Oregon Police Fire On Bystanders

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Wed, 20 Oct 2004 22:22:01 -0700 (PDT)

Subject:Fwd: Oregon Police Fire On Bystanders

 

 

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http://www.iconoclast-texas.com/Columns/Guest/guest42a.htm

 

 

Silenced by the President

 

Oregon Police Fire On Bystanders

Watching Presidential Motorcade

 

 

JACKSONVILLE, Ore. Crawford, Texas is no stranger to protests and

public gatherings, having provided a backdrop for such events for

nearly four years now. Local and area law enforcement agencies have

gained experience in protecting the Western White House and its famous

inhabitants, and have devised a methodology for arranging for peaceful

protests out of the sight and hearing of the president.

 

 

But things got out of hand last week in Jacksonville, Ore., leaving

some local residents there expressing fear of freely voicing their

opinions.

 

Some residents of Jacksonville feel that their First Amendment rights

were taken away as they witnessed an encounter that resulted in pepper

balls fired into crowds of men, women, and children as an abrupt sweep

of a sidewalk erupted into chaos as the presidential motorcade drove

by last Thursday.

 

According to a news story in the Medford Mail Tribune, one man said he

was shot in the back seven times with pepper balls (plastic paint

balls filled with capsaicin). He said he saw a man get hit with a

baton and fall to the ground. With my back to the police as I was

picking him up thats when I was shot.

 

Trish Bowcock, a resident of Jacksonville and a retired attorney who

is formerly of Austin, Texas, was an eyewitness to the disturbance and

penned her impressions of the scene from a personal standpoint. She

has agreed to allow The Iconoclast to reprint her thoughts.

 

Mail Tribune staff members confirmed her contention that law

enforcement concentrated on anti-Bush protestors, rather than pro-Bush

demonstrators, and that the order to stop the protests came from the

U.S. Secret Service. Mail Tribune coverage of the protest is available

at http://www.mailtribune.com/.

 

 

 

 

 

Silenced by the President

By Trish Bowcock

Oct. 16, 2004

 

A few weeks before my father died, he woke me in the wee hours of the

morning. He needed to talk. He was worried about Attorney General John

Ashcroft and the destruction of American civil liberties. I comforted

my father, believing he was delusional from medications. I was wrong.

 

I write this from my home in Jacksonville Oregon (population 2,226).

President George W. Bush came here this week. The purpose of his visit

was political. Southern Oregon has been deemed a battle ground area in

the presidential race. John Kerry has made incredible inroads in this

traditionally Republican stronghold. President Bushs campaign stop was

an attempt to staunch the slide.

 

Jacksonville is an old gold mining town. Our main street is only five

blocks long, lined with restored storefronts. The sidewalks are

narrow. We are a peaceful community. The prospect of an overnight

presidential visit was exciting, even to me, a lifelong Democrat. My

excitement turned to horror as I watched events unfold during

President Bushs visit.

 

 

In the mid 1800s, when Indians invaded Jacksonville, citizens

clambered upon the roof of the old library. It was the one building

that would not catch fire when flaming arrows were shot. This week it

was a different scene. Police armed with high powered rifles perched

upon our rooftops as the presidential motorcade approached.

Helicopters flew low, overhead. A cadre of motorcycle police zoomed

into town. Black SUVs followed, sandwiching several black limousines

carrying the president, his wife and their entourage as they sped to

the local inn where they would eat and sleep.

 

The main street was lined with people gathered to witness the event.

Many supported the president. Many did not. Some came because they

were simply curious. There were men, women, young and old. The mood

was somewhat festive. Supporters of John Kerry sported signs, as did

supporters of George Bush. Individuals, exercising their rights of

free speech began chanting. On one side of the street, shouts of four

more years echoed in the night air. On the other side of the street,

chants of three more weeks responded. The chants were loud and

apparently could be heard by President Bush. An order was issued that

the anti-Bush rhetoric be quieted. The local SWAT team leapt to action.

 

It happened fast. Clad in full riot gear, at least 50 officers moved

in. Shouting indecipherable commands from a bullhorn, they formed a

chain and bore down upon the people, only working to clear the side of

the street appearing to be occupied by Kerry supporters. People tried

to get out of their way. It was very crowded. There was nowhere to

move. People were being crushed. They started flowing into the

streets. Pleas to the officers, asking, where to go fell upon deaf

ears. Instead, riot police fired pellets of cayenne pepper spray into

the crowd. An old man fell and couldnt get up. When a young man

stopped to help, he was shot in the back with hard pepper spray balls.

Children were hit with pepper spray. Deemed Protesters people were

shoved and herded down the street by the menacing line of armed riot

police, until out of the Presidents ear-shot.

 

 

There the Protesters were held at bay. Anyone vocalizing anti-Bush or

pro-Kerry sentiments were prohibited from venturing forward. Loud

anti-Bush chants were responded to by the commanding officer stating:

FORWARD, to which the entire line of armed police would move,

lock-step, toward the Protesters, forcing backward movement. Police

officers circulated filming the crowd of Protesters. Some were people

like me, quiet middle-aged women. Some sported anti-Bush signs, peace

signs, or Kerry signs. A small group of youth, clad in black with

kerchiefs wrapping their heads chanted slogans. A young woman in her

underwear, sporting a peace sign sang a lyrical Kumbaya. Mixed among

the Protesters were supporters of the President. One 19 year- old man

shouted obscenities at anyone expressing dissatisfaction with the

president, encouraging the police to tazar the Stinking Protesters.

Neither the Protestors, nor the police harassed this vocal young man.

Across the street, individuals shouting support for the president were

allowed to continue. Officers monitored this group but allowed them to

shout words of support or hurl derisions toward Kerry supporters,

undisturbed. Honking cars filled with Bush supporters were left alone.

A honking car full of Kerry supporters was stopped by police on its

way out of town.

 

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