PELTIERITES: WOW HARVEY! Just One Question...

Dear Supporters:

Harvey Arden has been an ardent (no pun intended), almost militant supporter of Peltier for many years. Helping Peltier with “Prison Writings,” the cover of which states, “Edited by Harvey Arden.” He continues to speak out to whomever will listen with his belief in Peltier’s alleged “wrongful conviction.” A conviction he believes is based on centuries of Indian persecution and contrived criminal charges. Harvey has written other books helping recognize and preserve Indigenous cultures worldwide. I have one of his books “Wisdom Keepers,” a gift from Harvey with the inscription “To Ed Woods, on behalf of Leonard Peltier. There’s no greater love than hatred that turns to love. With respect, Harvey Arden.”

There is no doubt that Harvey is a good man, heartfelt and well meaning. We have exchanged emails over the years and they have all been civil and thoughtful and we almost got together for lunch one day several years ago. I’m sure meeting with him and talking just about anything but Leonard Peltier would be a pleasant experience. I suspect, regretfully though, that Harvey has gone-around-the-bend, so to speak, as he rails against the government as “criminal overlords” and can be counted among the “9/11 Truthers.”

Recently, in December 2014, Harvey queried the Innocence Project about looking into the Peltier case where he stated that “(Peltier’s) 1977 trial was a total sham.” They responded that they rely on DNA evidence for their projects.

Harvey, in an exchange with rabid Peltierite (Peltierite, a term borrowed from the Rezinate Blog), Delaney Bruce (Delaney_bruce@hotmail.com) summed up his angst with:

            They can easily change that regulation about “only-DNA” - - What if the INNOCENCE PROJECT actually lived up to its name by saving a man absolutely known to be INNOCENT! Even DNA might well be involved. Who was IN that red truck, for instance. Was it swabbed for DNA evidence…or anything else among hundreds of possibilities at the Jumping Bulls’ property? Too bad INNOCENCE ITSELF is beyond the purview of the “INNOCENCE PROJECT.’ (Email as originally sent; no emphasis added.)

Red Truck? Really Harvey, in December 2014, you’re still yakking about the infamous red pickup?

Has Harvey not paid the slightest attention to anything but the myth and folklore that he certainly helped create? Do the admissions from Peltier and others not matter at all from the original false narrative Peltierites have labored with over these past four* decades? From Peltier’s own statements, Dino Butler saying the whole Mr. X thing was a lie, the LPDC backing away from that fable and one of his own attorneys admitting “…the Mr. X story was concocted.” The examples are far too lengthy to mention here but are intimately detailed in the link below (Footnote 1).

Missing from that list is now perhaps the most significant blunder and burning evidence of the fabrication from none other than Harvey himself.

One question Harvey: Since Peltier’s Prison Writings, was “Edited by Harvey Arden.” Yes, you were the editor…then:

Why is there no mention of Mr. X or the red pickup in the book?

An oversight? An honest error while formatting? Hardly, but instead a deliberate act to hide the lie. Do you and other Peltierites really believe that omitting Peltier’s only alibi (that someone else who they all knew killed the agents), a deceit perpetuated for nearly two decades would simply disappear, or be forgotten in the fog of all the other fabrications of folklore and myth? Not likely.

As difficult as it may be, Harvey, and Delaney and any of the others who remain, recognize one thing; if nothing else, people have seen Peltier for what he really is. Add in all the abuses of AIM, the greed and self-indulgence of AIM leadership, the bodies yet to be uncovered at Wounded Knee II, Peltier’s pandering for money that isn’t showing up and especially those who have recognized that what happened at Jumping Bull had nothing to do with Native America, except for the perversion of a proud heritage by Peltier and the other AIM cowards that day. Peltier’s years of fabrications, riddled with contradictions apparently bother his followers little, if at all.

Peltier’s fortunes have passed. Supporters have dried up (witnessed by the failed and pathetic fundraiser last year) and the President too recognizes the last thing Peltier deserves is any consideration for his crimes.

Neither clemency nor Peltier can stand on the mountain of lies he has created.

“In the Spirit of Coler and Williams” (Fn.2)

Ed Woods

Postscript:

Hatred? Harvey is mistaken. He, of all people, should recognize passion when he sees it. I’ll repeat what I have many times; I don’t hate Leonard Peltier. I will admit that I had an incredibly strong dislike (yes, perhaps even hatred) for Bob Robideau. He was a worthless human being, a disgusting and loathing creature who slithered from the AIM cesspool. I felt that first-hand having to sit in the same room in New York City with him and other equally disturbed far-left loons of the Jericho Movement. (http://www.noparolepeltier.com/debate.html#Robideau-NYC) I don’t hate Peltier, but will continue the passion to honor the memory and sacrifice of Jack Coler and Ron Williams and doing all that’s necessary to ensure justice continues and Peltier serves his remaining days at FCI Coleman.

Footnotes:

1) Uncovering the history of the lie of Mr. X and the infamous red pickup:

http://www.noparolepeltier.com/lie.html

2) Meet Jack Coler and Ron Williams; the victims of an unrepentant, cold-blooded, and cowardly murderer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ozhEumzwgKA

*More precisely 39 years since his arrest by the RCMP on February 6, 1976.

Rest In Peace; Part II

Dear Supporters:

While researching and writing the Blog recognizing Jack Coler’s January 12, 1947 birthday, I came across a disturbing video that had painful similarities to June 26, 1975 and the Jumping Bull property, Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, South Dakota.

Born within days of the Incident at Oglala, Kyle Dinkheller would later begin a career in law enforcement.

On January 12, 1998, twenty-two year old Laurens County Deputy Sheriff, Dinkheller, on a rural Georgia road, pulled over a pickup truck doing 98 miles an hour driven by 51 year old, Vietnam veteran, Andrew Howard Brannan.

The traffic stop quickly escalated with Brannan’s bizarre and aggressive behavior and responses to the Deputy’s commands. A scuffle ensued resulting in Brannan retrieving an M-1 carbine from his pickup and empting two magazines into the cruiser and killing Deputy Dinkheller. Brannan was wounded in the exchange, escaped, was arrested the following day, tried, convicted and sentence to death. His appeals were denied.

The entire horrifying event was captured on the cruiser’s video camera.

Brannan’s last recorded words with the final fatal shot to the deputy’s face was,
“Die-F'er.”

Leonard Peltier, along with other AIM members, fled Pine Ridge after the murders of Jack Coler and Ron Williams. During their escape Peltier bragged about the death of the agents. Years later at another murder trial, one of those overhearing Peltier’s confession testified and quoted him saying, “The m-f'er begged for his life but I shot him anyway.”

Justice remains for Jack Coler and Ron Williams as Leonard Peltier serves the remainder of his consecutive life sentences at the federal prison in Coleman, Florida, plus the additional seven consecutive years owed for his armed escape from Lompoc Penitentiary. There he will remain until the final judgment arrives.

Final justice for Deputy Dinkheller was reached seventeen years and a day after his execution, today, January 13, as Brannan was put to death by lethal injection.

Kyle Dinkheller left behind a two-year old daughter, and a pregnant wife who gave birth to their son in September 1998.

Our thoughts go out to Deputy Dinkheller’s family, friends and comrades in arms, especially now at a time when too many are critical of the danger and responsibilities faced daily by law enforcement throughout the country. May he rest in peace.

“In the Spirit of Coler and Williams”
Ed Woods

Postscript:

The Brannan case prompted considerably more research and sole searching. As jaded as I may be over the whole Peltier matter, at the moment it mattered little that Brannan was to be put to death. However, there is more to the story.

I have never been an advocate for the death penalty, one way or the other, perhaps for the wrong reasons. Death has its finality. A case in point is Timothy McVeigh who stopped his appeals and chose to go ahead with his execution. I don’t believe he did it for martyrdom for his white supremacist cause. No monuments have been erected in his memory by any hate groups. His choice was one of desperation. I believe that he could no longer stand the confinement of a concrete cell and took the easy way out.

I was troubled in 1998 (there’s that year again), when then Texas Governor, George W. Bush, (I believe wanting to show that he was tough on crime), didn’t intervene in the execution of Carla Faye Tucker. Studying her history, it was clear to me at least, that in some instances rehabilitation does work and matter. No one was asking for her release for her heinous crimes as a confused, drug addicted teen being misled by an older psychopath, but to spare her life to remain in prison where she had helped an untold number of inmates start on the right path. If there ever was a strong case for commutation, Tucker, in my judgment, was a classic example.

On Monday, January 12, Brannan was afforded a final appeal before the Parole Board which had the ability to commute his sentence to life without the possibility of parole. They were unsuccessful.

His attorney’s touched on the facts of his conviction noting mostly that his trial counsel failed to demonstrate his severely diminished mental state.

From the record, Brannan, more likely than not, had psychological issues prior to his tour in Vietnam, however, his service as an Army officer and artillery forward observer platoon leader is well documented. He was recognized for having served honorably and bravely in combat.

His life spiraled down post-Vietnam resulting in a diagnose of bi-polar disorder and PTSD so severe that he was classified as 100% disabled by the VA. With all his personal problems and total detachment from society there were no instances of criminal behavior, bizarre and inappropriate for certain, but nothing overtly violent until his fateful encounter with Deputy Dinkheller on that rural Georgia road.

No one is contesting the facts nor suggesting that Brannan do nothing more than remain in prison where prescribed medication keeps him under control.
The strongest argument, in my opinion, his attorneys made was quoting the U.S. Supreme Court for recognizing that our “…Nation has a long tradition of according leniency to veterans in recognition of their service, especially for those who fought on the front lines…”

Giving no solace to Kyle Dinkheller’s family and friends is their choice whether Brannon is put to death or never sees the light of day and will never be a threat to society. That conclusion is theirs and theirs alone.

Brannon’s heinous act, motivated by personal demons, is a far cry, however, from the cold-blooded murderer, Leonard Peltier.

It is more than significant to note that Brannon has never glorified his actions nor demeaned the loss of Kyle Dinkheller.

Peltier, on the other hand, daily, with each breath and every word, has persistently denigrated the memory and sacrifice of FBI Agents Jack Coler and Ron Williams. Peltier does so by playing the race card to the sympathies of the unknowing that in some bizarre fashion he is emblematic of the struggles of an otherwise proud and traditional Native American culture. In reality, he is a charlatan of the worst kind.

Had this discussion been about Peltier, rather than Brannan, the point would still be the same. At least Brannan’s mental state has some basis for understanding his actions that day. Peltier, on the other hand, demonstrates that he was the consummate coward and is where he belongs. Death for Brannon will not bring back Kyle, but commutation would have kept him confined where he needed to be.

Peltier, though, needs to be alive and facing concrete walls every minute of the days he has remaining. His freedom will not come at the end of a needle but feet first as the doors of Coleman open to let him out for the last time. 

SA Jack R. Coler; 1947-1975 Rest-in-Peace

Dear Supporters:

Husband, father, son, brother. Professional, dedicated, courageous. These are some of the things that come to mind when we remember Jack Coler. Others are partner, friend, and the unquestioned character traits of Fidelity, Bravery and Integrity. Jack left behind a loving widow and two young sons who may have only a faint memory of their devoted, caring and brave father.

On January 12, Jack would have reached his sixty-eighth birthday. There is no way of knowing what these last forty years of his life may have brought. But those who knew him could easily imagine a life rich in accomplishments and strong family ties. Perhaps retired from a long and productive Bureau career and with Jack’s commitment and dedication to law enforcement, he may have pursued another career as a Chief of Police. Or, with his sons and grandchildren continued his love of the outdoors with deeper adventures exploring remote wilderness areas.

All the potential enjoyment, happiness, successes and challenges of a life that was to be, however, was robbed from Jack, his family, and many friends by the Cowards of Jumping Bull on that agonizing and tragic day in 1975.

With certainty, Jack Coler knows that he can rest assured we will continue to honor his memory and sacrifice in the line-of-duty. That reverence and commitment has no expiration date. His memory will live on in every FBI Field Office in the country.

To see Jack as he was then, and to imagine meeting him today, please see the remarkable video produced by the Society of Former Special Agents of the FBI available on YouTube. There, you will learn about the incredible Jack Coler and his equally brave and courageous partner, Ron Williams. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ozhEumzwgKA

 “In the Spirit of Coler and Williams”

Ed Woods