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FEMA swat team raids the Clearwater County Flood Control Center
TOWN OFFICIALS INCREDULOUS OVER OROFINO HIT!
On the morning of Friday, July 18, agents from the Federal
Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) wearing bulletproof vests
and accompanied by two State Police officers, entered the Idaho
Clearwater County Flood Control Command Center, located near
the small central Idaho town of Orofino. When they departed, they
took with them two large vans and a sports utility vehicle loaded
with county records and left behind stunned and confused office
personnel, some of whom were in tears, said Clearwater County
Commissioner, Bud Bonner.
Confronting the federal agents, Commissioner Bonner demanded
of the agent in charge what they wanted. He was simply informed
that they would not tell him. Pressing further Bonner said, "Well,
let me see the search warrant, that'll tell me." To the commissioner's
surprise, except for the signature of the issuing judge, the affiant
(person requesting the warrant) and the handwritten word "sealed"
in the upper right hand corner, the warrant was blank. Bonner
thought this strange since the fourth article of amendment to the
U.S. Constitution says, "...and no warrants shall issue, but upon
probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, and particularly
describing the place to be searched and the persons or things to be
seized." The WINDS obtained a copy of the warrant and the only
description on the document is the location of the county's Flood
Control Command Center. No mention, whatever, is made of the
reason ("probable cause") or description of items to be seized.
When Bonner again asked what the purpose of the raid was, the
agent indicated that the information was "sealed." Again upon
pressing the issue, Bonner was told by the agent who filed for the
search warrant that the original document read, "Reasonable cause
has been presented that a crime has been committed against the
government of the United States."
According to an article in the Washington newspaper, The
Spokesman-Review, there is "a grand jury investigation under way,
apparently into county handling of money it received from FEMA."
Clearwater County and the city of Orofino suffered extensive
damage in the fall flooding and had applied to FEMA for, and
received a portion of, reimbursement for the rebuilding of the
county's infrastructure.
Commissioner Bonner admitted to considerable anger over the
incident. "Those records are open to anyone, anytime to examine,"
Bonner said. Good people, he added, who are just doing their jobs
were frightened and confused. "You can go to anybody's
bookkeeping system and find a mistake or a fault, but you don't
send a hit squad....The Assessor and Clerk Auditor," he continued,
"were both in tears and that upsets you to see good, honest people
that have tried their best to make this thing work, in tears."
Orofino city mayor, Roy Clay, whose records were also seized in
the raid, affirmed Commissioner Bonner's claim stating that, "Those
records are public." He told The WINDS that he didn't have a
problem with their examination of them. "That's what audits are
for," he said. "But this storm trooper tactic, like somebody's a
crook--I don't approve of that."
"To me it was a slap in the face," Bonner said, "that they were
afraid that we were going to shoot them or resist...all they had to do
was ask." When he inquired of them why they felt the need for
bulletproof vests, the agents refused to respond. Bonner said that
he felt that they were of the mind set that they were entering the
wilderness of Idaho--Ruby Ridge country--and, hence, their
paranoid behavior. Even though Commissioner Bonner states that
he does not agree with the philosophy or methods of the militias or
far right patriot groups,"They," he observed of the FEMA agents,
"did exactly what the constitutionalists, the militia people are
accusing them of doing....This is more than Clearwater County, it's
more than the State of Idaho [this] goes right back to Janet Reno
and Bill Clinton."
Having been in law enforcement as a police officer and police
chief for thirty years before becoming commissioner for Clearwater
County Bonner said, "I'm an old man and I've never been arrested in
my life and I would sure hate to be arrested by FEMA for my first
time."
When approached for comment, an official in FEMA's Inspector
General's office, the department conducting the raid on Clearwater
County, would say only that it is agency policy that, "In any search
warrant or arrest situation [FEMA] agents will wear protective
vests." When asked if there is no differentiation made between
governmental agencies (state, county or municipal) and groups that
are reportedly violent in nature, like militias or paramilitary
organizations, the official's abrupt response was that he was "...not
going to go any further in discussing the policy." This entire
incident raises the ominous specter of a federal government that has
taken an adversarial posture toward the states, as if they were rivals
for power or even outright enemies.
Ten days after the flooding in February of last year, FEMA
responded to the county's request for assistance and told them to
repair their infrastructure and return it to county standards.
Commissioner Bonner asked for written codes and guidelines for
record keeping and procedures by which to comply with FEMA
requirements. He was told that there is no such documentation.
"Six months later, I asked the same question," Bonner said, "and
they were saying, `You're not playing by the rules'...and to this day
they have not produced one written instruction. We started the
game," he added, "and then they made up the rules as they went
along."
Mayor Clay told The WINDS that he also "pointedly asked" for
any documentation FEMA had that would guide them through the
unfamiliar territory of the appropriation of government funds and,
as did Commissioner Bonner, he received nothing. For a
bureaucracy that runs on paperwork that defines the minutest
requirements and procedures, this seems to raise considerably more
questions than it answers--such as: to what purpose is FEMA's lack
of specific, written guidelines in the use of disaster funding and
record keeping? Do they intentionally create situations whereby
they can maintain the leverage of intimidation over states and
counties, illustrating to all the consequences of departing from the
will of the federal government--even if that will is not revealed?
"States have certain rights," Commissioner Bonner expressed,
"that are being abridged by the federal government right now."
Before Clearwater County ever again applies to FEMA for any kind
of relief, he said, "I think we'll take a hard look at other sources."
In response to their methods of procuring the county's and city's
records, Mayor Clay also strongly stated, along with Bonner, that
all their records were open and could be inspected at any time by
anyone. The Mayor said that those files are their means to prove to
FEMA that they qualify for disaster reimbursement. "Why would
we hide something," Clay asked rhetorically, "that we need them to
pay on? Does that make sense?"
At this time, neither the mayor of Orofino, Idaho nor the
commissioner for Clearwater County knows why they were treated
as they were or what the Grand Jury is investigating.
FEMA's action will potentially cause severe fiscal problems for
Clearwater County which, to date, has spent, at FEMA's
instruction, $1.1 million more than they have received in
reimbursement for disaster relief. Commissioner Bonner expressed
concern over the considerable tax burden that this would lay upon a
county with a population of only 9,500 people if they do not
receive what FEMA has promised.
What has been brought to view about this federal agency by the
Orofino incident is apparently only the tip of an iceberg. Created
by President Carter under Executive Order #12148, FEMA's legal
authorization is under Title 2, United States Code, Section 5121
called, "The Stafford Act." In a previous article, subtitled, "FEMA,
The Velvet Hammer", The WINDS presented substantiated facts on
the enormous power that this agency possesses. During our
investigations into FEMA's virtual dictatorial authority during any
declared national emergency, this office obtained a considerable
quantity of information that, even though each item was received
from more than one source, was deemed unusable because this
reporter was unable to thoroughly corroborate the original sources.
In light of the clearly heavy-handed approach and assumption of
dominance that FEMA has taken, the rumors and allegations appear
considerably more plausible.
To many Americans various assertions of governmental crimes
and conspiracies may seem imaginary. While most government
workers see their own function as genuinely and sincerely
protective of human rights, there are times when it is brought to
one's attention that things are no longer as they have previously
appeared. The Orofino raid has become one of those times. It may
be only a short while until these matters will be seen in the light of
a different and more accurate reality. Perhaps all who heretofore
have summarily dismissed such ideas are in for a considerable
surprise.
The WINDS contacted FEMA's Director of Communications,
Morrie Goodman, to present his agency's official response to those
allegations and rumors. Mr. Goodman allowed only the mention of
two of them before interrupting with, "That's enough. What I have
to say is good for all of it," and issued a denial. "These things come
probably from the same people who swear they've been visited by
aliens....We go on with our important work for disasters, and that's
about as much credence as we give it."
Does this allow for the question as to whether this "important
work for disasters" by the agency tasked with the welfare of
American citizens during times of emergency is not now evolving
into a system of creating "disasters" rather than merely responding
to them?
Are FEMA's actions in Clearwater County only a small but
portentous sign of the emergence of a very large beast? Is Orofino
only a beginning?
In the Protocols it is written: "There remains a small space to cross
and the whole, long path we have trodden is now ready to close its
cycle of the Symbolic Snake....When this ring closes, all the nation
states...will be locked into its coil as in a powerful vice."
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