From: Lawrence.V.Cipriani@att.com To: chan@shell.portal.com Date: Tue, 12 Sep 95 09:05:41 EST Subject: PROponent - September 1995 - Electronic Edition The PROponent Peoples Rights Organization 3953 Indianola Ave Columbus, OH 43214 (614) 268-0122 Volume 7 September, 1995 Number 9 [Headline] LAWSUIT MOVES! OUR LAWSUIT MOVES IN COURT ... Yes it's true. PRO hasn't gone away and is still chewing on the leg of the anti-gun Columbus City Council. The lawsuit filed against Columbus by PRO, Gerald Smolak and Dennis Walker will be heard on September 29, 1995, at Courtroom #1, 3rd Floor, 85 Marconi Boulevard, Columbus, Ohio 43215, at 2:30 pm. It will be heard by Judge Sandra S. Beckwith and Magistrate Judge Mark Abel. Dr. Stephen P. Halbrook, Esq. and Donald C. Brey, Esq. will be arguing for PRO, et al. Glenn B. Redick, Esq. will be representing Columbus. This lawsuit is the third in a series backed by PRO against the anti-constitutional gun-grabbing tactics of Columbus City council. Our first challenge made it all the way to the Ohio Supreme Court, when PRO withdrew it in order to get the NRA to support a second challenge based on the "vagueness" of the law. That second suit was successful and the City was forced to pay all lawyer expenses and the law was overturned. But your elected representatives weren't impressed. They just used your money to pay off the costs for their mistakes (not counting the money lost to the city from OGCA gun shows) and passed another ban. This seems to be the new mode in government. If you make a mistake, or commit illegal acts, you just use taxpayer money to pay off anybody who squawks and nobody ever goes to jail or gets charged. Often they seem to get promoted to show appreciation for their incompetence. One Federal level case of this is seen in the Weaver incident. Here the government used 3.1 million dollars of your money to settle with the surviving Weavers and still in spite of the dead, the coverups and the negligence, nobody has been charged yet. It's even better if you can get a judge to help you get away with excess. A federal judge has dismissed a lawsuit filed by Louis Katona III and his wife, Kimberly, against the BATF. The lawsuit claimed that the BATF search of their home and seizure of 32 firearms from their home was illegal. BATF agents seized $107,00 worth of firearms, including automatic rifles, silencers and a grenade launcher. The BATF also said that permit forms for the firearms had been forged. Judge David Dowd issued a summary judgement in favor of the government, ruling there had been sufficient probable cause to issue a warrant to search the Katonas' home. Dowd also rejected the Katonas' claims that the search violated their privacy and recklessly inflicted emotional distress on Mrs. Katona, causing her to miscarriage. Katona, a part-time New Washington police officer, was disappointed by Dowd's decision. "I definitely disagree with the judge's dismissal of our claims, especially when he said we didn't show we were emotionally distressed enough." Katona went on, "I don't know how you can say a miscarriage and all the expenses we've had throughout this are not distressing enough." The bottom line seems to be that there are people in government who seem to think that they have developed enough clout that they can act as if they are above the law. But PRO is here to tell them both in the federal government and on City Council that we do not intend to stand idly by and condone that kind of behavior. PRO may not be big and we may not have the dollars the movers and shakers can muster, but we are persistent. And once the people wake up to the way in which some public officials have been cleverly using public money to cover their mistakes we think they will be finally getting their "come-uppance". Which leads us into our never-ending commercial. There is another city council election coming up this November and in the past PRO has proved to be quite ineffective in ousting the worst of city council members. They have come to view PRO like a mosquito: annoying, but not much of a real threat. Well some things have changed on the legal front that allows PRO members to take a more active role in the campaign. We will be explaining more as the election draws near, but for now, just start thinking about taking a little time to distribute literature door to door in YOUR neighborhood. We CAN win! PRAISE FOR PRO ... [The following letter was sent to the Ohio Department of Natural Resources giving unsolicited praise for Mr. Lydic and the job his hunter safety class crew have been doing. It speaks for itself.] TO: James R Wentz Outdoor Skills Administrator O.D.N.R. Division of Wildlife Dear Mr Wentz, I felt compelled to write to you in addition to submitting my Application for Volunteer Hunter Education Instructor. The Team of Instructors from the P.R.O. Gun Show Hunter Safety Class August 5 & 6, 1995 were excellent. John Lydic, lead the members of his team in an organized manor. Each man knew his subject and added personal experience to the class with "Safety" being the main topic. The pace was active and never dull. I took particular notice of issues both needed and wanted in a Hunter Safety Class, which were mentioned in the Instructors course, and the P.R.O. Team performed at 100%. I hope my classes mirror Mr. Lydic and his Team's fine job. Richard F Belford [The editors would like to take this opportunity to point out to our membership the selfless and unflagging effort put forth by not only Mr. Lydic and the Hunter Safety team, but also by Mr. Ron Herman and the NRA Personal Protection / Firearm Safety instructors. Education represents a large portion of how PRO fights for your Rights. Every student who becomes familiar with the truth of firearms and firearm safety is not only one less accident that the other side might use against us, but also it is one more person who is no longer susceptible to media and Handgun Control Inc. lies. We suspect that most of our members have no idea how much personal time is freely given by the PRO volunteers who teach our classes. These instructors certainly have as many pressing things to do in life as you do, but nevertheless they find the time. Why do they do it? They do it for the same reason that all of us involved in PRO do it. We do it to make sure that the country we hand over to the next generation is as free as the one we have enjoyed, rather than the slave-state some power-hungry politicians have in mind for us. So the next time you see one of PRO's instructors give them a pat on the back, or better yet, ask how you can become an instructor yourself and join the team! REMINDER: PRO HAS MOVED ... This is just a reminder that the PRO office has moved. If you write PRO be sure to use the new address you find listed on the front and rear pages of this issue. Below is a photo Jeremy Herman, son of Ron Herman, PRO treasurer and head NRA instructor. Jeremy is obviously already standing up for our Rights outside the new PRO digs. [Photo] NUKING NEGROES ... While the media is screaming that there are dangerous "anti-government" thoughts loose among the citizens of this country, the confidence of the people is being shaken daily by more and more revelations of those in power treating the American people as if they were so many guinea pigs. We have heard of GIs given LSD without their knowledge which resulted in the death of a man when he jumped out a window. We have heard about whole towns being subjected to radioactive fallout to see what would happen, and all the while government spokesmen cooed about how safe it was. The August 18-20 issue of USA Today reports that a search has turned up 16,000 persons who were unknowing subjects of government radioactivity experiments. And this number is said to represent "only a fraction" of Cold War radiation tests. So now with commemorative programs all over the media for the nuking of Japan to end WWII, we have one group saying it was necessary and right [it was] and another group saying it was a racist act [it was]. Hey, if the government of the United States would commit the racist act of putting AMERICANS of Japanese heritage into concentration camps, and even have it upheld by the Supreme court (Korematsu v. U.S.,1944) one can easily imagine why they were apparently willing to do more to homeland "Japs" than to our European enemies. Therefore, the PRO editors are going to join in all this celebration of the first use of a nuclear "device" to kill human beings with an article of our own...but we won't be talking about Japan! It was August 6, 1945 when a blinding flash cut across the sky of Hiroshima causing the eventual death of some 80,000 men, women and children. But a year earlier in July, 1944 a huge explosion had occurred at the naval ammunition facility at Port Chicago, California. All contemporary accounts described the disaster as due to conventional explosives but an odd quirk of fate worthy of a Perry Mason show or a mystery novel started author Peter Vogel probing in other directions. The results of that quest which we will summarize here was published in the Spring 1982 issue of The Black Scholar in an article called The Last Wave From Port Chicago by Peter Vogel. In the spring of 1980 the author found a document at the bottom of a box of photographic equipment and supplies from a church rummage sale. That document was entitled the "History of the 10,000 ton gadget" and had come from Los Alamos laboratories in Autumn of 1944. Many people might have never paid any attention to this paper which was a previously top secret technical description of the timing of the various events taking place within a nuclear explosion after detonation. The "history" proceeds through a number of steps indicating, for example, the detonation wave reaching the tamper in .067 milliseconds (step 2), The tamper being fully compressed at .127 ms (step 3), ball of fire fully expanded at approximately 160 ms (step 8). But the Rosetta stone here was step 11. It stated: "Ball of fire mushroom (sic) out at 18,000 ft in typical Port Chicago fashion." This line set off alarm bells. The author learned that the Port Chicago explosion was indeed characterized by a brilliant white flash and that a ball of fire mushroomed out to at least 10,000 feet before it was obscured by nightfall. So now the author had a few questions come to mind that needed some answers: > "Did the U.S. in fact have the capability to build a nuclear fission weapon as early as July 1944? Was there sufficient U-235 available? > Had the bomb been specified by that time? That is, were the technical details of it's design drawn up in final form by that time? > Was there any evidence that the Port Chicago explosion was nuclear in origin? All of these questions were later answered in the affirmative by the authors research. All bomb buffs know that there were two different types of nuclear devices used on Japan. The one used on Hiroshima was called "the gun" by it's builders and later came to be known as "little boy". It was a simple unrifled 5" naval gun barrel with a charge that drove one subcritical mass of U-235 into another subcritical mass of U-235 at the other end of the barrel. The two masses when forced together made a mass large enough for the nuclear explosion to occur. The other type was a plutonium bomb in which a spherical shell of plutonium was compressed into a critical mass by precisely timed shaped charges placed over it's surface. It was called "fat man" because of it's rounded shape. You can also see that it is a very high-tech device compared to "the gun". There is clear evidence that this second type of bomb could not have been detonated at Port Chicago. So now a few questions of "accepted history" begin to arise. The government insists that the Hiroshima bomb (the gun) had never been tested prior to it's use on Japan. The "trinity" test of the plutonium device is widely touted as the "first" atomic explosion the world had ever seen. But scientifically this makes no sense. After the first demonstration of a sustained chain reaction, it was not even known if a nuclear explosion would indeed occur And if so, what might be the result of such a blast (some feared the atmosphere of the earth itself might be set on fire dooming the planet). The logical sequence for bomb testing would be to first test the ultra-simple device first. There were in fact few other options since the explosive lenses for the plutonium bomb were not reliable and tested until the spring of 1945. On the other hand, records show that at the end of 1943 there was enough bomb grade U-235 to make one or two over-designed gun bombs or several minimum critical mass devices. And the plot thickens. Vogel writes, "Shortly after the disaster at Port Chicago, the Los Alamos Laboratories were radically re-organized in structure, organization and effort, effective August 1, 1944. This re-organization had, as it's most substantial effect the curtailment of all Laboratories' work on the uranium-235 gun assembly weapon which was to be detonated over Hiroshima." Could it be that suddenly all program managers grew extremely confident for some reason that the gun device would work as planned? Note also that in 1944 the only method of delivering the bomb was by boat. Albert Einstein had written President Roosevelt in 1939 saying, "A single bomb of this type, [ed. atomic] carried by boat and exploded in a port, might very well destroy the whole port together with some of the surrounding territory. However, such bombs might very well prove to be too heavy for transportation by air." The gun bomb weighed 9,000 pounds. Interestingly enough, the ship that exploded at Port Chicago, the E.A. Bryan, had just been ordered to the Alameda ship yards to have its 5-ton (10,000 pound maximum load) booms and gear replaced with 10-ton booms and gear in the No. 1 and No. 5 holds. The crater in the river bottom showed the blast originated in No. 1 hold. The boxcar records that would show what was in that hold are missing. At 21 hours 18 minutes 50.94 seconds a blinding white flash lit up the Port Chicago sky. Vogel writes, " The pilot of an Army Air Corps C-49 aircraft flying line-of-sight towards Port Chicago at a distance of four to five miles described the explosion as 'a terrific white flash". Explosions produced by conventional explosives do not produce a white flash. Some have argued that the white flash came from magnesium-loaded weapons but inventory records show no such weapons either loaded on the Bryan or on the pier. But there was more evidence of a nuclear explosion than just the white flash. At the court of inquiry the C-49 pilot described what he saw: "Well there seemed to be a white flash and this flash had with it a large smoke ring that spread out in all directions around Port Chicago. I would estimate it, from the air to be at least three miles wide. This smoke ring proceeded then to go up and in the center of that was a terrific flash which mounted up as high as I was, 9,000 and above me." It turns out that in the Bikini tests of July 1st and July 25, 1946 where two atomic bombs were detonated in the lagoon at Bikini island just above the water surface a phenomena was observed that was not seen at the Japanese detonations: The Wilson Condensation Cloud. It is not "smoke" but rather water vapor. In the Bikini tests the Wilson cloud was 2 miles in diameter and "The ring rests on the water and encloses the rapidly expanding fireball. A few instants later the fireball 'whooshed' up through the center of the Wilson cloud at Bikini to a height of about 9000 feet." This is virtually the same as the pilot's description of the "smoke" ring observed at Port Chicago. The seismic record also shows not a series of conventional explosions (as might be the case if ammo went off) but rather a single explosion of 3.4 on the Richter Scale. This record clearly shows that the front end characteristics of the blast do not match those of a slow burning conventional explosion, despite attempts to portray it as such. It also happens that there was actually motion picture footage taken of the blast by a navy plane flying over Port Chicago. Now the Navy claims the film is a Hollywood recreation, but did not make the claim until people began investigating the possibility of a nuclear blast at Port Chicago. Indeed, the fact that a motion picture camera was rolling and pointed in the right direction at the time of the blast points to the possibility that the explosion was not only nuclear but also not accidental. The film, which the navy claims is fake shows a textbook nuclear detonation. The blast itself was phenomenal. While the total amount of TNT aboard the Bryan and the pier was no more than 1,780 tons, which likely burned in large portion, the crater under the ship was 66 feet deep by 300 feet wide and 700 feet long. This is greater than the calculations for a 5 kiloton nuclear bomb. The whole ship disappeared and no large piece of it was ever found. A 12 ton locomotive on the pier also "vanished" along with 320 men (mostly black) working on the ship and dock. Damage from the explosion at Port Chicago tends to match the same destruction at similar distances from ground zero in Hiroshima. Generally speaking, evidence is there that Port Chicago was hit with a nuclear device of more than 5 kilotons... or a "10,000 ton gadget"! Thus, there appears to be exceptionally strong evidence that Port Chicago was destroyed by a nuclear bomb. It is author Vogel's contention that the device was detonated on purpose rather than by accident. From what we know about government thinking then and now there is a certain credibility to the claim. It was war time and the winner was far from settled. The allies had this secret weapon project that could turn the tide in Europe and Japan if successful, but there were many unknowns. Would it work? If you put it in a ship and drove into a harbor, say even, best case, one containing an ammo dump, how much damage would you get? How would men respond to such a massive blast? Would they rally and fight or just give up and run? How could you get the maximum information out of a test when you had so little bomb material to spare? You certainly couldn't test it on an enemy city. What if it failed and the enemy got the mechanism (and the enriched uranium-235). Furthermore, it would blow the cover on the whole project. No. The only test that would make sense would require a sacrifice. Millions of people were dying in the war anyway and if the sacrifice of a port facility at which virtually everyone except a few officers were black, could save America, then the price was probably deemed worth it. (Especially given the racist attitude prevalent in government and the military at the time) So the ship with the first atomic bomb was in the harbor and the plane with the camera running was flying overhead and perhaps the timer was ticking away. Afterward, the effects were duly noted. The black GI's did rally to help their buddies in spite of the huge blast until much later when strange sickness began to appear in those helping with rescue and a "mutiny" took place among workers. And with that successful "first" test of a nuclear weapon, research turned to the development of the plutonium type bomb, which in all the history books (he who controls the present controls the past) was latter to be called the "first" atomic explosion. Whether the explosion at Port Chicago was an accident or purposely done, it is very hard for those of us in this generation to judge the desperate struggle of those dark days of war. We now know that Hitler lost, but it was far from certain then. Indeed, the final outcome to that great conflict only became certain once it was clear that the atomic idea would work. And if the Port Chicago explosion was atomic, the postwar greatness of this country can in many ways be traced to the GIs at Port Chicago whose sacrifice showed that all was not lost and that Nazis would never be celebrating victory in New York City. No matter how it happened, lets never forget those black men who experienced the greatest home-front disaster of the war. And we also should never forget the kind of government that views it's own citizen's not as it's master, but rather as so many expendable laboratory animals to be used as government sees fit. That's the way PRO thinks the anniversary of the atomic bombs should be remembered. DEAR PRO ... Dear PRO: The law enforcement sign off on the BATF Form 4 is NOT a requirement in the NFA law as written by Congress. BATF includes this requirement by regulation. It may be possible to get a court to throw out the law enforcement sign off [as long as the transferee is eligible to purchase the NFA weapon]. Doug Oefinger [of DLO Manufacturing] had in interview in Machine Gun News [MGN] where he talked about a lawsuit to get the law enforcement sign off requirement thrown out. I don't know what the status of that lawsuit is. I haven't seen anything about it recently in MGN. Lately, -- Larry Cipriani, l.v.cipriani@att.com Ever feel like you're being watched ? -- You will. [Larry Cipriani is a long time staunch PRO supporter and we thank him for this additional information which relates to our article in the last issue about local chief law enforcement officers refusing to sign papers for law abiding citizens to own fully automatic firearms. It is also important here to note the attitude of the BATF where Congress grants them a little authority and they attempt to boldly expand that authority until someone squawks. The message is that it is important for as many gun owners as possible to make as much noise as possible to keep the bureaucrats in bounds.] BOVARD BOOK REVIEW ... Just when you begin think that all the media journalists and all the talented writers have all sold out to the statists for a few pieces of silver, there comes along an author striking fear into the hearts of the bureaucrats who think that working for the government puts them above the law and decency. One such author is James Bovard. PRO reviewed his book Lost Rights and now he has done it again. His new book is entitled "SHAKEDOWN: How the Government Screws You from A to Z." Once again Bovard compiles a mountain of facts and stories that never seem to make it into the daily news in spite of questionable government actions and up to millions of dollars being involved. A review by Jim Powell of this book gives some of the following examples out of hundreds in Shakedown. "For example, he tells how the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission extorted $2 million out of World's Finest Chocolate, a Chicago candymaker. It was "guilty" of recruiting new people via word-of-mouth through their employees. "U.S. Customs Service police stole $19,000 from Gilberto and Josefina Gomez, farm laborers crossing from the United States into Mexico. The couple provided proof the money came from a worker's compensation settlement, but Customs' police neither filed any criminal charges, nor returned the money. "By forcing automakers to increase the miles per gallon of their cars, U.S. Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) regulations spur the production of more small cars which pose greater risks in accidents. Bovard cited authoritative estimates that the regulations resulted in 2,200 to 3,900 more fatalities and up to 20,000 more serious injuries from 1989 model cars alone. "Empowered by drug prohibition laws, many police go on wild no-knock raids against peaceful people. In Riverside County, California, police smashed into the mobile home of 87-year-old Donald Harrison and his 77-year-old wife Elsie. Though both were innocent, he died, and she went into a coma." I'm sure you know it's not just about drugs anymore and soon agents of a government out of control may be smashing down your door under the color of law. This is a book that inspires us all to cut government down to size. If reading it makes you hot under the collar. Good! Now use that anger to DO SOMETHING positive about these abuses. It's title is SHAKEDOWN and it's by James Bovard. PRO says check it out. ____________________________________________________________ "Jim Florio gave up his governorship for it (semi-auto ban), and if I have to give up the White House for it, I'll do it." William Jefferson Clinton, Thursday, June 22, 1995. [ed. Help your president do it! Get out and WORK in the '96 election...] ____________________________________________________________ ANTI-GUN MEDICINE ... By now you should all know how it works. First you start yelling that this or that needs to be "regulated." Oh, it doesn't have to be government, why, it can be private in the American spirit of free enterprise. Let the industry regulate itself they cry. And perhaps for a time it does. But once the authority of the body is firmly established the time comes to take over the top leadership and then that authority becomes transferred to the few and the formerly democratic processes in the group become only window dressing. It doesn't matter if we are talking about the FOP or the AMA the process is the same. However, this time it turns out we are talking about the medical establishment. As you know all favors and debts have been called within the medical community to further the anti-gun agenda. We have seen article after so-called scientific article about guns as a "disease" and how the presence of a gun leads to inevitable death (no doubt in a manner similar to the way in which the presence of a medical doctor makes it, who knows how many hundred times more likely, that you will soon die...you see healthy people typically aren't around physicians just as people not at risk of violence don't worry much about guns for protection.) But in the midst of all this pseudo-science and propaganda, shown a brilliant beacon of light. This was the Journal of the Medical Association of Georgia, which proved to be a major debunking force against all the medical lies and half-truths coming out of the medical establishment. But such a major blow for truth and reason could not be allowed to stand if the program for a gunless society were to go forward. Thus, the JMAG editor had to go. And Dr. Miguel Faria was fired. Dr. Edward Suter, who had a number of extremely important and powerful articles publish in the journal wrote: "Miguel resigned under pressure. He had the overwhelming support of the membership and the Board, but the Journal's Executive Committee was --- dare I say --- "liberal" [a misnomer in this case] top heavy. The Executive Committee had dinner with Miguel then, as Miguel was going to bed at about 11 PM, they called and asked him to come back to meet with them... to resign. He did. "Let us celebrate his accomplishments. Single-handedly he broke the "monolithic wall of censorship" [his words] in the medical literature. Even his resignation bears witness... the unmistakable recognition that, in the medical hierarchy, orthodoxy is more important than science and dissent is a crime, but dishonesty is not. "I have come to know Miguel as a friend and patriot. His heart and intellect burn with a love for America. Only the field of battle has changed." Dr. Suter suggests that everyone who has appreciated what Dr. Miguel Faria has done for all of us can write letters of support in care of the managing (and currently acting) editor. Ms. Johnson is also a friend and supporter of Dr. Faria and thus, clearly will not last long in this position as the board searches for a properly anti-gun editor. Miguel Faria MD c/o Ms. Susan Johnson, Managing Editor Journal of the Medical Association of Georgia 938 Peach Tree Street Atlanta GA 30309 Perhaps we have lost a battle. But these arrogant tyrants need to learn that you can't hide truth by decree. You can't keep everyone in the dark by simply buying up a few editors and board members. There are too many like Dr. Suter and Dr. Faria working hard to make sure it doesn't happen. THE THIRD OPTION ... As you probably know the three main reasons people own firearms are hunting, sporting competitions and personal protection. Up to now the NRA has given members a choice of the magazine which is part of their membership. You could choose either the American Hunter, or if your interests are more competitive, the American Rifleman. But now PRO has obtained some copies of the first issue of a new NRA magazine called the American Guardian. It's emphasis is centered on personal protection. We found the trial issue to be simply dynamite. It had articles on the role of guns in the LA riots, it talked about the success of the Florida carry laws and generally emphasized handguns. PRO loved it! After all, the Second Amendment ain't about duck hunting or Olympic shooting! However the bad news is that PRO's sources high in the NRA indicate that this first test issue will probably be the last for a while. The problem is money. In a perfect world the NRA wouldn't have to be spending so much of your money to hold the pack of rabid gun-grabbers at bay. But the world isn't perfect, and our Rights are more important than a slick new magazine. But we bring up this subject, not only to show the great things the NRA could do if we can win this fight, but also to encourage every NRA member who has an interest in personal protection, or handguns to write to: National Rifle Association of America Publications P.O. BOX 10610 Hernon, VA 22070-9749 and express your interest in such a new membership choice. Hopefully as NRA membership continues to grow (false reports in the media to the contrary not with standing), the money will come available for this fine new magazine. Your comments will help keep this great idea from being forgotten. THE SHAME REMAINS ... During World War II the Japanese nation committed many atrocities against mankind, very few of which they have admitted to or even faced trial. Japan imprisoned nurses from Britain and the Netherlands. Beheaded stragglers on the Bataan Death March. Japanese forces exterminated whole villages of Chinese because they hid American flyers. One of the worst abuses of the Japanese was their use of sex slaves from China, Korea, Netherlands and England. Front-line troops were allowed to use many thousands of women as sex slaves in order to maintain their fighting peak. At the recent U.N. International Women's Conference, held in Beijing, China, a private group is seeking compensation from Japan for war victims, while China is now worried that this might upset it's largest trading partner. Chinese police have broken up news conferences, revoked the passport of the leader of the campaign and detained others. They have even intimidated the press. With all the shame heaped upon America in the last month for our use of the atomic bombs to end World War II it is past time for the Japanese nation to apologize for all the atrocities committed in the name of Japanese Imperialism. They started the war and America won it. The manner in which it was won saved many hundreds of thousands of lives. But in war there often tend to be excesses and PRO feels it's high time that all atrocities on all sides and in all recent wars be owned up to and apologies given in much the way that Germany has owned up to it's Nazi past. Then perhaps we can turn over a new leaf into an era of post cold war prosperity and peace. [Editor's note: It has come to our attention that the Japanese government built houses of ill repute between the surrender of Japan and occupying forces arrival. This was done to protect the decent Japanese women. It is unfortunate that they did not feel this way about conquered or captured women.] SWEETHEART DEALS AT CITY HALL?... Peggy Fisher, the republican candidate against appointed incumbent Lisa Griffin, has filed a complaint alleging councilwoman Griffin's former contract with the airport violates the Ohio Ethics Law. Shortly after her appointment to city council, which was delayed so that there would be no primary election, Griffin accepted a $165.00 an hour consulting job with Port Columbus Airport. The complaint contends that the contract was illegal because the council still has limited oversight over the airport. On June 12, Griffin canceled the contract after conflict-of-interest questions were raised by Fisher and others. Griffin has denied wrongdoing, citing City Attorney Ron O'Brien as saying that the contract did not violate conflict-of-interest provisions of the city charter. O'Brien has also said that his opinion does not address a viewpoint regarding state law. State law generally prohibits a public official from knowingly having a contract with a government agency that is affiliated with that official. The ban does not apply if the person had the government contract before becoming a public official and the contract was not later amended. Griffin is also the council member that introduced the resolution against the Concealed Carry Bill, the anti-graffiti ordinance banning the sale of markers and spray paint to minors and the ordinance banning auto repair in your drive-way or garage. She has been the front-runner for every controversial ordinance that council has passed this year. She is running as an incumbent. An appointed incumbent. Peggy Fisher, a community activist from the north end, is in a run-off election as the Republican endorsed candidate against the appointed Griffin. Griffin has made an issue of trying to block CCW for Ohio and Columbus and many gun owners are getting a little tired of this appointed gun-grabber routine at City Council. On the other hand, PRO has interviewed Peggy Fisher and we feel that we can work with her. She needs your help with contributions and work for her campaign. A WISE CHOICE... Michael Wise is running for one of the four open seats up for grabs in this years city council race, and is running as an endorsed Republican candidate. He was born on the west side and worked a number of jobs as a laborer for many years before and while putting himself through Ohio State University, where he earned degrees in English and Law. While in school Wise won a national prize from the Commission on the Bicentennial of the United States Constitution for an essay defending America's scheme of inalienable rights. He has practiced law in Columbus for seven years, defending those same rights. Wise believes that when someone takes the oath of office, swearing to uphold the Constitution, that individual is honor-bound to uphold the entire Constitution. "When your elected officials swear to uphold the Constitution, they are swearing to uphold the Second Amendment. Only the voters can hold them accountable if they break that oath!" Wise declared at the August PRO Gun Show in Hilliard. "The people have the God-given right to keep and bear arms," he said. "That right does not come from the government. The right to bear arms pre-exists the government and, like any right in the Bill of Rights, it is more worthy of preservation than any government which would oppose that right." Wise truly believes, in the words of the Declaration of Independence, that "...to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed." Or in Wise's own words, "Government without Rights is Tyranny." Wise is fond of reminding people of the Battle of Lexington in April of 1775. The American people took matters into their own hands when George III sent redcoats to disarm them. "The colonists suffered many, many insults and wrongs from the Crown," he said at the gun show, "but they would not suffer to lose their right to bear arms." Wise believes that the moment the colonists took up arms to defend their inalienable rights is the moment they defined themselves as Americans. He reminds us all that the British were repulsed, chased out of the countryside, and surrounded by 20,000 Minutemen, who eventually forced them to abandon Boston, all on the people's own initiative. Almost all of these benefits were realized before the Continental Congress took any action whatsoever. The sovereign people were in armed rebellion for almost a year and a half before Congress ratified the Declaration of Independence. "As the Minutemen sagely observed," Wise said, "if we do not resist the King now, when shall a better opportunity present itself, after he has disarmed us?" Mike Wise believes that the right to bear arms is the bedrock of all our freedoms. He said in a videotape played continuously at the PRO gun show: "No where does history present the spectacle of an unarmed free people." He also said that the Bill of Rights is like an arch, in which every Amendment depends on all the others to stand. It is not like a cafeteria where sworn public servants should pick and choose only those amendments suited to their personal tastes." Wise stands for election this November in a field race with fellow-Republicans Jeannette Bradley, Chris Obetz and Dana Preisse. Running against them are democrats John Kennedy, Les Wright, Matt Habash and Hugh DeMoss. Wright and Griffin are under investigation for various alleged improprieties related to their city council seats. This field race is an unusual arrangement in which each voter can cast up to four votes, for as many as four of the ten candidates in the field. The votes are weighted, which means for example, that if a voter voted for just one candidate out of the ten, that one candidate would receive the equivalent of four votes from that one voter. This enables interest groups to have a larger influence on a field race than a normal head-to-head election, if their membership unites behind one candidate sympathetic to their views. The editors urge all members of PRO to exercise their right to vote, to protect their right to keep and bear arms, this November. We have an exceptional chance in this election to make a real difference. Let us continue the Republican sweep begun a year ago and defeat our incumbent, appointed council members. If you would like to contribute money or time to either Wise's or Fisher's campaigns, their addresses follow. Citizens for Mike Wise Friends For Fisher 57 E. Gay St. 865 Macon Alley Columbus, Ohio 43215 Columbus, Ohio 43206 (614) 222-0530 (614) 882-7908 All contributions are not tax-deductible, and cannot be from corporations. [Editors note: If Councilman John Kennedy is our worst nightmare then Mike Wise has to be a dream come true for PRO members. Think of it! A diehard pro-rights, pro-gun candidate for city council. Mike Wise is experienced. Mike Wise is articulate. Mike Wise is one of us. If each and every PRO member can't find some way to support this person who is so completely on our side, then you might as well take your guns down to city hall and turn them in, because you are never going to support anybody!] COPS... Isn't that the show where cops take a camera on patrol and capture wrong-doers on tape and then broadcast it as a tv program? Yes it is, but maybe we should have law-abiding citizens toting the cameras to catch cops in their nefarious activities. A Columbus police sergeant was indicted on July 13, 1995, for allegedly beating his girlfriend. He was indicted on a felony charge of abduction and a misdemeanor assault charge. Sgt. Fred Reed is a 25-year veteran of the department. Reed was originally charged with felonious assault against Roxanne Monk on Sept 17, but the Grand Jury returned a misdemeanor assault charge. Reed was arrested on June 28, when his gun and badge were taken from him when he arrived at work at the Central Police Headquarters where he was assigned to the Juvenile Bureau. Police had investigated the incident for months before filing the charges. During that time, Reed served a 30-day suspension. It is alleged that Reed beat Monk with his fists and a high-heeled shoe after finding her in a nite-club. She suffered skull fractures, cuts and bruises. On August 25, 1995, the Roman Catholic Diocese of Columbus filed petty theft charges against former Columbus police officer, Stephen Judy. Judy is alleged to have stolen $270 from a bingo game while working off-duty at Bishop Hartley High School. Judy retired from the police division on July 28, a week after the department filed charges on him relating to the bingo incident. As a result of his retirement, the charges were dropped and Judy was allowed to purchase 6 months of retirement to get a full pension. The diocese began investigating theft from bingo games at Hartley earlier this summer. A surveillance camera was set up in the office where the money was kept. The bingo organizers gave a tape to police supervisors on July 18. Police sources said that it showed Judy, in uniform, taking money. The video tape allegedly shows Judy taking $100 on July 11 and $170 on July 18. Judy was paid $23.50 an hour for working the bingo games while off-duty. Police Chief James G. Jackson charged Judy with breaking a department statute that says all officers must follow federal, state and local laws. Another officer, Terrie Price, has sustained four departmental charges from Jackson for allegedly double-dipping on his pay. He has been suspended for 30 working days and Jackson has recommended that Price be dismissed from the Police Division. Price worked special duty at a Sawmill Road shopping Center during times that overlapped with other special-duty work for the city. He was charged with failure to obey federal, state and local laws, engaging in conduct unbecoming an officer on and off duty, failure to be truthful at all times and violating the regulations pertaining to secondary employment. The charges against Price stem from his failure to properly write parking tickets, inaccurate inventory for the hours he worked for a neighborhood coalition, and on seven occasions for billing a shopping center for time worked while he was supposed to be working for the city. Senator Gene Watts has introduced a bill in the Ohio Senate to upgrade offenses committed against police officers. If someone commits a misdemeanor against an officer, it could be upgraded to a felony. This bill is due to the death of a police officer during the Red, White and Boom festivities of July 3rd., while he was directing traffic and was allegedly run down by a motorist. An amendment to Watt's bill seems to be in order. If a police officer is to be thought more of than an ordinary citizen when a crime is perpetuated against them, then they should also receive a stiffer penalty when they are convicted of a crime against those they have elected to serve. If cops are to be put on a pedestal in references to crimes against them, then they should also be held to a higher degree of punishment when they commit crimes. Cops know the law. They know when they break these same laws. Whether it is in domestic disputes, double-dipping or in out-right theft. They know right from wrong, and they should be judged accordingly. LETTERS... August 8, 1995 Dear PRO: On July 3, 1995, I telephoned PRO for the purpose of obtaining the Ohio House Bill number for the concealed carry law since I wanted to write to all the House members of the House Judiciary Committee and my own House Representative for support of the proposed CCW Bill. You answered my call and gave me House Bill 336, as the CCW Bill number. I used this number in my correspondence to seventeen House members, Governor Voinovich, The Columbus Dispatch(not published to date), and The Times Recorder(Zanesville newspaper-my letter published). Those that have replied to me to date, which include Governor Voinovich, have indicated that I was writing in support of the federal Brady Bill in Ohio. In other words, you have given me the wrong bill number. To date, I still do not know the correct bill number in the House assigned to the proposed CCW law, however, knowing the correct number is no longer important. Needless to say, it was extremely frustrating to say the least, to learn that I had written letters in support of a gun control bill. I can only hope that the text of my letters make my true intentions known to most of the representatives I have written to. As of today however, two replies address my support of gun control legislation-what a travesty! I feel it extremely important that you be informed for two reasons: -So wrong information is not passed on to anyone else. -To emphasize the negative impact this has on your constituents. It takes quite an effort to write letters in the first place, but to put forth the effort and to impact in a manner opposite to one's intention, is totally frustrating, as I am sure you can well imagine. Please be more careful in passing out information in the future. I realize, of course, that this was completely unintentional on your part, but the exercise of caution cannot be over emphasized. Suggestion: In the PROponent for April, 1995, you give specific home addresses for Ohio Senators and Representatives. To date, two letters I had written were returned to me marked by the US Post Office as "Unable to Deliver." These were for Representatives Ried and Wormer Benjamin. There may be others. Perhaps in the future, it would be wiser that the PROponent suggest mailing all correspondence for State Representatives and Senators to their general mailing address on High Street in Columbus. This in fact was suggested to me when I called the general phone number listed in the phone book for all state representatives, in my subsequent attempts to get good addresses. Thank you for you efforts in the past and don't let up in the future! Sincerely, B. Janick, Zanesville, Ohio [Editor: The generic mailing address for Ohio Senators is: Ohio Senate State House Columbus, Ohio 43266-0604. The generic mailing address for Ohio Representatives is: Ohio House 77 S. High Street Columbus, Ohio 43266-0603. We would recommend that during the times that the separate Houses are recessed, that one try to send mail to their homes. This is a reminder to them that they are residents of the same community in which you live. We would like to commend Mr. Janick for his hard work and effort in composing and sending all of his letters to members of the Ohio Congressional delegation in Columbus. This effort should be done by each and every member of PRO and by those that are concerned for their liberties. In answer to Janick's frustrations over receiving misleading information, an apology is in order. We talked at length about Senate Bill 68 and House Bill 336. I tried to tell him that their was no House number on Senate Bill 68 since it had not been introduced into the House yet. It will receive a number in November when it is introduced. At the time, PRO was in favor of SB 336, which would have done away with the waiting period for the purchase of pistols. This would have been beneficial to women and those in fear of their lives. As a result of pressure from Gun Owners of America and a decision by the Ohio Constitution Defense Council, PRO is leaning towards opposing this bill as it now stands. According to NRA Board Director, Jim Ramm, HB 336 will be re-worked when it is introduced into the Senate. This bill is designed to create an instant check system to foil the Brady Law provision of a waiting period. It will sunset when the Brady Law sunsets. As gun rights activists, we must keep open the lines of communications between ourselves and between our elected or appointed representatives. Double check your information. Call back to verify your source of information. Be sure that what you say is the truth.] MANSFIELD CONFERENCE ... The Ohio Constitution Defense Council will hold its annual meeting at the Holiday Inn in Mansfield, Ohio on September 23, 1995, at 10:00 am. This meeting will also host a grass roots leadership conference by Gun Owners of America. Dennis Fusaro, of GOA, will attend and conduct the seminar. This seminar is important in that it will help us in the upcoming November elections. As gun-owners, we must continue the success that began in last year's November election. For more information, please call the PRO Hotline at 614-268-0122. If you have never attended one of these leadership conferences and can make it to Mansfield on the 23rd, PRO urges you to attend. Learn how to fight the political battle. DON'T ASK - DON'T TELL ... On May 23rd, many of us were watching the mass funeral on tv for the victims of the terrorist bombing of the federal building in Oklahoma City. Unless you had cable, you missed an important news development regarding the blast. CNN's Gary Tuchman interviewed Edye Smith about her loss of two little boys, Chase and Colton, who died in the bombing. Tuchman asked Smith, "Your two little boys, such beautiful children- it's very hard for anyone to figure out how someone like you copes with the situation. How do you manage to cope?" Smith answered, "My strength comes directly from God. I've been raised in a Christian home, very fortunate. He keeps me going every day. I don't see how anybody could go through anything like this without Him. I just can't even imagine." Tuchman continued with his interview until he struck a nerve in Smith when he asked, "What now?" Edye Smith answered, "There are a lot of questions that have been left unanswered, a lot of questions we don't have answers for, we're being told to keep our mouths shut, not to talk about it, don't ask those questions..." "What kind of questions have people been telling you to keep your mouth shut about?" asked Tuchman. "Well," said Smith, "we've just... innocently asked questions,you know--where was ATF[the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms]? All 15 or 17 of their employees survived, and...they're on the ninth floor. They were the target of this explosion, and where were they? Did they have a warning sign? I mean, did they think it might be a bad day to go to the office? They had an option to not go to work that day, and my kids didn't get that option...And we're just asking questions, we're not making accusations. We just want to know, and they're telling us `Keep your mouth shut, don't talk about it'" At this point, Tuchman, obviously disturbed, said "Thanks for joining us," and terminated the interview. The ATF launched an immediate damage control offensive, issuing a press release that denounced "malicious rumors" about ATF evacuation of the building prior to the blast. According to the ATF release and subsequent statements by director John McGaw, five of the agency's 15 employees were in the building and three of those were injured in the blast. The September 4, 1995 New American, from which this information came, said they, "Had no cause or basis for questioning the ATF accounts until a number of credible witnesses in position to challenge certain `facts' in those accounts came forward. Some of these witnesses worked in the Murrah Building. The testimony of these witnesses, together with evidence of foreknowledge uncovered by other investigative reporters in Oklahoma, will be the subject of an upcoming article." That article is being eagerly awaited. ____________________________________________________________ "Thank God we don't get all the government we pay for." Will Rogers ____________________________________________________________ The PROponent is published by: Peoples Rights Organization; 3953 Indianola Ave.; Columbus, OH 43214; Tel (614) 268-0122 Fax (614) 275-0092 EMAIL: 73427.1615@compuserve.com or dcarney@freenet.columbus.oh.us Back issues of the PROponent are available via the World Wide Web at: http://www.portal.com/~chan/orgs/pro/ Michael T. Regan, Chairman; Dennis Walker, Vice Chairman Todd Koehler, Secretary; Ron Herman, Treasurer Editors: Dennis Walker and Frank Jacoby Contributions, either written or financial are gladly accepted. Anyone wishing to reprint all or part of an article from the PROponent may do so. Please mention the PROponent and the issue that the article was in, and send a copy of your publication to our PRO office. (We like to know what your organization is doing too.) Also, PRO will exchange newsletters with any pro-gun, pro-rights, pro-hunting, etc. group to further grass-roots communication. Put us on your newsletter mailing list and we will put your club on ours. Unlimited electronic distribution of all or part of this text file is permitted so long PRO is credited. PRO general meetings are held the third Tuesday of every month 8:00pm at Veterans Memorial Auditorium, W. Broad St. Columbus, Ohio. "That government of the people, by the people, and for the people, shall not perish from the earth" _________________________________________________________________