FRIDAY, JULY 3, 2015
THE BAKER COUNTY PRESS — 5
Local
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1
2A Rally
Signs stating, “Stop the
hate,” “Stop the racist,”
and “Arpaio is racist,”
popped up as an estimated
three separate protest
groups moved into line.
The minority of the protes-
tors were individuals who
had driven or walked to the
site individually, making
up the first group.
The others were paid
protestors bussed in from
around the state, the first
bus from the Pineros y
Campesinos Unidos del
Noroeste (PCUN) farm
workers’ union, which
advocates for blanket
amnesty of illegal aliens
and is the largest Latino
organization in Oregon.
PCUN wrote to members
to “counter-rally against
racist Joe Arpaio and his
hate message ... among
other topics, Arpaio will be
talking in support English
Only and E-Verify, two
very damaging initiatives
to Oregon families and our
economy.”
The last group was also
filled with supposed paid
protestors whose source of
funding was never dis-
closed. Some within this
group identified them-
selves as members of the
Brown Berets, and others
part of other labor unions.
Protestors brought out a
sheet soaked in fake blood
with the words, “Stop
white supremacy” written
on it, as well as other signs
stating, “Immigrate to Hell,
Sheriff Joe.”
With 55 years in law
enforcement, Arpaio is the
six-time reelected Sher-
iff of Maricopa County,
Arizona—always reelected
with landslide margins.
Known as “America’s
Toughest Sheriff,” Arpaio,
at 83 years-old, is known
for his hard-as-nails stance
on law enforcement, rein-
stituting chain gangs and
implementing tent cities
for inmates. Vehemently
against the Obama admin-
istration’s immigration
policies, Arpaio quickly
became a flashpoint for
media attention and the
target of lawsuits launched
by various left-leaning
advocacy groups.
Arpaio is also known
for the pink underwear
he makes inmates wear.
When inmates were steal-
ing jailhouse white boxers,
Arpaio had all inmate
underwear dyed pink for
better inventory control,
which contrasted nicely
with their old-fashioned
black and white striped
uniforms. Two pairs of
those pink boxers signed
by Arapaio were raffled off
at the event. Carole Dyke
won the first pair.
Finally, in the 100-de-
gree heat, the screaming
escalated, said Jones.
“They said they were
going to do anything
so that we couldn’t be
heard. They had whistles,
a drum, megaphones ...
They disagreed with us,
so they felt we should be
prevented from speaking.
All the while preaching
tolerance!”
“Most of the protes-
tors were Hispanic, most
openly illegal,” added
Jones, “and as we walked
near their line, they were
saying things like they
wished they could kill
whites. They kept yelling,
‘Die, bigot!’ and ‘Die,
[expletive]!’ to Joe while
waving their peace signs.
It was a real eye-opener,”
said Jones. “They absolute-
ly hate us. If the message
from the left keeps on like
this, there will be a race
war and it’s scary.”
Oregon State Police
officers were out on foot
and in patrol cars, and the
Oregon Republican Party
also brought in private
security.
“Some of the OSP offi-
cers looked nervous,” said
Jones.
Jones herself was one
of the Republicans who
surrounded Arpaio to help
walk him through the
crowd to his car. Arpaio
attempted to speak with
some of the protestors, but
was met by an onslaught
of obscenities. Some of the
protestors spit at him and
many presented obscene
gestures.
Meanwhile, Carole Dyke
remained back with the
crowd on the steps, feeling
that the protestors could
explode into violence at
any minute.
“It was absolute hate,”
Dyke said. “There was no
love in it at all.”
She added, “I personally
didn’t think Sheriff Arpaio
should have walked across
to talk to them. I felt like
if he hadn’t left when he
Submitted by Wayne Dyke.
L-R: Kody Justus, Heidi Justus, Carole Dyke, Sheriff Joe Arpaio, Wayne Dyke
and Suzan Ellis Jones.
did ...”
When asked to complete
that thought, Dyke said
quietly, “They would have
physically attacked him.”
“I’m so proud of our
entire group,” Dyke added.
“Of all the people who
stood up and spoke for
patriotism, for the Second
Amendment—who actu-
ally spoke for immigration
reform, but not in the way
liberals want it.”
Dyke said due to the
stifling heat, she remained
back in the shade with
many others where she
could observe both groups.
Dyke also noted that
nearly 90-percent of pro-
testers were Hispanic, all
carrying signs written in
the same handwriting.
“One man from the other
side crossed the street into
our group and kept pushing
a camera into people’s fac-
es. One man was smoking
marijuana in a clam shell
and kept trying to push it
into people’s mouths,” she
said.
Her son, Wayne Dyke of
Baker City walked down
the steps near Jones to help
Arpaio reach his car.
“Protesting is fine,” said
Dyke. “But the signs were
misguided and the people
were so full of hate.”
“You know,” he added,
“I’ve seen that on TV and
in the movies, but never up
close like that.”
He spoke to the day’s
extreme heat, and said
when demonstrators began
“breaking through” the
established barrier line, “I
thought—this is going to
be a brawl.”
His thoughts then turned
toward the dinner he at-
tended after the rally.
The Baker County
contingent joined about 25
others at the Barretos’ in-
session home in Keizer for
an evening meal afterward.
“Dinner was phenom-
enal,” Wayne Dyke said.
“Greg and Chris Barreto
are such gracious hosts and
I was able to sit and have
some one-on-one time with
Joe Arpaio for about half
an hour.”
Dyke said he asked
Arpaio about his tough law
enforcement stance—and
just possibly what he was
told by Arpaio will stick
with him for a lifetime.
“He told me,” said Dyke,
“that he has to be tough
because he doesn’t want
people to come back to
prison. He said he wants
people to get out and have
nice lives. He’s such a
sincere gentleman.”
Dyke said he asked
Arpaio when he’d become
aware of his celebrity sta-
tus. Arpaio told him that
when he was first elected
he made a decision not to
do his job like anyone else.
He said he’d made up his
mind to uphold existing
laws and that was that.
Dyke said Arpaio believes
that his firmness cre-
Submitted by Heidi Justus.
ORP Secretary Chris Barreto, wife of Rep. Greg
Barreto displays a pair of Sheriff Joe’s pink boxers
for a raffle fundraiser.
ated controversy, and the
controversy translated in
notoriety.
“This was the oppor-
tunity of a lifetime,” he
concluded.
Husband and wife, Kody
and Heidi Justus, concur
with the other members of
the Baker County group.
“He, Joe—is a Korean
War Veteran. A lot of the
old-timers that I grew up
with had that same down-
to-earth, common sense
approach to everything like
he does,” Kody Justus said.
“He was just real. He’s
genuine.”
Justus said he, like
Wayne Dyke, is fascinated
by how a county sheriff
can achieve such notoriety
“just by doing his job.”
He paused and added,
“It’s the same duties as
everywhere. The difference
between him and everyone
else is that he isn’t scared
to implement them.”
Justus contends that if
every sheriff in America
simply upheld his oath of
office, Arpaio’s time in
office might have largely
gone unnoticed.
The Justuses remained on
the Capitol steps while the
Sheriff was escorted to his
car. “There were specific
people selected to go with
him, and private security.”
He said of the demon-
strators: “Nothing they
did was reactionary to us.
Nothing was reactionary
to what we did. They were
there chanting before we
even got there. We were
some of the first to arrive
and they were standing
there getting organized.”
Justus also said his take-
away from the weekend
was gratitude to the group
of freshman state repre-
sentatives. “For the first
time I feel like the people
I elected to represent me
are saying what I’d say.”
Justus expressed that even
though they were in the
minority on almost every
area in the Oregon legisla-
ture, “They didn’t give up.
They didn’t back down.”
The next day, The States-
men Journal reported on
the rally, stating that only
100 pro-2A supporters had
shown up with “more than
three times” that amount in
protestors. The article also
excluded the purpose of
the rally and did not report
on the nature of the com-
ments from protestors.
“Those numbers are
completely untrue,” said
Jones.
Wayne Dyke explained
that while the protesters
took up a whole block,
they were spread only one
or two deep. Carole Dyke
believed that the newspa-
pers had taken shots of the
rally supporters prior to the
start of the event—before
most people had arrived.
In addition to the ORP,
the rally was attended by
Oregon Right to Life, and
Kevin Starrett of the Or-
egon Firearms Federation.
Members of either III% or
Oath Keepers were also
spotted in the crowd. Also
of note at the dinner were
Sen. Doug Whitsett and
wife, Rep. Gail Whitsett.
Denise Nanke of the
Salem-Keizer Sentinel at-
tended the event, writing,
“They did their level best
to drown out a message
that they hate—and funny
enough, they were success-
ful only in making sure
they didn’t hear a mes-
sage they didn’t want to
hear anyway. This is your
progressive brain trust in
action in Oregon.”
Tom Andersen, City
Councilman from Salem’s
Ward 2, has dubbed him-
self “Salem’s progressive
voice.”
Andersen posted photos
of the protest to Facebook
and explained, “I can be
seen in the right middle
of the first one, talking
with my good friend Peter
Bergel, a Salem peace and
environmental activist.”
What stood out most to
Andersen about the event?
“A minor, but telling
incident,” he writes. “The
Republicans announced
that there was ‘water for
sale’ at their rally while
there was free water at the
protest!”