10 — THE BAKER COUNTY PRESS
FRIDAY, OCTOBER 14, 2016
Local
Anti-patriot meeting results in police call
CONTINUED FROM
PAGE 1
This presentation was
part of ROP’s statewide
tour, “Beyond Burns: the
Growing Patriot Move-
ment in Oregon,” which
included the following
locations, in addition to
Baker City: St. Helens,
Columbia County; Eugene,
Lane County; Medford,
Jackson County; Bend,
Deschutes County; Canyon
City, Grant County; Los-
tine, Wallowa County; and
La Grande, Union County.
Speakers and guest
speakers for the pre-
sentation included PCA
Founding Member Wix
Colby, PCA Member Rob
Crawford, ROP Co-Direc-
tor Cara Shufelt, ROP Co-
Director Jessica Campbell,
and Baker County Demo-
cratic Central Committee
(BCDCC) Chair Marshall
McComb.
Between 30 and 40
were in attendance,
including Baker County
Commissioner-elect Bruce
Nichols, Baker County
Planning Commission
Chair Alice Trindle, BCP-
FHD Member Roxanna
Swann, Ed Hardt, Bobbie
Danser, Gary Dielman,
Dave Hunsaker, Jake
Brown, Jim Iler, Susan
Triplett, Marilyn Dudek,
Margaret Durner, Chris
Lawrence, Carla In-
man, John Wright, Kasey
Wright, Michael Edera,
Frank McCleary, Richard
Cochran, and Whit De-
schner, among others.
Colby introduced
himself, welcomed the
crowd, and listed a few
of the goals of the Half-
way, Oregon-based PCA,
in sponsoring the event,
including, “...to promote
a strong sense of commu-
nity; to be open-minded
towards all who want
reasonable, and lawful
change; and to strengthen
our communities, by find-
ing common ground on
the issues. It’s important
that we try to create, in this
discussion we’re going
to have, a climate where
everyone feels safe, and
secure; and where every-
one’s empowered to speak
up, and share their view-
points, and feelings, and
concerns, about our local
communities. We must
recognize that we should
be able to disagree, and do
so in a safe place.”
Colby introduced
Campbell and the topic of
discussion, he mentioned
the material available at
the presentation, including
the for-sale book, “Up In
Arms: A Guide to Oregon’s
Patriot Movement,” and he
explained the rules associ-
ated with the presentation:
attendees needed to save
questions until the end of
the presentation, which
were to be written on index
cards provided, and then
collected for the question-
and-answer period, follow-
ing the presentation.
Following the Q&A
session, there would be
information presented by
Crawford and McComb,
Colby said, regarding PCA
and BCDCC activity, and
attendees would form into
discussion groups, after
that. In speaking about
the event and discussion,
Colby called the location a
“sacred spot.”
Campbell, prior to a
slide show presentation,
pointed out and explained
the presence of the ROP-
hired, All African People’s
Revolutionary Party-
connected security team,
a presence which caused
feelings of intimidation
and tension among several
attendees.
Two of the guards wore
T-shirts emblazoned with
the New Black Panthers
logo.
She said that ROP had
received threats, events
have been disrupted,
among other issues in the
past, and that “...the pur-
pose of the security here
today, is to ensure that we
have a space that is safe for
everyone to have conversa-
tions.”
She said that these
statewide presentations,
however, involved minimal
interruption (none was not-
ed during the presentation).
Campbell was joined up
front by two members
from the security team,
and Dudek was seated at
a table near Campbell,
capturing images with her
cell phone.
Another member of the
All African People’s Revo-
lutionary Party, Ahjamu
Umi, of Portland, posted
to his Facebook page in
reference to the ROP book-
let and meetings, “Just
like radical organizing in
Africa, these brave souls
within the Rural Organiz-
ing Project take extreme
personal risks by fighting
against white supremacy in
rural Oregon. While work-
ing with other comrades
to do our best to protect
them as they present this
vital info on the militia
movement, I’m seeing the
white nationalists in the
room who daily attempt
to intimidate them. Their
work is critical and should
be supported by all white
people who call them-
selves accomplices/allies.
This is a must read.”
Campbell’s slide show
included, as the first item,
the goals of the discus-
sion: raise awareness of
the perceived crises rural
Oregonian is facing due
to eroding community
infrastructure; deepen un-
derstanding of the Patriot
movement and its political
and socioeconomic roots
from their group’s point
of view; and open up a
conversation about what
rural Oregon needs, so
the area can have healthy
and vibrant communities,
where everyone can live
their lives with dignity and
safety.
The catalyst and inspira-
tion for ROP’s movement
was the Sugar Pine Mine
occupation, in Josephine
County, in April 2015,
Campbell said.
She said that a Josephine
County chapter of the
Oath Keepers called for a
national mobilization, in
order to protect the miners,
who were asked by the Bu-
reau of Land Management
to submit a Plan of Opera-
tions, but instead asked for
the mobilization, “a Bundy
Ranch-style reunion.”
Campbell claimed that
there was a lack of law
enforcement presence,
causing vulnerability with
locals, and enforcement
problems, and the locals
were frightened by the
“militia.”
Oath Keepers, however,
is not a militia.
She displayed more
slides, along with infor-
mation similar to what’s
presented in “Up In Arms,”
including claims about
issues with the Three Per-
centers, the Oath Keepers,
the Constitutional Sheriffs
& Peach Officers Associa-
tion, the Pacific Patriots
Network, and elected of-
ficials. Baker County Com-
mission Chair Bill Harvey
was included throughout
the book, as part of the
“Patriot Movement” claim,
partly because of his in-
volvement with the process
of agency-to-agency co-
ordination. Grant County
Sheriff Glenn Palmer is
also targeted as a subject in
the book.
One of the claims she
presented included “inside/
outside strategies” the
“movement” uses to gain
control. She said “inside
strategies” include: pass
resolutions and encour-
age local officials to take
symbolic stands; run can-
didates for local offices;
recruit law enforcement;
taker over county Repub-
lican parties; and commu-
nity service.
She said “outside strate-
gies” include: militia as
community infrastructure;
Committees of Safety;
“Common Law” Grand
Juries; Sovereign Citizen
crank legal theories; and
threats and intimidation.
After the slide show,
Shufelt asked attendees
to discuss, among them-
selves, what was presented,
and to submit questions,
using the index cards, for
the Q&A session.
Shufelt and Campbell
then addressed some of
the questions provided by
attendees, with the Q&A
session.
Shufelt said there were a
couple of questions specifi-
cally about Baker County,
and she asked Crawford
to present his information
first.
Baker County Democrat
Chair McComb, also in
the audience, was asked
to present his information
following Crawford.
Crawford introduced
himself as a “small
potatoes rancher from
Halfway,” and he spoke
about the occupation of the
Malheur Wildlife Refuge, a
scenario he was glad didn’t
play out in Baker County.
He said that, following
the tragic death of Robert
LaVoy Finicum, he heard
of the post-occupation
rally, “Rural Lives Matter,”
which as reported earlier
in on-site coverage by this
newspaper, was not a rally
in support of the actions
during the occupation, but
rather, an effort to bring
attention to rural issues in
general.
Crawford spoke about
the back-and-forth Letters
to the Editor between
he and Brown, a debate
sparked by the rally, and
he brought up claimed
issues with groups such as
the Oath Keepers, Three
Percenters, etc.
Crawford said that
Brown was “dismissive” of
people’s fears at the rally.
Crawford began efforts
to have the PCA become
more involved in local
politics, and he said that,
“Ultimately, our side won
the primary election for
County Commissioner
(Nichols), by 37 votes...
The election, ultimately,
was very civil, and very
thoughtful... Summariz-
ing ... how do we engage
people, how do we work in
common, for our commu-
nity rather than for some
remote agenda, and how
do we help each other.”
McComb introduced
himself, and he said that in
addition to being a staunch
supporter of the ROP, he
“happens to also be” Chair
of the BCDCC. “I have to
tell you that, in all hones-
ty...” he said. He displayed
his bullet points (both
Crawford and McComb
elicited laughter with this
phrase) in order to attempt
to explain how he views
the issues.
“I’m highlighting here
(motioning to his bullet
points), the form of struc-
ture that’s known as the
Republican Central Com-
mittee of Baker County,
mainly because they have
been persistent, it seems
to me, in inviting outside
influences into our county,
and to me, it’s distressful
because I think it’s dis-
tracting us from what we
really need to accomplish,”
McComb said. “I’m not
trying to be mean; I’m just
trying to say, this is some-
thing that’s happening.
“Part of it, I can attribute
to the outside influence
of movies. There are two
movies that have been
released, called ‘The
Agenda,’ which basically
tell us about the conspiracy
that the communists have
taken over the government,
which puts everything that
happens in the context that
the government is our en-
emy. So, we couldn’t trust
them, for example, in the
area of global warming,
because that would be a
plot by the government to
take more power over...
“Talk radio, I think
we’re familiar with.
There’s another influ-
ence, where people have
all these different theories
about how the Constitution
is written, and so forth, so
there’s a bunch of outside
influences.
“It seems like it has cre-
ated kind of a closed body,
which has left a lot of—
talking to Republicans in
town—left them out in the
cold; they feel like they’ve
been excluded from the
process.
“When you talk about a
structural problem, I can’t
say much about the com-
munists having taken over
the government, but what
I do know is that there’s a
tremendous concentration
of wealth, in the hands of
very few people in this
country, that’s starving the
rest of us. That’s some-
thing that requires more
government, to solve that
problem. So, you can see,
there’s room for discus-
sion.
“At the same time, I
want to emphasize, my
relationship with the Chair
of the (Republican) Party,
or with Bill Harvey, our
County Commissioner,
tries to remain very cor-
dial. I wouldn’t say we’re
totally friendly, because
we have disagreements,
but, we try to say, ‘Let’s
work together; let us not
have any kind of a barrier
between us.’
“A little quick history,
outside stuff, coming in
(he motioned to the rest of
his bullet points). People
remember the Kyle Knight
episode, who was on
the School Board. Kyle
Knight sort of said he was
a member of the Tea Party,
but he was actually trained
by something called the
Western Liberty Network,
which had, as a goal,
taking over the county
government. Kyle Knight
was sort of a precursor in,
that, well, there were recall
elections, and lawsuits,
and several things that
happened, that disrupted
the School Board’s opera-
tion...”
McComb referred to a re-
call attempt of two School
Board members, who
petitioners claimed had
infringed upon Knight’s
first amendment rights.
While the recall failed by a
narrow margin, Knight was
ultimately victorious in his
subsequent legal efforts,
his claims validated.
McComb continued, “In
the 2014 Primary, Bill Har-
vey defeated a long-time
County Commission Chair
(Fred Warner, Jr.), who
had made the decision to
change his party affiliation,
from Democrat to Republi-
can...So, we have a person
here, who’s an advocate
of the coordination theory,
dealing with the federal
government, through us-
ing assumed authority of
coordination.
“As a response to that,
last year, Measure 1-63
Coalition, of Republicans,
Democrats, and Indepen-
dents, coming together, to
at least try and work on
issues in the Primary...so
that everybody would get
a chance to help select a
candidate...so, it wouldn’t
be just a majority Republi-
can Party...
“This year, we had
Bruce Nichols defeat an
Oath Keeper (Kody Jus-
tus), for the County Com-
mission position that was
opening up (Commissioner
Tim Kerns resigned his
position, effective January
2017), by 37 votes—very
close.
“Right now, heading
into the General Election,
(Sheriff) Travis Ash, com-
peting with (Deputy) John
Hoopes, for the position
of County Sheriff. John
Hoopes, as nearly as I can
tell, being somebody that
is aligned with the Consti-
tutional law enforcement
group ... So, there’s an
ideology.
“At the same time, we
also have the same, basic
coalition (Measure 1-74
Coalition)—Republicans,
Democrats, and Indepen-
dents, working to pass
Measure 1-74 ... Trying
to have a non-partisan
County Commission.”
In actuality, The Baker
County Republican Party
voted unanimously to op-
pose Measure 1-74.
McComb continued,
“So, the combination of
what I see as being outside
influences, which hamper
our ability to solve the
real problems...We have
a coalition of people, that
are working the best they
can, to keep our govern-
ment operating with a
clear mind, and open heart,
instead of outside ideolo-
gies.”
Shufelt asked attend-
ees to form into smaller
discussion groups (two
groups of about ten people
each), but by that point,
several of the attendees
had left.
Following the presenta-
tion, an incident involv-
ing the security team and
several attendees prompted
a call to the Baker City Po-
lice Department (BCPD),
from Brown.
Brown found the team’s
behavior threatening (a
member of the team also
stated to Brown that he
was required to fill out the
sign-in sheet, Brown also
said later), and he told the
BCPD that he believed one
or more of the team mem-
bers stated or implied they
carried weapons, to include
possibly a firearm.
On ROP’s website, on
October 9, the following
was included in a blog
about the presentation:
“After the event wrapped
up, two police officers
arrived and explained
that someone with a lo-
cal militia group called
them, suggesting that our
security team might be car-
rying weapons. The irony
was not lost on any of us,
and the police were not
pleased, even mentioning
that the ‘open carry guys’
creep them out.”
Facts of the case contra-
dict that statement.
Baker City Police
Chief Wyn Lohner said
Brown reported that one
team member stated that
he carried a firearm, and
one stated he had a knife.
When officers arrived, they
didn’t notice any obvious
signs of weapons, but team
members were cryptic
about what organiza-
tion they were with. The
officers didn’t perform a
complete “pat down,” but
rather, performed a visual
check. The call was cleared
without further incident.
In reference to ROP’s
comment about open
carry, Lohner said, “We
see citizens frequently with
open carry, and it’s normal.
I’ve never heard any of our
officers make comments
about open carry bother-
ing them. It’s everybody’s
right, and if someone’s
actually carrying out in
the open, I would rather
them do that than hiding
something from us.”
The police dispatch log
doesn’t include any refer-
ence to Brown being part
of any group (Lohner said
he didn’t see any indica-
tion of a group, let alone,
a “militia” reference), and
Brown said later that he’s
not even a member of Oath
Keepers anymore.
He further explained
that Oath Keepers is not
a militia group, and he’s
a member of a different
group, involved simply in
emergency preparedness.
Baker County no longer
has an official Oath Keep-
ers chapter.
Lohner said that the
BCPD has not encountered
issues with Oath Keepers
in the past.
ROP also stated that
six members of the “...
Baker County Patriot
movement...” attended the
presentation, but every
one of them left “...when
the event opened up for
discussion...”
Unclear is who the six
were or in which move-
ment they had ever been
involved. More audience
members also left, in
addition to the six, but
Brown (he suspects he was
one they labeled) said he
needed to leave, because
he arrived with others who
provided transportation,
and they were leaving.
He added that “patriot”
isn’t a derogatory word.
Jim Iler (he suspects he
was also labeled), prior to
the group discussions, also
left, saying, “I can’t take
any more; it’s misrepresen-
tation.”
Finally, the ROP’s site
states, “Everywhere we
visit, we are hearing that
many people are nervous,
even frightened, to attend
meetings and political
events in their communi-
ties.”
The Baker County Public
Library’s public meet-
ing room regularly holds
groups of all kinds.
Town halls in Baker
County for both Democrat
and Republican elected
officials in the past have
been very well-attended,
and candidate forums and
political banquets in the
area are often standing-
room only.