A paid signature gatherer working for ARRRG to collect signatures to put a proposed county charter on the November ballot was arrested Friday. The specific charges are not yet known but witnesses overheard security stating that “Commissioner Fred authorizes an arrest”. The woman named Laurie was working with another signature collector and each paid their way into the fair with the purpose of asking patrons to sign the petition to put the charter on the ballot.
According to ARRRG, the firm supplying the pair provide documents citing specific ORS rules of where and how signatures may be gathered legally in public places and the woman arrested was said to be complying with these written instructions. ARRRG is pushing to gather twice the required 1,521 signatures by August 8 to assure the charter is on the November ballot.
This is an evolving event and updates will follow.
UPDATE Charges leveled against the signature gatherer last Friday are criminal trespass in the 2nd degree and failure to show an ID. The Salem firm hired by ARRRG to collect an extra cushion of signatures has now left. ARRRG co-founder, Ronnie Herne, says the group lost a month to the filing process and hired the firm as a last minute push in order to put the charter initiative on the November ballot.
Theworld sure has put a different spin on this circumstance, as expected they would do, since they are the private inkwell and a paying member of SCDC, the group that put Fred in his current position to help dismantle the county government. Did you notice that Fred got a myrtle point cop to do his bidding. Is that because the county sheriff would have had a problem with Fred’s authority? The Sheriff being an elected official has shown some resistance to what this group is trying to do and he might not have agreed with Fred, to have this woman arrested. The Myrtle Point police chief has shown loyalty to Fred with this politically motivated arrest.
Theworld was late to post their story with its version of events, only because it was going virulent here and they are in damage control mode. I expect we may even get some more stories about corruption at ORCCA (the whipping child of Jon Barton) , because of this.
Remember this home rule charter is a knee jerk reaction that only materialized because this group(SCDC) is insistent on erasing and changing our county government to this Admin system which will be vulnerable to the wishes of SCDC.
A suggestion that may have some merit: If Mr. Messerle wins a seat in the Nov. election, a recall may be in order, as my case against him gains traction.
Greetings all. I am the woman who was arrested at the fair this past Friday. I anticipate that all charges against me will be dismissed, and as stated by someone else, I will be pursuing a civil suit against those who violated my guanranteed and protected rights of freedom of speech, freedom to assemble, and freedom to redress grievances against the government.
I am glad to see the outrage that was posted against the actions of those who denied me my rights. Their actions are extremely egregious to me. When I was arrested, I was unaware that people had heard over the (police?) radio that a commissioner named Fred had given the go ahead to arrest me. But this was indeed the case, as a friend of mine was told the same thing by the arresting officer. He had said to me that the “county commissioners” had given him the authority to do so. However, in reality they lack that authority both by their job description and the fact that I was on public property.
When an elected official acts in such a capacity to deny a person’s rights, simply or primarily because he is opposed to the petition initiative that is being circulated, he has overstepped his boundaries and authority. He committed a felony against me by having me arrested, as I had done nothing wrong, and the political speech in which I was engaged, my rights were at their zenith.
I hope this blog gets a lot of views, and the comments are widely seen. There ought to be no place in civil government for a person like this to be elected to an office of public trust. Please help these comments go viral..
The fact that Jon and Al comment here speaks volumes as to the power of this blog.
Oh how great a matter a little fire kindleth! …Never underestimate the power of even a tiny spark. It can take down an entire forest given the right conditions and dang if Coos County isn’t ripe with conditions…
God help us with all the insanity that goes on here. I can’t even imagine what some of these guys would be getting away with if this blog wasn’t calling their bluff and exposing the truth and the facts for what they are despite all their shenanigans.
Colandrio,
Make it 4… Been too busy strutting my Junk at the fairgrounds in the 4-H exhibit to have time to comment!
Colandrio – I may not comment much but I am always reading, as are a handful of folks that I work & am friends with, so you shouldn’t gauge the effect of the blog on the comments/commenters alone. if so, then only Al Petit and Jon Barton are reading The World…(well, maybe it is only them)
Aye, if it takes an army to win an election with your name on the ballot it takes two armies to win a write-in campaign. Nevertheless, blogs like this one have spawned revolutions before or at least acted as enlistment centers
The sarcasm is because it is the same few people who comment here and talk to each other via MGx. It is no gauge of the community at all, but you all write as if you are speaking for the multitudes. Do any of you actually try to talk to Jody, Sanne, or Elsworth to encourage them or support them or help pay for campaigns? Do you volunteer to help with the hard work that such campaigns entail? Somehow I doubt it. Your views only represent yourselves and as such mean very little in effect. Only Mary knows how widespread this blog is read and I suspect it is a small percentage of the electorate in this county. A tempest in a teapot.
I think I do understand now. Its likely because we don’t want to give any more support to Bob Main.
Why the sarcasm, when people are just honestly communicating on an open forum?
I don’t understand why this would bring out the “hot air” comment. How else are we suppose to gauge the community awareness on these issues if we can’t discuss the possibilities.
Well, I see three or four of you blowing hot air around speculating about a write in campaign or two. Over the years Jody has never shown any sign of running for office, though many of us have encouraged her in the past. The time is never right. Personally, I think she’d be better on the North Bend city council.
I would vote for Van Elsberg and Sanne in a minute and they both have run in the past. I prevailed upon Sanne to run for position 2, but he came out in support of Main. What does that say?
I just heard where she was, and that she was going to sue. Also she was reluctant to say any more. That’s understandable.
Thanks, that is more confirmation she plans to sue but I still haven’t talked with her directly. Did she mention what the charges were?
The gal who was arrested is collecting signatures at the C.B. post office today. She said she is going to sue Messerle for unlawful arrest. One more straw on the camels back.
“When plunder becomes a way of life for a group of men living together in society, they create for themselves in the course of time a legal system that authorizes it and a moral code that glorifies it.” Frederic Bastiat
What about the woman’s arrest? What was the charge? Anyone know any more today?
yes, it is hard to forgive someone who refuses to apologize or even acknowledge his mistake.
Yea, we know where his rope is anchored. That anchor is large but full of hot air. It won’t hold Fred up, when he just keeps adding more weight to it. Bob doesn’t deserve one single vote since this whole mess was his doing.
Sigh, yes, but happily Fred is grabbing as much rope as he can muster and we shall see where that will leave him
Then we’re back to giving Fred more rope.
Larry and Jody both have a lot more public speaking experience than first time campaigner Randy and all three would take the job but I don’t know how they feel about launching a write-in campaign at this late date and are probably eying 2014. I am curious what would happen if Fred or Bob dropped out for some reason… would that automatically put Randy back on the ballot for November or would it just default to the one or the other?
It would be useless to launch a write-in campaign if the people who are wanted don’t want it. Do you have any indication about how or if Jody or Larry may feel about doing this. It will take a real fighter to be able to pull this off. Mary, you know about Randy capabilities better than the public had a chance to find out before the primary. He didn’t raise the community awareness of his abilities up to a level needed to shake those two from their perches. If we throw our support behind him again he would not be able to get any further than he did the first time. unless he flips their cart over with more gusto than he showed the first time around. He has the right amount of honesty and knowledge to do the job for us, but he needs more to get people excited enough to give him the job.The right amount of pitbull aggressiveness will also be needed to pry that seat away from Bob and Fred.
Mary, the snorting, guffawing and moaing would be a welcome change.
Thank you for the vote of confidence but I am not suited to that type of public service. Would it surprise anyone to know that diplomacy may not be my forte? My kids will also tell you I don’t play poker because I would be snorting and guffawing and groaning at every provocation.
Larry Van Elsberg, Jody McCaffree and Randy Sanne would make an excellent troika, if not in November then in two years. Larry knows the ropes and the inner workings of the county. Jody is super smart and probably knows more about land use than anyone in Oregon and she knows how to figure things out. Randy understands the budget better than the county treasurer and it sure would have been nice to have had him on the board to explain to Fred and Bob how the planning department actually works.
Don Gurney will be fine for position three for now but he only wants the job for two years and he fears that if Main doesn’t get in he won’t be able to get anything done.
What is missing from local boards and councils is real debate, where the public witness an actual argument for or against a different position… something like you see o CSPAN some times. I could see any one of Randy, Larry or Jody arguing with Fred or Cam and using their smarts to convince them and provide the public with the basis of their decision.
What we get now is “I think” from Cam and “we kicked the can down the road far enough” from Fred.
Ron, your probably right about Parry wanting that new position he is helping to create. There’s a list sitting somewhere in Jon Barton’s desk that he(Cam) and several others who worked on their contrived committees, are hoping to have their names on. I think they are all delusional about their chances and that’s exactly what Jon wants them to think. He has needed their efforts to get the plan this far along, and if he let it out that he has always intended for that person to be disposable and from outside the area, then they would not have given him all the support that he has received. There will be a lot of disappointed local manager types crying in their beer when they figure it out.
If Mary took up this cause, I would hope that she doesn’t go silent like we saw others do in the past when they decide to run. I think that strategy has been the problem with some of the more recent candidates seeking that office. This news source that Mary is providing to us would be sorely missed if she decided to run a campaign that made her consider not keeping this blog site going. I think she could do both and that could be her advantage. Run and be more vocal.
I would too. It’s going to be refreshing, at least, to have 3 commissioners who were actually elected. I still say Scam Parry is aiming to be the County Administrator.
I haven’t seen any evidence that Don Guerney is a person who is aligned with the rest of the candidates. That would give him a clear advantage for spot #3 without having to put anyone else in his race. #2 however is about as rigged for SCDC as it could be, Larry V.E. was in my opinion robbed of that seat by Bob and Co., when they put Messerle in that chair and ignored the fact that the voters had already nearly seated him, so he deserves a lot of consideration of support as a write-in for #2.
The #1 position is the one Bob and Fred hold the most dear to their cause and is the one that we should put Mary or Jody in. They are friends and should make the decision between them on who takes the run at ending Bob and Freds empire. I would gladly support either of them.
It’s official then!
A write-in will be expensive and with 3 positions up for grab it might be confusing to the voter to wich position you are running for good luck if you try
I’ll second Reminder’s motion. As long as you promise not to have me thrown out or arrested!
Ron’s right Mary. You should consider a write-in campaign for yourself.You have proven yourself to be a person who has and would put the community’s best interest put above any self serving agenda. You once said it would be great to have a woman sitting in one of those seats, and I believe that we would be lucky to have you or Jody sitting in the #1 chair. If either one of you should choose to run, I believe you would have a real chance to upset those two.
There’s still time and more reason than ever for both of you to consider it.
Magix, good observation on Main. I was thinking exactly the same thing. Maybe you should throw your hat in?
I agree Reminder and M. Not another vote for any of these shills. Enough !!!
I’ve never seen such dirty local politics, and I’ve lived and followed local pol. in three states as an adult. Without a doubt this place is like no other I’ve ever seen. They aren’t even hiding it, they are so sure of their control. An amazing thing to watch, I’ve read for decades the mafia take over of the waterfronts in the NE, and we sit here allowing the funnel down the porthole to continue operating. What the hell ? When are people going to say enough to these snake oil salesmen, and every person who pulls their circle jerk on Wednesdays at the Mill.
I was glad to see your recommendation of Larry Van Elsberg for position two. If he’s willing to take the seat then I think its a great idea. He should have gotten the seat when Nicki died. Too bad there’s no movement to draft Jody for position one. No one has worked harder to protect this community than her, and she is honest and very sharp on anything she sets her mind to. These write-ins first have to be willing and want to serve. Then the process of getting the word out can begin.
I agree, just give Fred more rope. Main on the other hand seems to think he can just sit back and let Fred fumble his way to catastrophe and the rest of us will just automatically vote for him simply because he IS NOT Fred… I will be voting my conscience and writing in Randy for position one and probably Larry Van Elsberg for position two.
Some years ago, when we were petitioning to recall Griffith, I went to the county fair with my clipboard to collect signatures. I had been forewarned that the fair board had restricted collecting signatures to those who had a booth, but others could stand at the entrance outside the premises and collect them. I did that a while, but since I had paid admission to get that far, I decided to take a break and walk through the fair to enjoy the event and have a beer. I was carrying my clipboard, but had not approached anyone and didn’t intend to, but a sheriff’s deputy accosted me and escorted me out of the premises in spite of my protests that I had approached no one and no one had complained about it. I did not get my admission refunded and I have not returned to the fair in all the years since. Used to be when County Fairs were hotbeds of political campaigning, but that was the good old days.
Magix, good question. The Sheriff, if he hasn’t already, needs to check to make sure his arrests are legal. Was a law enforcement officer present to witness the “crime”? If not, then all they have to go on is Fred’s statement. He could make a citizen’s arrest, and file his own charges, but making an arrest on such thin probable cause is risky. Sheriff’s have to run for office too!
If she was not breaking any laws, then I would hope her employer sues Fred and all involved with her arrest. They stick their new system on the ballot with their hijacked authority, and it appears will do anything to stop others from presenting an alternative choice on the subject of county governance. This just keeps getting more scandalous day by day. Bob Main is one of their wolfs, he has been playing both sides since the moment he was put there by everyone that was disgusted with Griffith. Re-electing him will be worse than giving Fred all the rope he needs.
The pendulum will have to swing all the way to their side before the general populace sees what they’ve done and revolts against them. Don’t be fooled by Main again. If there remains no other choice, then I say elect Fred and get to the revolution sooner. Bob Main is the Benedict Arnold of this county, why would anyone ever trust him again to do whats best for the everyone else. If Fred is elected then at least Bob won’t be there acting innocent about what they do.
Rather chilling that an appointed or even an elected commissioner can order someone arrested or removed from a public meeting. Why are the police or the sheriff following orders like this?
Queues nicely with Daniel’s / Clark’s hit piece which will stand for three days, over at the world ‘news’ paper/barton rag, I’m sure it’s a coincidence.
What would we do without citizens reporting the actual news, instead of a dirty piece of corporate papyrus reporting on smelly cat houses, and fourteen year old athletes, but never never never report what barton doesn’t want you to report.
Where’s little al now? Oh, I forgot, fred must have on his hoop skirt today.
I hope this wakes up the voters who give a rat’s ass about representative government.