----- Original Message -----
From: spiker
To: Recipient list suppressed
Sent: Friday, August 24, 2001 6:21 PM
Subject: Fritz Springmeier: Endangered Species Americanus Farmer Makes Comeback at Klamath Falls

Source:
Sierra Times
http://www.sierratimes.com/

Endangered Species Americanus Farmer Makes Comeback at Klamath Falls
http://www.sierratimes.com/archive/files/aug/24/arfs082401.htm

By Fritz Springmeier

08.24.01

Farmers are winning their struggle for survival in the Klamath Basin in
southern Oregon and northern California. The farmers have adapted to the
latest threat to their species by a multipronged offensive, which provides
lots of good examples for other species of free and wild Americans to
emulate as they face domestication into slavery or extinction. These
farmer's ingenuity, faith, and hard work are an inspiration to us all. The
Wall Street Journal recently described the Federal assault against these
Klamath farmers as "rural cleansing". While spending time with these
farmers, this reporter learned some powerful truths to save our
nation. These men and women made one proud to be an American again. Read
about this struggle in this article, and then pass on the message.

No one in the controlled media will dare give you the real facts. The
large doses of propaganda we are getting are hiding the real issues. I
decided to go to the area and get the facts first hand, and I talked to
people on all sides of the issues, but mostly from the farmer's side. Very
view people understand them. Having farmed as a teenager, and having been
a farmer for a few years as an adult, I understand them. This is a first
hand report from the Klamath Basin inspired by being involved in the
battle, and I will try to provide the reader with a feel of the area and
issues in this battle, plus the farmer's winning strategies and tactics, as
well as an overall feel for what is happening.

Certain people are into power and control. And they are connected with
environmentalists who are determined to push an agenda through. It is
falsely claimed as a pretext that the worthless bottom feeding sucker fish
is close to extinction; and in order to save it, water must be withheld
from about 1400 Klamath Basin farms which are dependent upon water released
into irrigation canals. In other words, the government policy is: save the
sucker, kill the farmers.

Our tax-dollars are paying the black, brown and green uniformed police in
the area to diligently guard, round-the-clock, these bottom feeding
suckerfish. And in typical jackbooted law and "odor" fashion, the police
are fastidiously carrying out the wishes of the powerful elite (top feeding
parasites), who plot the starvation and destruction of the masses, and
their own economic aggrandizement. As I watched these police, I couldn't
help think how their resumes will read, "Guarded the sucker."

Yes, they just followed orders, and it is not their fault that the entire
economy of the region, which depends upon irrigation, was destroyed, they
only followed orders.
It is not their fault people's lives were destroyed (about 70,000 lives
have been economically devastated), who are the very people they were
supposedly hired to protect, they are only following orders to protect
those sucker fish.

Is there no limit to what they will mindlessly obey?

Some of the local police actually deserve commendation. Jack Redfield was
a policeman who spoke up in support of the farmers. I was told he lost his
job. Some of the farmers were shouting, "Where is Jack Redfield?" at
officials downtown because this officer had dropped out of sight, and the
farmers were mystified as to where he went. Another policeman who deserves
commendation is the county sheriff Tim Evinger. From what was reported to
me, Sheriff Tim Evinger knew the situation these last few weeks has been
volatile, and he knew the Feds would stir up trouble. Therefore he got a
letter signed by a judge and faxed it to Washington D.C. releasing the Fed
Marshals from his area. In two hours he had removed their activity in
Klamath County and they left the county the next day. This was a wise
decision, because the local police seemed to be more peaceful that the
Federal police I saw in the area.

After all, the local police do have to look these people in the face when
they shop at Safeway, and their kids may attend the same schools. I even
saw some of them smile, as if to show they were human. The Park Police the
Feds brought in from California seemed to this author to care less about
the locals. I watched their reveille formation at about 6:45 at the
Headwaters. One of the officers stood saluting for half a minute in front
of the others in a military formation. I remembered my time as a first
sergeant and I fancied I heard him say as I watched, "All five present and
accounted for, SIR!" I was told that these Federal Park Police who act like
Rambo want-to-be's came from the Presidio, which is where ex-head of the
KGB Gorbechev has his Environmental headquarters. These police were well
matched to work for the Green Neo-Nazis of our government and Gorbechev.

During my time in K Falls, both the farmers and the police did lots of
posturing to let the other side know they were there in force. The Feds
have erected a fence and have taken control of the Klamath Irrigation
District's irrigation headquarters. I watched farmers confront them that
this was public property and they responded, "It hasn't been determined who
owns this property." This is the flimsy kind of authority these police have
been working under.

As I drove down to Klamath Falls, or "K Falls" as the locals are apt to
say, I got a good look at an earlier attempt to fix nature. Midget bugs
were brought in to eat mosquito larvae. As one drives south toward K Falls
one is astounded by the beauty of a lake 22 miles long. All along the blue
lake, black clouds rise up from the ground like tornadoes every few
yards. The Midget bugs ate the mosquitoes and have then proliferated into
black clouds of what must be a googolplex of Midgets. I could barely see
out of my windshield as my car collided with thousands of bugs. I don't
want to make too much of this, its just ironic that my first major
impression of the area was how easily an environmental idea can get out of
hand. As one enters Klamath Falls, one is greeted by a cross erected by
the farmers which memorializes the recent four firefighters who died near
Winthrop, WA because environmentalists didn't want them to get water to put
out the fire which they were fighting, and which then went on to kill
them. Another wacky (and lethal) environmental idea.

Environmental Trick or treat? Any one like candy-coated poison? There is
a lot of it being handed out today under the sugar coating of "saving our
planet".

This is our environmental treat. The environmentalists created policies
that began killing the sucker fish, and now they are using these dead fish
as a pretext to carry out more destructive policies. That's our
environmentalists' trick. By withholding water from the farmers, a large
eco system down stream has been dying, and eagles, and other birds and fish
are now dying, supposedly to rescue the sucker fish, which actually does
worse with high water levels. Anyway, the sucker spawned in the early spring.

At 9:30 a.m., Tuesday morning 21 August, 2001, I rolled into downtown K
Falls where a crowd of thousands of farmers and farm supporters stood
patiently waiting for their Freedom Day parade. I mingled with the
farmers, smiling to myself at the creative use of Tee shirts. Some shirts
said "Klamath T Party", some "Tyranny Response Team", another "UN Peace
thru Terror", and yet another "Headgate Stand July 4, 2001".

At the Klamath County Courthouse, my friend saw the large crowd of farmers
and a free mike and suggested we take the mike and broadcast, "All those in
favor of the sucker fish raise your hand." It was a temptation, I admit,
especially since it looked like the crowd could use some humor.

Not all the K Fallers are supportive of the farmers. One fuzzy thinking
man told me that there was no parade that day, and this in spite of the
visible crowds, all the police and the yellow tape strung down the entire
parade path. His advice that it was cancelled seemed silly. All right,
while we're discussing silly things, let's try another fish story on for
size. The establishment news had spread the story that the sucker fish is
part of the Klamath Indian tribe's ancient religious rituals, and that the
Indians, who eat tons of the fish, were alarmed that it was growing
scarce. A Klamath Indian soon set me straight. The Klamath Indians don't
even remember their ancient rituals, but a few years ago began using the
fish in their reinvented religious ceremonies. However, the Indians are
not fond of eating the sucker, and so it is definitely not in danger of
extinction from them.

Still, that has not prevented the head of the tribe Alan Foreman from
pronouncing to all the establishment media, (and boy do they love to quote
him), his fury that the white-man farmers are ruthlessly killing the sacred
sucker fish. Further still, Alan Foreman, the head of the Klamath Tribe,
has gotten special treatment from the government. His house, which was
built off the reservation, is tax-free and was built without having to get
permits from the county. To some, the secret special treatment he has
gotten reeks of some Federal kickback deal. Further, some in the tribe
wonder how this man who didn't grow up in the area, but was an outsider,
even got to be the head of the tribe. What is going on here? Are we
seeing the manipulation of things by big business and their boys in
government and tribal government? This all reeks of more law and
"odor". And on August 14, we have Sen.
Ron Wyden promising to push a bill through Congress that would give some
land in the area back to the Indians, as well as provide money to "help"
farmers by buying their wiped out farms.

When I say wiped out, this means farmland value in the area has dropped
along with the water table from $2,800 per better ground acre to
$28/acre. The value of the land died along with most of this year's farm
crops, as $12,650,000 in assessed value went to $858,000. This year's
potato crop is only 5% of what it was last year. One Farm speaker at the
Fairgrounds quipped that Klamath Falls is doing well in dehydrated potatoes
this year. Some farms no longer have water in their wells, because the
water table has dropped, because in past years the water released also
helped restore the water table.

Originally, the Klamath Basin flowed yearly about 1.2 million-acre feet of
water until this year. (All these stats have not been verified, but are
offered as approximate figures for discussion.)

And now we are navigating closer to the truth. Big business wants to use
the farmer's water for electricity. (Surplus electricity diverted from the
area's dead economy was sold to California by Scottish Power for a reported
$90 million profit.
Scottish Power owns two dams on the Klamath River.) Big business and
government want to buy the farmers' land for bargain prices. They want to
promote the power elite's agro businesses and destroy the self-sufficient
freedom loving American farm families of the basin. The real sucker slated
for extinction was the Klamath Basin farmers. But this hardy species of
farmer fought back, and is flexing his muscles and brains in new
ways. They have been forced into civil disobedience because they have had
very little redress of their grievances. The system unfortunately no
longer offers Americans ways to defend their rights. It is a government of
the power elite, for the power elite, and by the power elite.

Why is a relentless war being waged against all of us who hold sacred
traditional American values? The answers to that question are the bigger
picture. While some of the farmers were rather unfamiliar with the bigger
picture, as I mixed with the crowd of farmers on Tuesday morning, I ran
into plenty of farmers who knew exactly what the hidden agendas of the
power elite were. For instance, Bob Tofell pointed out the sign he had
carried to Washington, D.C. in the 1979 tractorcade. The sign was in the
Tuesday Freedom Day parade. Here was a man who knew the score.
He'd been fighting for decades to save the farmer, and he had no illusions
about a benevolent government. The rest of us are going to be haunted by
the death of our family farms. (By the way, if you don't like importing
oil how are you going to like importing food? This question was raised at
the rally.)

Others at the rally warned that we are not playing a game, but that this is
a battle for freedom in America that must be won. Farmer Alex Schireman,
who made a CD with his daughter with songs about this fight, was one of the
farmers who were not impressed with the grandstanding of politicians
Tuesday morning. Even to me, an outsider, some of the grandstanding looked
just like that, and when I looked around for local reactions I could see an
incredulous look come over various people. The Feds relief money ($20
million) is not reaching its announced recipients. No one has seen it,
even though some politicians talk like its been distributed. If some
relief doesn't hurry up, the $20 million might end up arriving after Agro
business takes over.

"Headgate" Sue sold me a clever little cartoon book where she encapsulates
the vital elements of what is going on. She writes, "We must be diligent
in our efforts and proceed to demand what is rightfully ours. Other states
in the nation are experiencing similar dilemmas. A time will come when we
will all have to unite as a people and take back what is ours."

And this is a natural lead into what was so wonderful about Freedom
Day. The farmers had chosen to emphasize success and hope. Their Freedom
Day was set to coincide with relief convoys from at least six
states. Relief convoys bringing food, clothes, and about $125,000, which
originated from Kalispell, Montana; Elko, Nevada and southern California
(Malibu) had started out in the Aug. 14-15 time period and picked up
additional convoy members on the way. They arrived in the K Falls area on
the 20th of August. The Nevada convoy had cleverly headed west into Utah,
then into Idaho, and then across Oregon.

Barbara Martin was one of the original founders of the movement. A core of
eight people made up the movement. She committed herself to call 10 people
every week and invite them to meetings. Most people were apathetic, even
about saving themselves, but there were a small group of dedicated farm
people who created the Klamath Fall Relief Fund. Barbara later turned this
over to others and created F.A.R.M.

Some of the winning strategies and tactics of this small group would include:

a. hard unceasing work b. an unquenchable hope c. an ability to show
people the bigger picture, while keeping their focus on the task at
hand. The rallies were always focused on the water issue for the farmers,
even though that issue is only a piece of a larger war waged against those
of us who have not submitted to tyranny.

d. The core of the movement was people who were not out to grandstand, and
were not out for themselves, but were giving caring people.

e. They knew how to keep up the momentum, and how to use the media, in
spite of the lack of a free press. Although the mass media repeatedly
wrote grossly distorted lies about the situation, the movement still was
able to garner media attention and publicity to draw attention to their plight.

f. They have been careful to self-police their own movement to discourage
any radical members from doing self-discrediting behavior.

g. They repeatedly taught spiritual values, and have drawn spiritual
lessons from their battles. Some of the scriptures they have used include
Exodus 19:4-5, Romans
1:25, and 2 CHR. 7:14,. One farm speaker said, "Thou shalt not steal,
return the water to its rightful place." 2 CHR. 7:14 is worth writing
out. It says, "If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble
themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways;
then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sins, AND WILL HEAL
their land."

We are looking at a core of people who have displayed those rare qualities
of determination, balance, godliness, hard work, creativity, and
selflessness. They didn't throw their arms up in defeat and complain that
they couldn't do everything, but they simply began doing what they could
do. There are other ways that they have planned to get their water, and
these were explained to me, but I will watch and wait as these plans unfold.

After a rally of thousands of people at the Fair grounds, some of us
traveled over to the camp that has been built at the headgates to the 1,400
miles of canals and ditches. Camp Headgate, a few tents and perhaps 7 RVs
and trailers, is really just a little corner of property adjacent to where
the head gate to the A canal starts.
Later, the various canals branch off from A canal and flow toward the east
and the southeast to provide irrigation water for alfalfa, potatoes, and
grain. The Headgate is on the north side of town just west of where
highway 97 enters town. The area in inauspicious. The water at the gate
flows under the gate and so there is no spectacular view to the newcomer
who has been listening to the news stories of big skirmishes fought
repeatedly at the headgates. Perhaps more interesting on Freedom Day was
the great band, the people, the signs and the various flags, including the
distress signal of a upside down American flag, and the yellow "Don't tread
on Me" rattlesnake flag.

I camped here, and at 2:15 a.m. I found myself too wrapped up in all these
words to sleep. I had to write this article. I got up and positioned
myself at the base of the flower- strewn base of the fire fighter's white
memorial cross. Deer across the road stared at me, and the police
(graveyard shift) also stared at me (or perhaps glared). In front of me
was the fence between the Feds and the Farmers. A cement mixer truck was
parked next to the fence as a large collection bowl for donated coins. The
Feds have large lights lighting up the area. The pump made its low
gurgling sound, and the sound of rushing water also flowed past one's ears,
as the Upper Klamath Lake makes its contribution to the canal. My words
were flowing too.
And this article may not be the limit of what flows. I hope to also
forward on some of our photos which were taken in K Falls, when they are
ready to send.

This is the site where something is starting. It is another
Concord. There have been previous battles, and there will be more
battles. Still there is something peculiar and special about this site. I
have never seen the spirit of resistance so pure and capable of
winning. This is no Waco, this is no Ruby Ridge. Many of us lovers of
liberty winced at what the Feds did to Americans at Waco and Ruby Ridge,
but it was difficult to stand with someone like David Koresh, for
instance. Even though we didn't like his persecution, we had a hard time
identifying with him. This time the Federal government has picked on
people we can easily side with. All of us can stand with them in their
battle against tyranny. The battle they fight is not just for themselves,
but also for all of us. And believe me, some of them are very aware that
they are on the front lines for all of us.

I was asked for my opinion at the Fairgrounds on Tuesday and this is what I
said, "They will tell you that you are the problem. The Oregonian wrote
that you and I have the nasty habit of driving cars, which is ruining the
environment. When Clinton made bad choices with Monica Lewinsky, they said
we were the problem, because we had known what Clinton was like and we
voted him in. Why are we the problem?
When my grandparents were local leaders in the American Ag movement, they
struggled to find out why the farmers could not get legal redress for the
abuses they suffered from the government. The Ag Movement found out that
Congress in 1933 revised the War Powers Act so that the government treats
each American as if he were a German spy. The country was quietly placed
under martial law, and we became the enemy. Why are we a problem? Because
we still have the spirit of liberty and have not been subjugated yet."