Wednesday, July 30, 2014

RON WILLIAMS: July 30, 1947 - June 26, 1975: Rest In Peace


Dear Supporters:

In thirty-four days, only a month, Ron would have celebrated his 28th birthday.

His young and vibrant life to that point was a celebration of his intelligence, charm, personality and admirable accomplishments. Already having served his country in the U.S. Navy, completing college and embarking on a challenging career in the nation’s premier law-enforcement agency. His future was a clean slate; doors yet to open and adventures discovered, limitless ambitions and opportunities and a host of close friends and family to share it all.

We can only speculate or imagine what the next thirty-nine years would have given him. He had ambitions. Ron had entertained pursuing a law degree but it is not clear whether he would have tried to tackle such an enterprise while remaining in the Bureau, or stepping down to pursue it full time.

His time in the Rapid City Resident Agency (RCRA), an assignment typically reserved for those with prior law enforcement experience, like his partner that day, former LAPD Swat member, Jack Coler, was challenging; a far cry from his previous experience and his hometown of the metropolis of Los Angeles. Although the Bureau was increasing the agent compliment of the RCRA to combat the rising turmoil caused by the American Indian Movement, Ron faced those challenges as the consummate young professional agent all knew him to be.

Ron loved flying and had already earned a pilot’s license. The FBI’s aviation program did not formally exist when he entered the Bureau but by the mid 70s where aircraft were used in several major investigations, the opportunity to become a Bureau pilot was certainly a possibility where he could have combined both passions.

Having come from a major city, the possibility of transferring back to L.A., where family and other friends resided, was a good possibility. After serving his time in Indian Country working difficult cases in remote areas, Los Angeles could have been within reach.

Had he returned to L.A., pursued a law degree, perhaps then active in the Bureau’s rapidly growing aviation program, he may have sought to combine those skills and experiences. Perhaps as an experienced investigator, an attorney and a pilot, the National Transportation Safety Board may have been an interesting and challenging career option, or perhaps a legal practice involving airline litigation. We’ll never know.

By now, at age 67 he would no doubt have a family, and perhaps retired from whatever path he chose, as he doted over grandchildren sharing with them career exploits and accomplishments, introducing them to his passion for flying, taking them on flying vacations or out for an afternoon to a not-too-distant airport for one of those famous $50 hamburgers (today they would be more like $300 hamburgers). In any case he would have lived, loved and shared a long, productive and happy life, even if there were a few bumps in the road.

But all that potential and dreams of the future ended on a sultry day in June 1975.

He faced the danger, the enemy, as a young man with the courage and strength of his already proven character. However, the odds were overwhelming and insurmountable.

Undaunted and unafraid Ron and Jack pursued their fugitive felon, only to be ambushed by AIM cowards and severely wounded. Nonetheless, the evidence is crystal clear; he went first to the aid of his gravely injured partner.

His sacrifice is our loss. May he Rest-in-Peace knowing that he will never be forgotten.

We can take solace knowing that every agent and every man and woman who carries a badge and a gun and is willing to place themselves in harm's way to protect the citizenry and enforce the laws of this Nation have a guardian angel looking over their shoulder. His name is Special Agent Ronald A. Williams.

“In the Spirit of Coler and Williams”
Ed Woods

Monday, July 14, 2014

PELTIER: SHAMELESS PANDERING, DISTORTED HISTORY


Dear Supporters          

Peltier’s June 26, 2014 “Press release” regarding the 39th anniversary of the line-of-duty murders of FBI Agents Jack Coler and Ron Williams would have had some meaning if it came from someone with credibility. If the past four decades have proven anything it is that Peltier will say whatever he thinks he can to garner the sympathy of those few who have bought into the folklore.

Peltier takes a giant and fallacious leap into his own history as he provides us with:

“By the time of the Oglala shoot-out there had already been some 60 something of our Native people killed. These people are the ones we are commemorating here today. I always especially remember Joe Stunz (sic) who was a mentor to some of the younger boys in the community.”

Really? “60 something” and “a mentor?” 

Peltier consistently demonstrates that he can’t keep straight or remember his own fabrications (lies) or those proffered by the LPDC and LPDOC. The number of those alleged victims has varied over the years but now it’s down to “sixty something.” Repeating the fable has not validated the facts. Well, and for perhaps the hundredth time, believers and non-believers are invited to look at list and decide for themselves.  Remember too, that one of those on the list was Anna Mae Aquash; the AIM member who Peltier stuck a gun in her mouth suspecting she was an informant (this was consistent with Peltier’s reputation and disregard for women in general), and who was killed, by AIM.  (Footnote 1). Regardless of what AIM thought, Anna Mae was not an “agent provocateur” (a term they love to brand people with). She was not an informant but that mattered little when she was shot in the head and dumped in a ditch.

This is the second time in less than a month that Peltier and his dwindling network cannot even get Stuntz’s name right. Nonetheless, Peltier is directly responsible for Stuntz’s death. As has been pointed out, Joe Stuntz was shooting at responding law enforcement and was killed in that exchange. Joe Stuntz followed Leonard Peltier to his own death.  Peltier’s feckless leadership of AIM members placed them all in jeopardy that June day.

But let’s assume for the moment that after the assault and wounding of Agents’ Coler and Williams, and the brutal point-blank killing shots to their faces, and after stealing Agent Coler’s FBI jacket and giving Peltier a smile in the process…lets imagine what kind of “mentor” Stuntz would have been had he escaped from Pine Ridge that fateful day.

Peltier offers no examples (the NPPA submits there are none) of what kind of mentoring Stuntz had or would have provided the younger AIM members.

Had Stuntz successfully escaped, what lessons would he have imparted to other AIM members, young or old? Let’s not forget that during the escape Peltier made that fateful admission “…the M…..F…..was begging for his life, but I shot him anyway.” (Fn. 2)

So Stuntz makes it out alive and is on the run. He is speaking to others in a private and secluded place not being able to display his trophy in public. He wears the FBI raid jacket and points to the large F.B.I. initials and tells them, “See that’s what you do when the white man and Feds come to the Reservation. You attack. You shoot them and if they ain’t dead, you shoot them in the face like the dogs they are. We counted coup and rolled them over to honor our warrior heritage that the enemy must face Mother Earth so he will never meet the creator in the afterlife. That’s what we did. I took the wasichu’s  jacket instead of a scalp like our brave ancestors would have done so I can show you how brave we were that day. We stole their weapons too, and following the Eagle made our way out of the battle…”

Some mentor Stuntz would have made.

On July 7th Peltier’s latest message stooped to levels that the NPPA could not believe even he could reach. Entitled “A very personal request,” and concluding with a “Friend in Need,” he claims he has found the “best legal team” and all he needs ”to book him immediately” is $50,000 along with donations solicited on Indiegogo. Not a mere pittance he admits, and in a follow-up on July 10th from the rented room in Lake Mary, Florida, probably Harry David Hill (aka Mr. X; and the jury is still out whether he was an agent provocateur as well. Fn. 3 ) offers the conundrum:

“It was the great and beautiful Jane Fonda who purchased it last to help Leonard. Jane donated it to the current owner who has been gracious enough to let us sell it for a percentage.   It is Leonard's most sought after piece of artwork.  Beautiful in every way.  The iconic portrait of a warrior.  It is called " Protector of the Woods"

Hanoi Jane. (Fn. 4)

It’s “gracious” (hardly generous) that the current owner is willing to give up a “percentage.”

 Indiegogo as of 7/12/14 reached 10% of it’s projected goal of 175K with $17,818. So there are a few gullible people out there who have never asked Peltier the tough questions. How much has he taken in and where has all the money gone? Has he paid his taxes on this income? Money and funding remains Peltier’s dirty little secret. Transparency is not a word he either understands or honors. Perhaps more follow-up letters to the IRS are in order.

Peltier’s motivation for all this is designed to generate a false sense of hope to keep the coffers from completely draining with donations from  über-gullible, misinformed and misguided supporters. Those who are incapable of moving past the fabrications (lies), myth and folklore; the fantasized version of who Peltier is in real life.

The heart of the matter is the new dream team.

Looking back over the years there have been many capable attorneys who have, as a matter of course, reviewed the entire legal history, from the trial, evidence, testimony and transcripts and throughout all the appeals. Some were motivated by notoriety, trying to glean some free publicity from representing the likes of Peltier, others, were genuinely committed to ensuring that no stone was left unturned and devoted hundreds, even thousands of  hours of their professional time and effort, and many, a significant amount of their own personal finances (pro bono; free to Peltier), to advance the Peltier cause. Collectively they have all reached the same point in the process; there’s nothing left. Only once in the four decade history of the Peltier case has there been any progress, and that was the October 1984 “ballistic hearing” where they alleged that an October 2, 1975 FBI teletype received through the FOIPA meant something other than it really did. But the final word from the Eight Circuit Court of Appeals was crystal clear: “When all is said and done, however, a few simple but very important facts remain. The casing introduced into evidence had in fact been extracted from the Wichita AR-15. This point was not disputed; although the defense had its own ballistics expert, it offered no contrary evidence.” (Fn.5)

In other words, another allegation without substance.

Peltier’s attorneys have collectively, and valiantly in some instances, tried every manner of legal technicality and maneuvering to no avail. There are no smoking guns or loopholes to explore. Many of those who have tried to support Peltier learned the hard way that his ungrateful, ragged demeanor and sociopathic, unrelenting personality pushed away even the best of them.

None of this goes to innocence however. We just don’t need the intimately examined court record proving his factual guilt; we have Peltier’s own statements over the years, proving beyond any doubt, his actual and unrepentant guilt; “And really, if necessary, I’d do it all over again, because it was the right thing to do.” (Peltier 2/6/10) (Fn.6)

“In the Spirit of Coler and Williams”
Ed Woods

Footnotes:
http://www.noparolepeltier.com/debate.html#right (For more details of AIM related and suspected murders see http://rezinate.wordpress.com/
2) http://www.noparolepeltier.com/debate.html#right (Paragraph 14 and footnote #4 of that essay: Looking Cloud trial transcript at 144-145; in reference to a statement made to the witness by Leonard Peltier: Prosecutor: “Exactly what did he say?” Witness: “He said the M…..F…..was begging for his life, but I shot him anyway.”)
From 2004 Editorial Essay: The funding issue is a constant source of frustration for the LPDC and may help explain why they are still in El Paso instead of Lewisburg. Their online store is filled with hackneyed and uninteresting flea market items except for one puzzling piece of artwork entitled "Protector of the Woods."  The painting is uninspiring, even confusing; it's difficult to tell exactly what's hiding behind that white birch. But the real problem with this particular piece is that the original is owned by the one person who is an anathema-the antichrist-to every American serviceman and servicewoman, prior, present, living and deceased; Hanoi Jane3, aka Jane Fonda.