This is a slideshow from the Docs 4 Patient Care rally in Casper, Wyo. last Saturday. The Underground was there to interview rally-goers and counter-protesters alike. A recap will follow Friday. A common thread running through the comments of rally attendees was fear. Fear of socialism, fear of government takeovers, fear of out of control spending, or fear for their own families. Stay tuned for The Underground's recap...
Showing posts with label Casper. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Casper. Show all posts
Tea Parties and unity: Where were they?
Photo: Protesters at the 9/12 Rally in Washington D.C., organized by FreedomWorks Foundation, a conservative organization led by former House Majority Leader Dick Armey. Credit - www.huffingtonpost.com and the APTea Parties and unity: Where were they?
Robert Roten
Sunday, September 13, 2009 12:46 PM MDT
Where were they?
The Wyoming 912 Coalition rally at Conwell Park in Casper yesterday was supposed to be about uniting the country and remembering the way it was united on 9/12/01, but it was really about divisiveness and about forgetting what happened on 9/12/01.
The rally was supposed to be about freedom, but it really wasn't about freedom at all. It was about giving up freedom and power, including the right to choose our health care, and giving that power instead to soulless corporations.
People carried signs that read, “Who gave unelected czars authority over us?” and “Freedom did not need change,” according to an article in the Casper Star-Tribune. The article quoted Casper resident Nancy Rinn as saying: “I think the people in Washington are stomping on the Constitution; they're trying to pass laws that are unconstitutional.”
Where were they, these tea party protesters, when George Bush and Dick Cheney were tearing up the constitution? Where were they when the government was listening in to their phone conversations with illegal wiretaps? Where were they when the government was reading their emails? Where were they when the government suspended habeas corpus and threw people into prison, “disappearing” them in the same way Josef Stalin used to make people vanish without a trace? Where were they when the United States government illegally tortured and killed prisoners of war?
Dave Kellett of Powell, president of the Wyoming 912 Coalition, reportedly said at the rally, “We were all Americans.” Kellett added, “There were no Republicans or Democrats, whites, blacks, Hispanics or Arabs,” on that day. The Arabs disagree with that, like the poor guy who was mistaken for an Arab (he was actually an Indian Sikh) and murdered by Americans in that spirit of unity that prevailed after 9/11. The Arabs were immediate suspects in the 9/11 attacks and anyone of Arab descent, or anybody with dark skin who looked like an Arab, was in for a tough time after the attacks. Arabs in America are still not above suspicion.
Just ask Cat Stevens about that supposed post-9/11 unity of Americans. They wouldn't even let the “Peace Train” singer back in the country. Judging by what I saw on TV of the crowd in Casper yesterday, there weren't a lot of blacks, Hispanics or Arabs among the tea-party people there, or at the big march in Washington, either. It is pretty much a pure white, far right, Fox News-watching bunch. Dave Kellet's idea of national unity is not what I'd call “fair and balanced.”
That's not the only thing about the post-9/11 climate the tea party people seem to have forgotten. They forgot the nation was united behind their president, George Bush, despite the fact that 9/11 happened on his watch. They must have been watching Fox News back then when wingnuts like Bill O'Reilly were saying that anybody who criticized President Bush was a traitor, or words to that effect. Fox News and the rest of the right-leaning news establishment bullied anyone who dared criticize our beloved President George Bush, and they said he did nothing wrong. They still claim he was damned near perfect to this very day.
Where were these Tea Party people when the Bush Administration let the country down and failed to prevent the 9/11 attacks? After all, it was pretty spectacular failure that would seem impossible to top, but Bush managed to do just that, with Katrina and the Iraq War. Through all those disasters, all those deficits, all those illegal acts, all the loss of all those personal freedoms, the Tea Party people kept silent. Where were they?
So why all those anti-Obama signs at the Wyoming 912 Coalition rally? Where is that old spirit of unity? What happened to that unity where everybody stood behind the president and you were a called a traitor if you did not? Obama has only been in power a few months and has yet to initiate any disasters like the ones that Bush did on an almost monthly basis. On the basis of protecting the country alone, he's already 100 percent better than Bush was. How could they forget the unity of 912 on this occasion? How could they keep quiet when this nation was literally falling apart and only now, when the country is starting to get back on track, they suddenly want to protest their very own president?
Why? What has gotten them stirred up? Health care reform? They actually like the fact that their insurance company can drop them from coverage when they get sick? They like the fact that they have to stick with a job they don't like, or face losing their coverage or paying sky-high COBRA payments? Do they enjoy being jerked around by insurance companies that are not held accountable by anyone, including their own government? They ought to be protesting outside insurance companies, not protesting the guy who is trying to fix this mess. The Tea Party people act as if they are being directly paid by the health insurance industry to put a stop to health care reform.
The Wyoming 912 Coalition people are also very concerned about the federal budget deficit. They are afraid they will have to pay for health care reform with higher taxes, and that might be true, but where were they when the Reagan Administration and two Bush Administrations ran up deficits in the trillions? Where were they when the Bush Administration cut trillions of dollars of taxes on the wealthy, and started two wars at the same time? Where were they when the Bush Administration started a war in Iraq that would end up costing trillions of dollars, and paid for it with deficit spending?
The Tea Party people cheered when Rep. Joe Wilson yelled “You lie!” at President Obama, and they put that proudly on their signs, even though Wilson, not Obama, is the liar here. Where were they when President Bush lied about the reasons for going to war with Iraq? None of them had the courage to stand up and call President Bush a liar, even though he was. Fox News, the rest of the media and most of the American people just went along for the ride. Now they stand up, but what do they really stand for?
Now, after more than 4,000 soldiers were killed and trillions of dollars have been wasted in the Iraq war, now, they finally stand up for principles they completely abandoned for the past 20 years. Now, they stand up to avoid paying for the health care of poor people. That's not what you'd call noble, or Christian, or Muslim. They are willing to finance the death of hundreds of thousands of people and spend trillions of dollars for war without complaint, but they don't want to spend a nickel to pay for the health care of needy citizens of the United States of America, including those wounded fighting for this nation. Shame on them.
The tea party people weren't concerned when our soldiers died for nothing. They weren't concerned about a war that made this nation less secure, rather than more secure. They weren't concerned with the mounting deficits caused by deeply irresponsible government fiscal policies. They weren't concerned when the government did little to avert the Hurricane Katrina disaster and did less to alleviate the suffering of Americans afterward. The tea party people were silent then.
Now that the nation has been brought back from the brink of another Great Depression, thanks to government fiscal intervention, now that the United States is once again gaining some respect in the world for more rational foreign policies, after being a laughing stock and a pariah for the past eight years, now, the tea party people are protesting. They want to get rid of Obama and all he stands for. They want to return to the good old days of George W. Bush, the good old days of letting insurance companies decide who will live and who will die.
God help us all if they get what they are wishing for.
Robert Roten is a journalist with over 25 years of newspaper experience, including 20 years as a reporter, editor, photographer, columnist and editorialist at the Laramie Daily Boomerang. Since retiring from the Boomerang in 2000, Roten has been president of the Laramie Film Society and the Laramie Astronomical Society and Space Observers (LASSO). He has operated his own movie journalism web site, Laramie Movie Scope, for the past 13 years. He also has a weekly movie show, Laramie Movie Scope News, on KOCA radio in Laramie. He is also a member of the Online Film Critics Society and contributes frequent movie reviews to rottentomatoes.com. He is a former member of the Society of Professional Journalists and the Society of Environmental Journalists. Roten is a resident of Laramie, Wyo.
It was the coroner, in the bedroom, with the hydrocodone
Photo: Former Natrona County Chief Deputy Coroner Gary Hazen appears in court in Feb. after being charged with 10 felonies. Judge Michael Patchen set his bond at $2,500. (Tim Kupsick, Star-Tribune, trib.com)Abuse of trust commands stiffer punishment
Meg Lanker
It's not often that I advocate for jail sentences for drug offenders, especially first-time drug offenders. I am an advocate of counseling and drug rehabilitation, either inpatient or outpatient. But in the case of former Natrona County Chief Deputy Coroner Gary Hazen, I'm willing to make an exception.
Hazen recently pleaded guilty to possession of hydrocodone and methadone in a Casper court after striking a plea bargain brokered by Special Prosecutor Scott Homar, leading to a suspended prison sentence of four to six years and 10 years of supervised probation - a bargain for sure, considering Hazen faced a maximum of 51 years in prison if convicted on all charges. He is currently free on $2,500 bond awaiting sentencing, even though he was originally charged with 10 felonies.
According to the Casper Star-Tribune, the drugs the Wyoming Division of Criminal Investigation (DCI) confiscated from a hidden room under the stairs of Hazen's home were:
- 399 grams of codeine: medical use - 15 to 60 milligrams every three to six hours as needed for pain
- 32 grams of diazepam (Valium): medical use - 2 to 10 milligrams three to four times daily as needed for anxiety
- 134 grams of oxycodone: medical use - 5-15 milligrams every 4-6 hours as needed for pain
- 65 grams of propoxyphene (Darvon): medical use - 65-100 milligrams, depending on form of drug, every 4 hours as needed for pain
- 9 grams of chlordiazepoxide (Novapam/Librium): medical use - 5 to 25 milligrams three or four times daily as needed for anxiety
- 350 grams of liquid morphine: medical use - 5 to 30 milligrams every 4 hours as needed for pain
- 10 grams of methadone: medical use - 5 to 20 milligrams every four to eight hours as needed for pain
Hazen had no legal prescriptions for any of these substances, nor any explanation for his possession of these drugs. He admitted to stealing the drugs from the homes of the deceased while acting in his official capacity as chief deputy coroner at death scenes. According to the Tribune, he also allegedly took pornography and cash, but was not charged with anything related to those items.
Hazen was a police officer in Casper from 1978 to 1998 and a campus supervisor for the Natrona County School District from 1998 to 2002. He served as chief deputy coroner from 2002 until he was fired last December. This means Hazen worked the city of Casper in some official capacity and with the public's trust for 30 years.
Wednesday, the Tribune's editorial board wrote that Judge Peter Arnold should reject Hazen's plea agreement. I agree. Hazen was not a hapless college kid caught with a few joints. He was a public official who admitted to stealing from the homes of the recently deceased to feed his own addiction time and time again.
Drug addicts will do despicable, desperate things in order to achieve the next high. But rarely is such a gross abuse of public trust brought to light. Hazen was entrusted to perform his job by the public and failed. Indeed, eight other charges filed were dismissed with the deal, including two counts of failing to account for prescription drugs received by virtue of his office.
By virtue of his office, Hazen is held to a higher public standard. By virtue of his office, both as chief deputy coroner and as a former police office, Hazen knew exactly what he was doing and the consequences of abusing the drugs he spirited away from death scenes for his personal use. And, by virtue of his office, Hazen should not get any special breaks.
This may not be the case - Special Prosecutor Scott Homar said, "I looked at Mr. Hazen's case just as I would look at any other case that was similarly situated in order to determine what I thought was a fair and equitable plea agreement."
But that comment begs the question - what drug offenders do deserve jail time? I highly doubt the prosecution would give the same deal to a meth addict. The key words are "similarly situated case."
Prescription drug addiction is a classier, more sociably acceptable form of drug abuse. A doctor prescribes hydrocodone to a patient, the patient takes the slip(s) to a pharmacist (or three), pays for the drug and repeats the cycle. The addict smokes meth at home, meets the dealer in shadowy location, pays for the drug with welfare and repeats the cycle, so says the stereotype.
The public believes those who work in government should be held to a higher standard - after all, these are the people who are supposed to keep order, uphold the law and maintain public safety. Hazen violated all these expectations and tarnished the reputation of the coroner's office and the police department. The damage done goes beyond himself and cannot be quantified. This alone deserves a higher standard of punishment.
Any punishment must also include rehabilitation for a rather insidious addiction. I suggest the Wyoming Department of Corrections Intensive Treatment Unit (ITU) at the Wyoming State Penitentiary, which was established, according to the Department of Corrections, "to provide an opportunity for behavioral change to inmates whose lives and criminal activity are characterized by the use of substances."
Hazen's behavior was certainly characterized by his use of substances and his long service to the city of Casper is marred by a rather inglorious end. I am not advocating for a 51-year prison term. However, I am advocating for intensive treatment while incarcerated, and then a term of probation. How much of a chance does Hazen have of successfully completing probation without treatment?
I join the Tribune in imploring Judge Arnold to seriously consider the ramifications of accepting this sugar-coated plea bargain. The costs far outweigh any "bargain." This deal reinforces the idea that public officials get favorable treatment and that possession of prescription drugs is not as serious as possession of any other drug.
I argue that Hazen's actions constituted opportunistic grave-robbing and should be treated as such - no special deals. The virtual pharmacy hidden under his stairs represents a pattern of repeated criminal acts over a period of time, not petty drug possession, and must be treated as nothing less.
By virtue of his office, Hazen's brazen behavior commands nothing less.
Meg Lanker is the editor of The Underground and can be contacted at meglanker@gmail.com
(All dosage information taken from the Physician's Desk Reference (PDR) Consumer Drug Information database)
