Friday, June 26, 2015

JUNE 26, 1975...40 YEARS.......PART 5

Dear Supporters:

It matters little how much time has passed since Special Agents Jack R. Coler and Ronald A. Williams were performing their lawfully appointed duties searching for a fugitive on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation.

It also matters little that many have tried to change the narrative of what happened that fateful day; an agenda filled with fabrications, disinformation and outright lies; nor that a trial and dozens of appeals have proven guilt beyond a reasonable doubt; that many public statements have proven guilt beyond all doubt, and to a moral certainty. Their denouement panders to the unsuspecting, sycophantic, and naive.

It does matter a great deal, however, that Jack Coler and Ron Williams were subject to an unprovoked attack, severely wounded and summarily executed by cowardly members of the American Indian Movement.

What matters to the ultimate extent is that justice continues and USP Coleman inmate #89637-132 remains incarcerated serving two consecutive life sentences and seven additional years for an armed escape.

May Jack and Ron continue to Rest In Peace knowing that their dedication, bravery and sacrifice in the line of duty will never fade from our collective memories.

"In the Spirit of Coler and Williams"
Ed Woods

Monday, June 22, 2015

PELTIER...40 YEARS...Part 4...The Myth updated?

Dear Supporters:

"For Immediate Release," the 40th Anniversary of the Incident of Oglala by the ILPDC is so pathetically inaccurate, all myth and folklore, (disinformation, fabrications and lies would be a better description), that it is not worthy of a response. (Footnote #1) Only to say, however, that there are fifteen years of accurate rebuttal on the NPPA website.

For only the second or third time in a decade and a half, someone actually attached their name to an LPDOC release and it's apparent that PETER CLARK is very new to the Peltier camp. Clark has a lot of research ahead of him (or he can just stick to the same old line), but one point, besides the cowboy boots, allegedly seeking a young Indian, wrongfully convicted, etc. etc., is "A family with small children was trapped in the cross fire." This lame fabrication was debunked in 2001. Not by allegations or supposition, but with facts. Facts from the trial and testimony from those who were there. The only people caught in a crossfire that day were Jack Coler and Ron Williams. (Fn. 2)

The ILPDC, or Clark, provides an updated diagram, loosely based on Peter Matthiessen's drawing, but now adds some details that are predictably inaccurate.

Within the diagram, Clark places colored depictions of the agent's vehicles and "Bodies of SA Williams and SA Coler." Not unexpectedly, Clark missed a critically significant detail. Placing the agents bodies on either side of Agent Coler's vehicle is not what happened. After the cowards of Jumping Bull, in an unprovoked attack, severely wounded both agents, and then blew away both their faces with point-blank shots; they were touched, and moved, and rolled over to face the ground. Both being shot in the face would not leave the bodies lying next to one another on the ground the way they were found. And how do we know this horrible little detail? A crime scene photo. (Fn. 3)

The significance of this latest message...and we've not yet heard from Peltier...is that they are so desperate and recycling the same putrid detritus they started out with decades ago. It didn't work then, and it doesn't work now.

Let President Obama look at this Peltier message and spend just a few minutes reviewing the actual file, let alone the self-incriminating and unrepentant statements Peltier has made of late, and clemency will disappear as quickly as Peter Clark's and Peltier's credibility and fables.



"In the Spirit of Coler and Williams"
Ed Woods

Footnotes:
1) http://www.whoisleonardpeltier.info/press/40th-anniversary-of-theincident-at-oglala/
2) http://noparolepeltier.com/shootout.html
3) http://noparolepeltier.com/noon.html

Monday, June 8, 2015

PELTIER...40 YEARS...PART 3...IT'S ALL THEIR FAULT

Dear Supporters:

While waiting patiently for Peltier's comments on the 40th anniversary of the brutal murders of Agents' Jack Coler and Ron Williams--by the cowards of Jumping Bull, Peltier offers yet another litany of why his fortunes (financially, socially and  emotionally) have nearly evaporated; "My life is in your hands."*

More pathetic whining from USP Coleman inmate #89637-132, but this time he provides many reasons why, in his mind, it's everyone else's fault that he has arguably reached the lowest point in his fabricated and feigned popularity.

He claims that "Most of the good volunteers had to leave for their own careers or health reasons and some just wanted to move on...and I must admit, a few who came along who had their own agenda." ("Most?" So much gratitude for those who at least tried.)

Here's what happened: Peltier was able, with the support of sympathizers, to capitalize on his Native heritage; that his crimes were committed on the Reservation and he was convicted in federal court. This developed into a mantra that in some perverse way he did something heroic that sultry June day, that he acted heroically and bravely as a warrior and over time this message morphed into folklore status and the Myth of Leonard Peltier.**

Many of those who were attracted to the cause came with noble intentions and some with the way they believed the campaign should be managed; others, the fringe anti-America types (Jericho Movement #, Et. Al.), went along for the ride and what they could get out of it (and him). (Peltier has displayed a noticeable level of naiveté over the years.)

There were many attorneys as well who poured their hearts and valuable time into finding some justification for Peltier's release, all to no avail. The ones who worked pro-bono should be commended for their efforts; those who charged by the hour, well, it is a business. In either instance, Bruce "I'll take the Fifth" Ellison, being the exception in either case.

But in the end, as has been witnessed many times over the years, they all left the camp for one reason, Peltier. The reality is that they could stand just so much of the bullying narcissist. Peltier stumbled into his own sinkhole. Just as Narcissus in Greek mythology, Peltier eventually fell in love with his own reflection and is now incapable of separating the false image from his own.

Ever the beggar, again Peltier wants the cash, but, as many times as he's been called out, not once has he or his network divulged or admitted how much, or where, any of that money has gone over the years. He now directs would-be donators to a website that proclaims "Leonard's paintings are collected by celebrities and luminaries worldwide," yet in this recent statement contradicts that with, "I also hear that supporters think all my celebrity supporters have donated to the Committee? They rarely do and when they do their donations are far less than you might imagine."

So, which is it? They lavish him with money by buying his "artwork" or they are really cheapskates pandering on his name and who he now pushes off the cliff.

It is, and remains, just part of the ongoing scam, hidden behind alleged charitable and benevolent activities.  It's a con job, from a con man. Want proof? Review this Editorial Essay; and although dated 2004, 2006 and 2007, nothing has changed. Same predictable and deceptive fundraising rhetoric.***

Peltier ends with "Please do your part to help convince the President to let me go home."

Again, a reality check! Leonard Peltier, you are home; USP Coleman.

"In the Spirit of Coler and Williams"
Ed Woods

*http://www.whoisleonardpeltier.info/dispatch/leonard-peltier-mylife-is-in-your-hands-prison-dispatch05-june-2015/
**http://www.noparolepeltier.com/myth.html
***http://www.noparolepeltier.com/debate.html#fraud
#http://www.noparolepeltier.com/debate.html#Robideau-NYC
P.S. Not unexpectedly, there has been no reply from RIPDA (see previous blog)

Thursday, June 4, 2015

PELTIER: 40 Years...Part 2; ELDER ABUSE? & 16 IN RHODE ISLAND

Dear Supporters:

On June 1st, the "International" Leonard Peltier Defense Committee came out with a real prize of a request:

"Recently, Leonard Peltier was again denied a transfer to a medium security facility. No reason was given. Please contact the Bureau of Prisons on Leonard's behalf...Let BOP authorities know that it is an outrage that this 70-YEAR-OLD man and in ILL HEALTH has not been transferred and demand a transfer whereby Peltier can receive help with daily living, quality health care, and PROTECTION FROM VIOLENCE. Let the BOP know that you consider this an instance of ELDER ABUSE." (Emphasis added)

Jack Coler and Ron Williams would willingly trade the lives that were stolen from them by Peltier and others and face the inevitability of aging. Jack and Ron never had the chance to age past twenty-eight years thanks to the cowards of Jumping Bull.

Really? Elder abuse? That's the latest excuse to keep the unsuspecting away from the facts, from the truth of what happened four decades ago?

And what happened to all the braggadocio of Peltier the brave warrior, the wannabe Chief, who allegedly stood up for his people, as he ran for the hills after he's the one who put every one of his own people in jeopardy that day.

The latest message, pure myth as it is, refers to June 26th as a--firefight. It was nothing of the sort. It was an unprovoked attack on two easily identified federal agents. And we have Ron Williams' own voice as definitive proof, overheard by a number of people, on exactly what was about to happen.

So now Peltier is whining from his cell in USP Coleman that he needs protection from violence. The absurdity of that has the permanence of breath on a mirror. The convicted murderer and aider and abetter in murder is no longer the tough guy he was when facing two critically wounded human beings and then shooting them both in the face. No, maybe he's not the "Tug" (to use his own term for Thug), he was in 1975, but the fact remains he is among his peers at Coleman. Deal with that reality!

The June 1st message included reference to a resolution for Peltier's clemency from the Rhode Island Progressive Democrats of America (RIPDA). Perusing their year-old website one can't help but think that mainstream, real Democrats, must wince at this fringe group's message and wish they would just go away. The resolution's thirteen WhereAs' and Therefore's are all Peltier boilerplate filled with the same disinformation and fantasy of the Peltier folklore.

An email to RIPDA (Rest-in-Peace Democrats of America?), pointed out that two statements were true, two were inaccurate, four were irrelevant, and five were just outright false, and offered to provide them with some facts...from the records of Peltier's conviction, appeals and self-incriminating public statements...to correct their position. But they probably don't want to be confused with the actual details.

Interestingly, the resolution states that "18" members (their entire membership?) were present and "16" signed in the affirmative, "0" for "nay" and "2" abstained. It would be curious to know what kind of debate was held, if any, and what, if anything, the two who abstained had to say.

The good news is that Peltier is bragging about 16 people as if it's a victory of some sort. What it does do, however, is reinforce Peltier's pathetically meager popularity and hallucinations of clemency prospects.

But let's offer this to those RIPDA folks, a direct quote from Leonard Peltier; "I seen Joe when he pulled it out of the trunk and I looked at him when he put it on and he gave me a smile." For those 16, what Peltier is talking about is Joe Stuntz smiling and stealing  Jack Coler's FBI raid jacket while two dead, mutilated, human beings (who both were, by the way, rolled over to face the ground), lay at their feet.

Perhaps Peltier wasn't at Pine Ridge that day after all. Maybe he just got lost and wound up in Providence, Rhode Island.

"In the Spirit of Coler and Williams"
Ed Woods


Monday, June 1, 2015

June 26, 1975...40 Years Later, Part 1

Dear Supporters:

On June 23, 1975 there was an incident on the Schwarting ranch, near Batesland, on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, South Dakota.

After a day of ranch work branding cattle, Jerry Schwarting, along with a young friend, Robert Dunsmore, gave a ride to Hobart Horse, a family friend, to the residence of Teddy Pourier. Also at this residence was Herman Thunderhawk and Jimmy Eagle. What started out as casual evening of unwinding and jesting turned into a dangerous and violent confrontation.

Jerry Schwarting was beaten by the others and young Dunsmore was stripped of his clothes. They were both threatened, even with castration, and had guns repeatedly fired over their heads. Schwarting's vehicle, jacket and new cowboy boots (that were two months old and cost $200) were stolen. Schwarting carries scars from knife wounds to this day.

As a result of this crime on a government reservation, a violation under the jurisdiction of the FBI, federal warrants were issued for the four individuals.

Special Agents Jack Coler, on temporary assignment from the Denver Division, and Ron Williams, both from the Rapid City Resident Agency that covers the surrounding counties and Pine Ridge, were assigned to search for the fugitives.

On June 25th, Teddy Pourier was arrested.

Later that day three young Indians; Michael Anderson, Wish Draper and Norman Charles walked along Highway 18 to the hamlet of Oglala to take a shower. While returning they were stopped and questioned by Agents' Coler and Williams who believed one of them may have been Jimmy Eagle. The three were taken to the Tribal Police in the town of Pine Ridge and it was determined that none of them was Eagle, however, at some point Coler and Williams learned that Jimmy Eagle had been seen in the Oglala area driving a red vehicle. A Tribal Police Officer later dropped off the three on Highway 18 a few miles south of Oglala near a small farm owned by the Jumping Bull family.

Unknown at that time to Agents' Coler and Williams, or the FBI, was that members of the American Indian Movement had set up a new camp in a ravine along White Clay Creek just south of the Jumping Bull farm. The FBI was painfully aware of AIM's presence on the Reservation, most noted through violent conflicts with the Tribal Government and the utter destruction of the village of Wounded Knee in 1973, along with the killing of civil rights worker Perry Ray Robinson and the suspected disappearance of others. Nor did they know that Leonard Peltier, then a fugitive from the attempted murder of a Milwaukee police officer, was also at the White Clay camp.

Coler and Williams decided to meet the next morning to continue searching the Oglala area for the fugitive, Jimmy Eagle.

It is absolutely undisputed how the shooting at Jumping Bull began sometime around noon on that fateful following day of June 26th.*

A number of FBI agents and employees heard Ron Williams on the radio describing that they had followed a vehicle from Highway 18; that the vehicle stopped, that it looked like they were going to be fired upon…and the shooting began. They could hear Ron trying to describe their location. They heard him say that if help didn't get there soon they would be dead. They heard Ron get shot.

During those fateful moments, the three in the vehicle, a white and red Chevrolet suburban, fugitive Leonard Peltier, Joe Stuntz, and the young Indian who knew exactly who Agents' Coler and Williams were, Norman Charles, began firing at the agent's who were now pinned down in an open field. Peltier was quickly joined by other AIM members from the camp, including Dino Butler and Bob Robideau, who, along with others, trapped the agents in what can only be described as a deadly crossfire.**

Local agents and law-enforcement responded; the first to arrive turning onto the same dirt road travelled earlier by Coler and Williams, were taken under rifle fire and forced back onto Highway 18. None were able to reach their besieged comrades.

In all likelihood, and under a hail of rifle fire, the shooting didn't last long as Jack Coler received a devastating wound to his right arm, was incapacitated, and probably going into shock. Ron, wounded three times and hoping that help would soon arrive, removed his shirt, crawled to his downed partner and used it as a tourniquet on his badly injured arm; and then waited.

Both Jack Coler and Ron Williams, severely wounded and unable to defend themselves, were then brutally executed.

Two young agents, one a former police officer, the other a veteran, remained loyal to their sworn obligation to uphold the law, honored their oath of Fidelity, Bravery and Integrity, and made the ultimate sacrifice in the line of duty.

Although forty years have passed, their dedication and memory will never diminish.***

"In the Spirit of Coler and Williams"
Ed Woods

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