To the Editor:
In your editorial of August 21 "Convoys unwelcome: Fringe groups could push tensions over edge", you characterized the Washington State Tyranny Response Team (WSTRT) as being among "groups that hope to use the plight of the farmers to promote ultra-right agendas". It is apparent that the author made no effort to determine the nature of our organization before casting it in this light. No contact was made with anyone affiliated with WSTRT, or with any of the Klamath farmers present at the headgate camp during the WSTRT's August 10-12 stay at that camp.
Even a cursory look at the Washington State Tyranny Response Team website (http://www.trt-wa.org) will show that the "agenda" this organization promotes (quoted from the website's Mission Statement, Statement of Principles and Code of Conduct) is hardly "ultra-right" (unless defense of the Constitution has somehow become the sole purview of the right wing…):
"WSTRT's mission is to fight back against any and all assaults on the Bill of Rights, with our primary focus on the Right To Keep And Bear Arms.
We pledge our commitment to the absolute restoration of The Bill of Rights and to strict adherence to the legal and moral principles of the Declaration of Independence, upon which this nation was founded.
WSTRT welcomes ANY person who shares our determination to reinstate the Bill of Rights and the Constitution to their proper places as the Supreme Law of this Land, at all levels of government. White supremacists, bigots, anti-Semites, homophobes and racists need not apply."
Further, the suggestion that we have ulterior motives for our relief convoy to Klamath Falls is, frankly, appalling. We went to Klamath Falls to deliver a $1000 donation to the Klamath-Lakes Counties Food Bank, a few hundred dollars worth of supplies to the headgate camp and to spend the weekend at the headgates to show our support for the embattled farmers there.
As for the convoys being "unwelcome"… I suggest you ask the farmers of Klamath Falls whether they are welcome or not. That viewpoint is likely to be vastly different in Klamath Falls than from your rarified perspective in Eugene.
Jeff Stewart
Co-Founder, Washington State Tyranny Response Team
jeff@trt-wa.org
http://www.trt-wa.org