May 4, 2007
Flagstaff: KKK supporter threatened assault on Cinco de Mayo celebration
Cinco de Mayo celebration to continue, man arrested after threatening attack
Web threat suspect jailed until after Cinco de Mayo
By LARRY HENDRICKS
Assistant City Editor
Arizona Daily Sun
FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. -- A Flagstaff man accused by federal authorities of threatening to disrupt the local Cinco de Mayo festivities will remain behind bars until at least the end of the festival.
James Wesley Cheek, 55, was arrested Friday by FBI agents after he was accused of a felony charge of making threats via e-mail by attempting a posting on the Arizona Daily Sun Web site.
The editor of the newspaper contacted the FBI after receiving a story comment to be posted below a story on the newspaper’s Web site April 18. The commenter, using a pseudonym, said he was “gearing up” for the Cinco de Mayo festivities, where “Virginia might pale in comparison ...” The message was never posted.
Agents tracked down the anonymous poster through the message’s Internet Protocol address. Even though the suspect is a Flagstaff resident, the message traveled across state lines to get to the newspaper’s server, making it a federal offense.
Cheek was in U.S. Magistrate Court in Flagstaff Monday to determine if he should be released from jail pending trial for the charge.
Cheek’s attorney, Mik Jordahl, found out through questioning Cheek’s spouse that he has never been violent. He has no criminal record except for a concealed weapon arrest that was dismissed. Cheek has injuries so severe that he is permanently on disability.
Cheek’s spouse also talked about how he tried to commit suicide twice and suffers from anxiety and depression — for which he takes medication — because he can no longer support his family like he wants to.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Camille Bibles, questioning the lead investigator in the case, revealed a person who has a strong dislike for Hispanics. Cheek has begun to flirt with becoming a member of the Ku Klux Klan, even distributing fliers promoting the group. And he owns about a half-dozen guns including a 9 mm semi-automatic pistol.
When confronted with the e-mail, Cheek readily admitted to sending the e-mail. The agent, in his testimony, was adamant about Cheek never intending violence. Cheek just wanted the celebrations to be canceled.
U.S. Magistrate Mark Aspey said he found himself in a “quandary” because he wanted more information about Cheek’s psychiatric status from medical records.
Jordahl suggested the hearing be postponed a week. That would give time for the judge to review the medical records, and it will see the Cinco de Mayo festivities come and go.
Conviction for the offense of making threats via e-mail carries a maximum penalty of five years in prison and up to a $250,000 fine.
Larry Hendricks can be reached at 556-2262 or lhendricks@azdailysun.com.
(KVOA.com) FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. -- A Flagstaff man who allegedly e-mailed the local paper threatening a Virginia Tech-like incident during the city's Cinco de Mayo celebration was arrested by FBI agents Friday.
James Wesley Cheek made an initial appearance in federal court on a charge related to making threats via interstate communications, said Camille Bibles, assistant U.S. attorney in Flagstaff. Cheek, whose age was unavailable, is being held pending a detention hearing set for Monday. It wasn't known if he had a lawyer.
An editor at the Arizona Daily Sun in Flagstaff received a comment to be posted below a story on the paper's Web site on April 18, considered it threatening and passed it on to Editor Randy Wilson, according to a complaint filed in federal court.
Wilson contacted the FBI and turned over the e-mail, along with several others sent by a person who signed their name "dr. richard cameron."
An FBI agent traced the Internet Protocol address of the person who posted the comment to Cheek, who was interviewed at his home, according to an FBI affidavit supporting the complaint.
"He admitted to having recently posted a message under the pseudonym 'dr. richard cameron' on the Arizona Daily Sun Web site because he has 'an aversion to Mexicans' and intended to disrupt Cinco de Mayo celebrations in Flagstaff, Arizona," the agent wrote. "... by posting a threat to commit violence on a greater scale than that which had occurred on the Virginia Tech campus a few days prior to the posting, he intended for the celebrations to be canceled."
A student at Virginia Tech went on a murderous rampage at the university on April 16, killing 32 people before taking his own life.
Postings to the Daily Sun's Web site can be made anonymously, but Wilson said those making threats of violence can expect police to be called.
"This comment, coming two days after the Virginia Tech shootings, raised a red flag that we felt should be handled by the police," Wilson said. "We are hosting a community conversation, not a bulletin board for threats of violence or other criminal acts."
The comment traveled across state lines to the paper's e-mail server and became a federal offense, according to the FBI affidavit. A conviction can bring a a penalty of five years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000.
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Information from: Arizona Daily Sun, http://www.azdailysun.com/
Invitation to event:
COME AND JOIN THE CINCO DE MAYO PARADE AND EVENTS TOMORROW, SATURDAY. PARADE BEGINS 9AM AT COCONINO HIGH SCHOOL AND WILL TRAVEL ALONG CEDAR TO FOURTH STREET WHERE FESTIVITIES WILL CONTINUE.
MANY ARE AWARE FROM THE NEWS, THAT THIS EVENT WAS THREATENED BY A PERSON WHO SAID HE "HATES IMMIGRANTS, AND HAS AN AVERSION TO THOSE FROM MEXICO." THIS MAN IS CURRENTLY IN CUSTODY. HE THREATENED VIOLENCE IN ATTEMPTS TO DISRUPT THE EVENT BY SAYING, "VIRGINIA [TECH] MIGHT PALE IN COMPARISON..."
JOIN IN SOLIDARITY TO SHOW THE COMMUNITY AT LARGE THAT THIS TYPE OF HATRED, INTOLERANCE AND THREAT OF VIOLENCE IS NOT ACCEPTABLE. THESE THREATS WON'T STRIP AWAY THE HEART, SOUL AND INTEGRITY OF OUR COMMUNITY.
READ THE E-MAIL BELOW, SENT OUT BY PROF. MIGUEL VASQUEZ, WHO ELOQUENTLY ADDRESSES THE ISSUES FURTHER.
Hola everybody,
There has been some concern expressed by NAU students, staff, and faculty in the last few days about recent racist threats to participants in the 5 de mayo parade made by an apparently sick individual here in Flagstaff. This man is allegedly affiliated with the KKK and says he hates immigrants and all Mexicans and made reference to the tragedy at Virginia Tech. I have spoken with authorities and been assured that the man is currently in custody at least until Monday after the parade and is being investigated by the FBI.It is my belief that once the threat has been neutralized as it has, rather than allowing ourselves to be coerced into submission, we should unite to show that we will never permit this kind of intimidation -- against anyone in our community. In these last few years, we have allowed our country to slip into a climate of fear, trepidation, and uncertainty. We are better than this. I would like to encourage and invite everyone this Saturday - to the 5 de mayo parade and festival - starting at 9am at Coconino HS and marching to Cedar and down 4th Street thru the East Side.We have a chance, all of us, to make a statement here and now regarding this climate of hate, disrespect, and fear. Please distribute this to anyone you know who would be interested.
Bienvenidos Todos, miguel.
COINTELPRO tactics and spying bolstered by Patriot Act
Photo School of Americas Watch
The United States' School of Americas training handbook is declassified. The handbook, used to train Latin military, recommended torture and the targeting of civilians, resulting in the torture and murder of masses of Indigenous Peoples in the Americas. Women were raped and children murdered, as lands were seized for U.S. and multi-national corporations. Those who organized to hold onto their lands were tortured, their labors exploited. The situation continues in Mexico, Central America and South America.
The handbook is online at:
http://www.soaw.org/article.php?id=98
Declassified FBI Files Reveal Years of Surveillance of SOA Watch by FBI's Counterterrorism Division
May 4, 2007 http://www.soaw.org/article.php?id=98
Declassified FBI Files Reveal Years of Surveillance of SOA Watch by FBI's Counterterrorism Division
http://www.americas.org/item_27247
Resource Center of the Americas
The Terrorism Trap: September 11 and Beyond
ACLU and School of the Americas Watch filed for documents; FBI blacks out information, refuses to declassify some pages
The American Civil Liberties Union and the ACLU of Georgia last week released new evidence that the Federal Bureau of Investigation is conducting counterterrorism investigations into School of the Americas Watch. As we’ve seen time and again when the FBI targets social change organizations, the files demonstrate a clear attempt to stifle political opposition. In the released documents, the FBI noted that “the [SOA Watch November vigil] has grown dramatically over the past several years.” The FBI elevated its concern to “priority” level and subjected SOA Watch to “counterterrorism” surveillance. The Bureau monitored the media attention that the annual November vigil and the trials of people arrested for nonviolent civil disobedience received, and agents noted which court tactics had chilling effects on people’s decisions to participate in civil disobedience.Nothing in the FBI files justifies counterterrorism as a basis for the spying. In fact, the FBI never identifies any criminal activity outside of public civil disobedience, and they consistently describe the SOA Watch Vigil as “peaceful.”
These files unmask the political nature of the actions of the FBI, an agency that has a long history of being used as “political police,” targeting groups in the United States who are working for social change.When congressional investigations, political trials and other traditional legal methods of repression failed to counter the growing movements of the 1950s, '60s and '70s, the FBI moved outside the law. They used secret and systematic methods of fraud and force, far beyond mere surveillance, to sabotage constitutionally-protected political activity.
The purpose of “COINTELPRO,” the FBI's domestic counterintelligence program, was, in FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover's own words, to "expose, disrupt, misdirect, discredit and otherwise neutralize" specific groups and individuals.
The FBI’s targets in this period included the American Indian Movement, the Communist Party, Black Nationalist groups, and many social justice activists, including Martin Luther King and Cesar Chavez.According to Brian Glick, in War at Home, COINTELPRO used a broad array of methods, including infiltration; psychological warfare from the outside (false media stories, forged correspondence); harassment through the legal system; and extralegal force and violence (in the case of radical Black, Puerto Rican and Native American activists, these attacks, including political assassinations, were so extensive, vicious, and calculated that they can only be accurately called a form of official "terrorism").
But COINTELPRO tactics are clearly not a thing of the past.
In September of 2005, 72-year-old Filiberto Ojeda Rios, a leading figure in the fight for Puerto Rican independence, was killed by the FBI in a raid that coincided with the Grito de Lares, the annual pro-independence celebration of the 1868 anticolonial revolt in Puerto Rico. Ojeda Rios was wanted by the FBI for his role in a 1983 bank heist. (Click here for more info).The death of Ojeda Rios and the spying against SOA Watch – and many partner peace organizations like the American Friends Service Committee and the Thomas Merton Center, as revealed by other ACLU filings – illustrate the dangerously vague, politicized and expanding definition of "terrorism" employed by the Bush administration.
Instead of responding to political opposition with political means, the U.S. government is responding to it as a threat. This same type of mindset responds to Latin American protests against social inequalities with the training of repressive militaries at the School of the Americas (SOA/WHINSEC).When military action is the default solution for any problem abroad and the FBI is being employed against social justice activists in the United States, it becomes vividly clear that none of us are safe.
The actions and values of the U.S. government are out of alignment with the majority of the people of the Americas.Now is the time when it’s more important than ever that we build principled alliances with other social change organizations and build stronger ties with fellow movements for justice. Together we can overcome the racist system of violence and domination to work towards a culture of justice and peace.
This article was originally published by the sources above and is copyrighted by the sources above. We offer it here as an educational tool to increase understanding of global economics and social justice issues. We believe this is 'fair use' of copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. AMERICAS.ORG is a nonprofit Web site with the goal of educating and informing.
Related articles:
Denver police spy files on American Indians and peace activists:
For decades, Denver police intelligence officers kept secret spy files on American Indians and their supporters, including American Indian Movement leaders and members, attorneys of the Native American Rights Fund, former South Dakota Sen. James Abourezk, Wilma Mankiller, principal chief of the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma, historian and author Vine Deloria and supporters of Leonard Peltier and Navajos resisting forced relocation:
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=%22American+Indians%22+spy+files
Canada's draft counterinsugrency manual named Mohawks with international terrorists and recommended ambuses and assassinations:
http://bsnorrell.blogspot.com/2007/04/canadian-government-back-peddles.html
TUCSON: TORTURE ON TRIAL
Priests arrested at Fort Huachuca to speak on torture:
Come to a talk by Fr. Louis Vitale and Fr. Stephen Kellyin Tucson on Thursday evening, May 17
at Southside Presbyterian Church, 317 W. 23rd (1 block south of 22nd St. at 10th Ave.)
6:30 pm potluck (please bring a dish to share) 7:30 pm talk
Fr. Louis Vitale, a Franciscan priest, is an Action Advocate for Pace e Bene, co-founder of the Nevada Desert Experience and SOA Watch Prisoner of Conscience.
Fr. Stephen Kelly, a Jesuit priest, has served time in prison for his participation in several Plowshares direct disarmament actions. In December, 2005, he served as chaplain for Witness to Torture, a delegation which marched through Cuba to the gates of the prison at Guantanamo Bay.
They will talk about the U.S. role in torture, Fort Huachuca & U.S. interrogation tactics, the Military Commissions Act of 2006, the School of the Americas and their upcoming trial.
On June 4 or 6, Fr. Louie Vitale and Fr. Steve Kelly will stand trial in federal court in Tucson on charges of trespass and failure to obey an officer's orders for their nonviolent witness on Nov. 19, 2006 at Fort Huachuca. They attempted to give a letter to the post commander of Fort Huachuca because of the leading role that the Fort has played in the development of the manuals advocating torture used at the SOA and current interrogation techniques being used by the Army.
Sponsored by Tucson SOA Watch and the Nuclear Resister.
Today's news from the southern border to the northern border
--Canada ready to pull oxygen plugs on Mohawk elderly
--Zapatista Comandantes interrogated by federal troops in northern Mexico
--Western Shoshone and Australian Aboriginals tell Barrick Gold to leave, two activists arrested in peaceful outdoor protest at stockholder meeting in Toronto
--Zapatistas arrive at northern border, plan Indigenous Intercontinental Conference in Yaqui territory, Mexico
--Los Angeles police beat and shoot with rubber bullets legal observers and families at migrant gathering
--Zapatista Comandantes interrogated by federal troops in northern Mexico
--Western Shoshone and Australian Aboriginals tell Barrick Gold to leave, two activists arrested in peaceful outdoor protest at stockholder meeting in Toronto
--Zapatistas arrive at northern border, plan Indigenous Intercontinental Conference in Yaqui territory, Mexico
--Los Angeles police beat and shoot with rubber bullets legal observers and families at migrant gathering
...scroll down for articles...
Photo: In Memory of Warrior Women: Roberta Blackgoat, with son Danny Blackgoat, protesting Black Mesa coal mine slurry. Blackgoat, longtime resister of forced relocation on Navajoland, later passed to the Spirit World. Photo Brenda Norrell