prohibiting
Barnes from wearing the
shirt, and said the school
district had not justified its
censorship.
The Benbrook Law Group
of Sacramento, California,
and Lynch Conger McLane
of Bend, Oregon, which
announced the settlement,
noted that the high school
had allowed one of its teach-
ers to hang a sign promoting
sanctuary cities that protect
immigrants in the United
States illegally.
Barnes said he was sin-
gled out for supporting
Trump.
“Everyone knows that if a
student wears an anti-Trump
shirt to school, the teachers
won’t think twice about it,”
Barnes said Tuesday. “But
when I wore a pro-Trump
shirt, I got suspended. That’s
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