RCYB
Judge hands down sentence
to members Kaiser, Whitley
John Kaiser props a red flag against a pole in the
main lobby of the Erb Memorial Union He slings a
handful of copies of the Revolutionary Worker"
over his arm and picks up a sign that reads. "Cele
brate the second anniversary of U S embassy
seizure: Down with U S. imperialism Then he
shuffles around the lobby.
Many University students who pass the
24-year-old recent University graduate on their way
in or out of the EMU recognize the seif-proclaimed
revolutionary Some because they ve passed this
way before. Some because they’ve seen Kaiser's
once bearded, now moustached, face — through his
dirty-blonde bangs, which hang over his wire-rim
glasses — in local newspaper photographs
"He’s the guy who burned the yellow ribbon,"
one student says in passing
indeed. Kaiser set a yellow ribbon afiame last
February when former Iranian hostage Victor Tom
seth stepped up to the EMU Ballroom podium to
speak to a crowded audience In fact, a Lane County
jury convicted Kaiser, and his comrade Nancy Whit
ley. of arson for burning the piece of cloth The two
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Not 10 minutes after a Lane County Circuit
Court judge had sentenced two Revolutionary
Communist Youth Brigade members Friday in
the now-dubbed "Yellow Ribbon Burning Trial,
they were back out in front of the courthouse,
exercising their right of free speech and passing
out copies of the Revolutionary Communist
Worker newspaper
Presiding judge George Woodrich gave
defendants John Kaiser. 25, and Nancy Whitley,
30, both of Eugene, a suspended sentence of
two years unsupervised probation, 10 days in jai!
and 80 hours of community service, and he
ordered them to pay their court costs and 835
restitution each
ft the defense attorneys file retrial motions
within two weeks, as they announced plans to
do, the defendants won't be required to serve
the 10-day jail sentence.
The two RCYB members were convicted Oct
16 of first degree arson - a Class A felony
punishable by a maximum 20-year jail sentence
and a 82,500 fine
The conviction stems from a Feb 8 incident in
the EMU Ballroom when Kaiser and Whitley
burned a piece of yellow cloth at a speech by
former Iranian hostage Victor Tomseth
Deputy District Attorney Frank Papagni had
recommended three years probation. 30 days in
jail and payment of court costs and restitution
Papagm said his recommendation was ap
propriate to show the defendants that "with the
right of freedom of expression, there comes a
responsibility to consider the full consequences
of your actions '
But Kaiser's attorney Ralph Bradley said
Papagni's reasoning fails to take in the Consti
tution and the SHI of Rights
"When you have a right, you have a respon
sibility to express a. That's what this trial is aft
about," he said.
These are two people who wanted to maka a
political statement who assessed the situation
Maybe they assessed it wrong but they intended
nothing more than to make a political
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Kaiser and Whitley should have to pay their
court costs of <5,325 and <2.900, respectively
PhHMps said the arson conviction is s fairly
serious punishment ki and of itself **
"There simply aren't jobs available tor ever
yone who wants them," Bradley said
Woodrich. however, said the defendants were
bound only to make a good faith" effort to pay
these costs
hiUgenean struggles to spark revolution
Revolutionary'Communist Vouth Brigade member
faced a possible 20 years in prison plus a $2,500 fine
in connection with the charge Friday. Lane County
Circuit Court Judge George Woodrich gave them a
suspended sentence of two years unsupervised
probation, 10 days in jail and 80 hours of community
service.
Kaiser says he believes the arson charge was
more a statement about his politics than the ribbon's
flames And that the incident harmed no person or
buiiding proves the political nature of the charge, he
,says
However, the prosecuting attorney in the case
successfully argued that the potential danger to the
audience justified the charge
in any event, no one argues that the same
political beliefs Kaiser claims inspired the arson
conviction didn't inspire Kaiser to burn the ribbon
"We spit on you. your red, white and blue, your
whole stinking system,” Kaiser chanted as he lit the
yellow ribbon "We stand with the Iranian people.”
Moreover, it's difficult to find Kaiser responding
to anything other than his political beliefs.
"What I'm doing is working tor revolution,*' ;
•Kaiser says as he folds his hands and rests them
firmly on top of the 'Revolutionary Worker "
Kaiser’s been working for revolution since he
joined fhe RCYB in 1975. less than a year after he
came to the University
He knew then that he didn't want to support ‘the
system " Not because he felt a victim of it "I defi
nitely wasn’t coming from the more oppressed
sectors of people,” says the revolutionary, who
claims he graduated in the top — 10 percent of his
Reno, Nev. high-school class
Rather, he says, his beginnings were middle
class *'
But he grew up when a lot of people, including
his '‘liberal'' parents, were against United States
involvement in Vietnam Kaiser's mother worked with
the American Friends Service Committee to hasten
American withdrawl from Vietnam his father was too
busy working as a doctor in a Veteran s Administra
tion hospital to be active
"It's not enough to be morally against some
_ Continued on Rage 10
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