A police lieutenant in Klamath Falls, Ore., remains on administrative leave for telling a rally of farmers and ranchers he supports them in their bid for water rights and for warning that denial of those rights could lead to civil unrest.
Lt. Jack Redfield, a 39-year veteran of the force and described as a “cop’s cop,” brought food to the rally July 28 and gave an impassioned, yet responsible speech.
He prefaced his remarks by explaining that his views were “not necessarily the opinion of the city of Klamath Falls or the Klamath Falls Police Department.”
“It is my opinion as a private citizen of Oregon and the United States and as a small ranch operator,” he said. “I am not affected financially to the degree of other Klamath Basin ranchers due to non-ranch related income. I am also one of the fortunate few who irrigates from a well (for the time being), but there is no doubt that the so-called environmentalists will be initiating an effort to control or stop irrigation from ground water in the near future.”
He blamed the Klamath water crisis on “so-called environmentalists and our federal agencies,” characterizing their actions as “nothing more than an act of thinly disguised domestic terrorism directed at the economy of the U.S.”
Water has been denied the farmers and ranchers by federal officials who say they must protect “endangered” suckerfish and Coho salmon.
“I believe that the people who are orchestrating this atrocity are not environmentalists at all (although they may be being manipulated into believing they are doing the right thing), that they are actually acting in the capacity of environmental and/or economic terrorists (or at least extremists) who are launching a severe and effective attack upon the economy of the United States,” he said.
Strong words, but I agree with them.
“The same environmentalist extremists enjoyed a good deal of success in recent years with the spotted owl, which was also nothing more than an excuse to destroy the logging industry,” he said. “There is no doubt that had the spotted owl not been considered an endangered species, they would have easily found another creature, be it a reptile, fish, other bird, rodent, etc. that needed to be protected to further their cause. So be it with the suckers. In other parts of the nation where such nonsense is starting, I am hearing reports of endangered gnatcatchers, shrimp, turtles, other fish, etc.”
All true.
“Recently the terrorists/extremists have enjoyed a tremendous success in shutting down our local agriculture with no regards at all to the misery and destruction of thousands of local ranchers, farmers, local business people,” he said. “They have also found a great amount of support through the liberal federal court system within the ninth district. I don’t see that changing until the case makes it to the U.S. Supreme Court, but that takes time and I am afraid that it will be too late for many of our local people by then.”
A more than valid analysis, wouldn’t you agree?
“Our only hope is that Congress will recognize where this is going within the entire nation and take action to modify the endangered species act to achieve a reasonable balance between the needs of endangered species and the livelihood of American citizens,” he added.
To which I say: Good luck. If you’re counting on Congress to exercise common sense, you will be waiting a long time.
“This is not a local issue,” he said. “I would suggest that the Klamath Basin attack is nothing more than a test case. With the success that the environmental extremists and some out of control federal agents (so called public servants, hah) have recently enjoyed, they will not stop in the Klamath Basin.”
Keep in mind, he said this before we learned that, indeed, the government is sponsoring research studies of the impact that the denial of water has on the community. Indeed, the residents of the Klamath Basin are guinea pigs in the truest sense of the term.
“They are already up to their devious evil in other parts of Oregon and in other states,” Redfield said. “Considering that there is a good deal of agriculture in nearly every state in the nation, this thing will spread like wildfire and before long I believe that our way of life as we now know it will be very different.”
How can you argue with that?
“We have seen a great deal of restraint among our local agriculture community and our local business people who are threatened, despite the extreme emotional trauma that they are experiencing and their understandable anger,” said Redfield. “Their professionalism and restraint during the recent bucket brigade demonstration was remarkable. This will not last.”
And this is the part that really got the federal cops in Klamath Falls worked up.
“As the extremists and out-of-control federal agents continue to push and as the agricultural people see their fields turn brown and their entire lives destroyed, their frustration will undoubtedly escalate to the point of boiling over,” Redfield said. “It won’t take much from Andy Kerr or Wendell Wood or their like to spark an extremely violent response. I am talking about rioting, homicides and destruction of property like dams that hold the precious water from the agricultural community.”
Obviously, Redfield was not advocating violence. He was warning of its inevitability when you push people too far – a reasonable thing for a police officer to do, I would say.
“When you expand the crisis to our 50 states over the next year or two as this madness progresses, you are looking at the destruction of the livelihoods of millions of people and businesses,” he said. “Will that strike a violent response? I think so!”
Redfield went on to warn that these kinds of confrontations could well lead to civil war in America.
“Is there a possibility that this could lead to civil war within the United States?” he asked. “I think the potential for extreme violence, even to the extent of civil war is possible if action is not taken in the very near future to remedy this tragedy.”
I look at Lt. Jack Redfield as a hero for speaking his mind courageously in a public forum as he did. He’s fighting for his community – a noble cause indeed. His suspension from the police force is an outrage. People don’t give up their First Amendment rights when they put on a uniform or wear a badge.
Read Lt. Jack Redfield’s entire speech.
If you would like to sound off on the suspension of Lt. Redfield, the city manager is Jeff Ball and the mayor is Todd Kelstrom. The telephone number at City Hall is 541-883-5316. The fax line is 541-883-5399. The e-mail address is [email protected]
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