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OPINION
East Oregonian
Wednesday, August 16, 2017
Founded October 16, 1875
KATHRYN B. BROWN
Publisher
DANIEL WATTENBURGER
Managing Editor
TIM TRAINOR
Opinion Page Editor
MARISSA WILLIAMS
Regional Advertising Director
MARCY ROSENBERG
Circulation Manager
JANNA HEIMGARTNER
Business Office Manager
MIKE JENSEN
Production Manager
OUR VIEW
OTHER VIEWS
March to support Bundys
planned Wednesday in Pendleton
AP Photo/Steve Helber
This August 8 photo shows members of the KKK escorted by police past a
large group of protesters during a KKK rally in Charlottesville, Va.
By HOLLY JO BEERS
Nazi or America A
— pick a side
It was hard to dispassionately
Confederate generals and members
of the Confederate government, is
watch and read the news last
anti-American.
weekend, as groups of neo-Nazis
And to all those who think
and counter-protesters clashed on the
removing those flags from public
streets of Charlottesville, Virginia.
spaces and tearing down such statues
One woman was murdered. Two
is “erasing history” — don’t be so
police officers died in a terrible
obtuse. Germany
accident.
would not be stupid
That much anger,
Those
enough to allow
hate and violence
and
is hard to stomach,
governments monuments
statues to Nazis to
and it surely left
Americans across
are opposites, remain standing —
were long ago
the country seething
enemies. They they
unceremoniously
on their couches as
Nazi and Confederate
opposed and destroyed. Yet as we
see, knowledge
sympathizers
warred against can
of Nazis and their
marched angrily
history has not been
through our public
each other.
erased — it has been
space.
so well studied and
There were
documented that most citizens are
dozens of major issues at play in
Charlottesville, and we could write a crystal clear on what the swastika
stands for. And what it stands for
tome on each and every one.
is undergoing a resurgence here in
But we would like to expand on
just one small fact that can hopefully America.
There is no reason a patriotic
find universal agreement: You can
American would tolerate or promote
either be an American, or you can
Nazi ideals. It’s the flag of a
be a Nazi — you can’t be both. You
government that declared war on the
cannot call for the overthrow of
United States, that killed hundreds
America’s core principles and still
of thousands of our brave soldiers
call yourself a patriot.
and millions of their own people. A
Photos of protesters waving
government that turned the world to
American, Confederate and Nazi
war, too.
flags are incongruent. Those
We have freedom of speech in
governments — their principles
this country — even for Nazis. It’s
and their history — are opposites,
one of the perversions that remind us
enemies. They opposed each other,
of our principles. But the allowance
they warred against each other.
should never be confused with
Take just the historical facts: The
acceptance. The Anti-American
Confederacy waged war against
ideas and speech that was on
the United States, the bloodiest
display in Charlottesville should be
and deadliest war this country has
challenged everywhere they raise
ever fought. To wave those flags
their ugly head.
together, and to support and glorify
Unsigned editorials are the opinion of the East Oregonian editorial board of publisher
Kathryn Brown, managing editor Daniel Wattenburger, and opinion page editor Tim Trainor.
Other columns, letters and cartoons on this page express the opinions of the authors and not
necessarily that of the East Oregonian.
s Americans, we must stand together
and stop the tide of corruption
occurring in our courtrooms. The
Constitution, the supreme law of the land, is
no longer allowed in Judge Gloria Navarro’s
U.S. District Court in Las Vegas, Nevada.
But the problem is no longer just about the
Bundys. It is about you and me. There are four
men on trial there, charged with several crimes
stemming from the protest in Nevada which
occurred in April 2014.
Judge Navarro is denying
these men any of their
constitutional rights. The
judge and the prosecutors
demanded that the defense
witnesses present their
testimonies out of the
hearing of the jury to see if
they had anything relative
to say in front of the jury.
Some of those people
were at the Bunkerville
protest and could have
provided context to alleged
allegations. There were
more than 100 witnesses
to be called to testify for the defense. She
successfully stopped all of them from
testifying on the defendants’ behalf. Two of
the four defendants decided to testify on their
own behalf.
As the first one attempted to testify under
the strict guidelines imposed upon the defense,
the Judge ripped him off the witness stand,
will not allow him to testify anymore and
struck his entire testimony from the record
in front of the jury. The judge ordered that
the men be shackled in court, contrary to a
higher court’s ruling that it would suggest that
the defendants were guilty. Judge Navarro
prohibited the mention of the First or Second
Amendments or any Constitutional rights as it
“might result in jury nullification.”
Defendants could not mention the “First
Amendment area” set up for protesters
far from the site of the conflict. Those
attending court were not allowed to carry
pocket Constitutions in shirt pockets into the
courtroom. The defense was not allowed to
show Bureau of Land Management actions
and conduct leading up to the confrontation.
The prosecution introduced heavily redacted
statements, changing the meaning and context,
allegedly tying a defendant to Timothy
McVeigh.
The body cameras worn by the BLM
showing exactly what happened were
prohibited from being introduced as
evidence. The judge restricted the defense
to events occurring on only one day, while
the prosecution took great liberty presenting
evidence covering two years. The prosecution
requested that they and the judge review
the defense attorneys’ closing arguments
prior to their presentation to the jury. Judge
Navarro is allowing the jury to ask questions
of all witnesses by writing
her notes in open court.
Some questions she herself
answers, others she says
are not relevant. Today the
defense attorneys asked
for the day off so they
could retain attorneys of
their own due to a motion
for sanctions filed against
them by the prosecutors for
violating the judge’s gag
order on the defense. It was
denied. The gag rule on the
defense has severely limited
them from, presenting any
defense whatsoever.
Defendants may not state why they
traveled to Nevada or what their state of
mind was. Defendants have been told by
the judge in open court that if they talk to a
law enforcement officer of any kind while in
possession of a weapon they could be charged
with “assault upon an officer.” Nevada open
carry laws are not recognized.
When a precedence is set in a court of law,
it becomes as law. Judges rely heavily on what
has occurred in previous cases. That means
if precedence is set here and these men are
found guilty, you and I can look forward to
more of the same in courts across the nation. It
is a now a concern of every American citizen.
I am calling on all of you to attend a rally/
march in support of American’s Constitutional
Rights on Wednesday at 1 p.m. at Museum
Park behind the Chamber of Commerce in
Pendleton.
■
Holly Jo Beers, of Athena, is a member of
the Oregon Three Percenters, an American
“patriot movement” that pledges resistance
against the United States government
regarding infringement of the Constitution.
A March is
scheduled for 1
p.m. at Museum
Park, behind
the Pendleton
Chamber of
Commerce.
LETTERS POLICY
The East Oregonian welcomes original letters of 400 words or less on public issues
and public policies for publication in the newspaper and on our website. The newspaper
reserves the right to withhold letters that address concerns about individual services and
products or letters that infringe on the rights of private citizens. Submitted letters must
be signed by the author and include the city of residence and a daytime phone number.
The phone number will not be published. Unsigned letters will not be published. Send
letters to managing editor Daniel Wattenburger, 211 S.E. Byers Ave. Pendleton, OR 97801
or email editor@eastoregonian.com.
YOUR VIEWS
EO Group looks foolish, silly
after first EOTEC fair
With this year’s Umatilla County Fair
and Farm-City Pro Rodeo, EOTEC hit a
home run with its amazing new $16 million
fair and rodeo grounds built with no bonded
debt. What does the East Oregonian do?
Writes an editorial with no praise for
EOTEC, the city of Hermiston or Umatilla
County, but with dire warnings about
the future, including crying that now the
facilities will now start to deteriorate — so
look out! Trouble ahead! Get real, EO.
It’s all state-of-the art steel and aluminum.
Brand new. As to the future, EOTEC is just
getting started and will succeed just like this
year’s fair and rodeo.
Throughout the 10-year push to build
EOTEC, the EO hasn’t written one positive
editorial about this visionary project to
replace a decrepit and dangerous facility.
Everything was negative. Their billboards
of criticism were long, but some especially
laughable. The “EO” Media Group oddly
did not like using the acronym “EOTEC.”
When more money was needed to complete
the project, EO editor Daniel Wattenburger
went to the first fundraiser, and then wrote
a long and incredibly negative editorial.
Called it “begging for charity.” Hilariously,
in spite of Mr. Wattenburger’s opinion,
$2.5 million was raised in six months. Last
week, the EO ran a long and snarky “Other
Views” of a private citizen saying how she
did not like the new facility. The events
hadn’t even started.
I can only guess that the EO Group would
have liked to keep the fair in the middle
of Hermiston on a 23-acre parcel with
no parking, with decrepit and dangerous
facilities, which the county commissioners
found would cost $8 million to simply bring
up to building, electrical and plumbing
code — with no new facilities. Eight million
dollars the county did not have.
The EO has tried to kill this project
from the beginning. It has failed. As I said
in one of my many letters to the EO editor
defending EOTEC, “In August 2017 the EO
will look very foolish.” With the amazing
facilities and great 2017 fair and rodeo, the
EO was foolish. And now, just while the
2017 fair and rodeo are a rousing success,
it whimpers about this stout steel and
aluminum giant deteriorating and its future
being dim. The EO Group not only looks
foolish, but silly.
George Anderson
Hermiston
Trying to make sense of
Russian investigation
For the past year or so many questions
have arisen regarding our national politics
and government that have me overwhelmed.
There may be many more U.S. citizens that
feel like I do. Most of the questions have
gone unanswered. I’m asking some of those
questions again.
Why is our government seeking
information from Russia regarding whether
it interfered with the U.S. presidential
elections? The one person that has the
answer is an American citizen and now
the president. He knows what happened.
He is the one that should be answering the
questions. If nothing untoward was done
he would certainly be the one with the
information.
Next question: Why did he need to seek
input from an adversary of the U.S.A. and
all the free world regarding how to win
an election? Recently it was reported he
gave that reason for his meeting with Putin.
Putin is not known for allowing his Russian
citizens much freedom and their elections
have been in question. Therefore, why
would an American citizen seeking the office
of president think it appropriate to gather
information from the source if the candidate
desired democratic, honest, appropriate
advice? I want the leaders of my country
to stick to our ideology, our standards, our
democratic values.
Also, surely our government and the
investigating committee aren’t expecting
Putin to give any pertinent information to
shed light on whether there was involvement
with our presidential elections. The
investigation needs to be pursued until there
is an answer. Until our nation has a credible
answer one way or the other I don’t see how
we can proceed.
If no fraud was done we have a president.
If fraud did occur, do we still have that
person as our president? The president
reportedly recently stated that we will never
probably know.
Now how is that possible? Those
involved do know if it did or did not occur.
They can provide the information to clear
up the matter. Why do they choose to
withhold that information? If there was no
wrongdoing I’d expect then to go out of their
way to prove innocence.
In my 80-plus years I’ve never been
so troubled by our presidential elections.
I truly hope my fears are unfounded as I
have complete respect for my country, my
government and the presidential office. I
do not want to have my country abused or
disrespected by anyone. That applies to the
citizens, the private sector, or those elected to
serve and preserve our democratic nation.
Darlene Abney
Pendleton
Be heard!
Tell us if you’re excited about
Monday’s total solar eclipse, or you
think all the hubbub is overblown.
Email your thoughts to editor@eas-
toregonian.com and we’ll run some
of them in the Saturday edition.