‘Running toward clarity.’ Kennewick councilman wants answers on legality of armed militias

Kennewick Mayor Pro Tem Steve Lee says the city must take a closer look at armed groups that have been patrolling and guarding local businesses for more than a week.

Do groups like “Defend the Tri” qualify as a recognized militia under Washington law, he asks in a 26-question letter to the city manager. How does Kennewick view armed individuals intimidating and disallowing the free movement of people?

Lee says it’s a conversation that already is overdue, and could help ease the minds of peaceful protesters while also explaining the legality of the groups.

Already, there’s an online petition with 8,600 signatures asking Tri-City police and local officials to stop “illegal armed militias” from attending their peaceful demonstrations for the Black Lives Matter movement. And it includes a threat of a lawsuit.

“I got calls from teary-eyed mothers whose children recently moved to the city and they want to know if it’s safe for them to live here because they are black,” said Lee. “I got calls from people who are brown and afraid to go out at night because they might be considered a vandal or looter. And I got calls from constituents wondering why no one is running toward clarity.”

Lee, who calls himself a Second Amendment advocate who thinks “guns are cool” and it is OK to open carry, said it’s still his job to make sure the city is compliant and to avoid all costly lawsuits by reviewing the liability rules and laws.

And it’s clear other Kennewick council members are struggling to balance the same issues.

Kennewick council

Councilman Chuck Torelli said at the June 2 meeting that, like Lee, he received more calls from constituents about the armed groups in one day than he’s received in all of the last two years.

Torelli said he understands why people are concerned that someone with a gun could make one wrong decision, mentioning the vandalism at three businesses a couple nights earlier that prompted the armed groups to organize.

“Now, if you want to walk around with your cellphone and you want to record the people and you want to turn that into the police, that works. If you want to be in a car where you can drive away and get yourself out of harm’s way, but still do something to help the police, that works,” he continued. “But walking around with weapons, untrained ... If you want to join the police reserves, do that.”

Torelli further explained that he’s not being dismissive of the groups’ armed members, but questioned whether people are properly trained for these type of situations.

“As somebody who has been in the military, as somebody who has seen people die, I will tell you it’s an experience you don’t want. You don’t want it for a pair of (stolen) shoes,” he said.

“So I will tell you, and I implore, please think it through. ... Don’t put our police officers or fire folks at risk because you get into an ego battle with somebody, or because you assume that because of a color or whatever, that they’re the bad guy and you need to stop them,” he said.

“There’s very little that we need to kill people for in this community ...,” he added. “We can rebuild buildings. We can fix things. And I’m not advocating for general chaos, but advocating for professionalism of the professionals. Ask how you can help and engage that way.”

Councilman Brad Beauchamp cautioned people about the assumptions they make in labeling groups, saying it is very wrong to think they’re out looking for action.

Beauchamp said after seeing a number of Facebook posts, he and his wife went out at 10:30 p.m. June 1, grabbed some doughnuts from Fred Meyer and drove around town to meet the different armed groups.

He said he spoke with the owners of Ranch & Home in Kennewick, and they were there to protect their business.

“It wasn’t an atmosphere of go shoot people up, it was an atmosphere of deterrent. They were very thankful for the crowds there,” said Beauchamp, who noted that several police officers stood off to the side in a couple locations.

“I think we have to be very careful before we start trampling on the rights of private citizens, on both sides of the aisle. We’re all for giving everyone the same equal rights.”

Beauchamp added that the armed groups, many of whom he said looked like ex-police or military, were not out to shoot someone over a pair of shoes or a television.

“What they were doing was stopping that person from ever having the inclination to go anywhere and doing anything stupid,” he said. “Big difference of opinion how that looks. Maybe get in your car and say ‘Hi.’”

Councilman Bill McKay agreed.

“They are a great deterrent. And when you’ve owned a business and you’ve put your life and blood into it, to have it go up in flames ...,” he said. “Yes, insurance will take care of it to a certain degree. But that insurance then costs a whole bunch more afterwards. It just doesn’t work quite that way.”

“We need to keep the violence to a minimum and I applaud those who are volunteering and the police for doing it.”

Armed citizen groups

The Change.org petition — created by Afrose Ahmed, John Roach and Adam Brault Avenir — puts the government and law enforcement jurisdictions on notice, and states legal action will be pursued if officials allow further intimidation by groups of armed vigilantes.

The petition claims members of Defend the Tri and two splinter groups have publicly stated their intent to be at “upcoming protests, to be armed and to ‘protect’ these protesters.”

The trio say that protesters’ civil rights are being violated if police and deputies allow the “armed gangs” to attend their “peaceful, free speech demonstrations.”

“They will not be at protests with our consent. We have expressed to them that they are not welcome,” the petition reads. “Their stance goes against our explicitly peaceful mission, and we want to be clear that we will view their presence at our protests as intimidation and in violation of our 1st amendment rights.”

Defend the Tri is a newly organized group armed with rifles, some dressed in camouflage, that has taken it upon themselves to stand outside businesses as a visual deterrence to vandalism.

Other groups, including “Defend the Tri Always” and “Tricities Militia,” have reportedly joined in the effort, though organizers of Defend the Tri have disavowed those groups and agreed to co-exist with the Black Lives Matter organizers.

26 questions

Lee contends, “If these folks that are inside these groups and movements are what they say they are — good people in the community who only want to help law enforcement keep the community safe — then they should want to know answers to these questions too.”

“I brought up my concerns to the city manager a week ago before the last city council meeting. I repeated those concerns at the last meeting during council comments. And my concerns (still) have not been addressed,” Lee told the Tri-City Herald.

“It seems to be the answer that is quickest is to say, ‘Well, everybody has rights. What are you going to do?’”

And the Tri-Cities native believes it is a topic that should be on the immediate agenda for all local government officials across the state.

Lee asked City Manager Marie Mosley to share his letter with his fellow council members, relevant department heads and Police Chief Ken Hohenberg, and added that he was going public with his questions “to demonstrate to our community that this conversation is being driven forward.”

He said residents and business owners should not have “any ambiguity about our concern for their safety or our proactive bias.”

He wants to make clear that he is not speaking out against any particular side or disapproving of anyone’s actions.

Lee has heard heartbreaking stories from many constituents or their loved ones about the recent peaceful protests and their distress over the armed groups.

And he has “an endless amount of respect” for the Kennewick Police Department and Chief Hohenberg, including the work they did last week to get ahead of any problem and make sure all sides were peaceful.

“Whether or not you agree with my questions, you have to acknowledge there is a large group of citizenry that has these concerns,” Lee said. “Our job is to make sure the constituents are being heard and that their valid concerns are being addressed.”

He knows that people will try to “project my agenda” and say he wants to take their guns.

The city council cannot do that, he said. “But what we can do it understand where our rights and responsibilities lie and try to be experts at this very tricky conversation so we know what we are getting into.”

Fears and threats

Lee — owner of Green2Go in Finley and Green2Go Wellness in Kennewick — has been on the council since 2018.

In that time, he has not seen any other issue “that makes my phone or email or text messages or Facebook blow up.”

And since going public with his questions and concerns Sunday night, Lee himself has received what he calls half threats from “internet gangsters.”

“Since he doesn’t support defending businesses, I guess that makes his pot shop up for grabs.” And, “let’s see what he thinks when we show up to his business with guns.”

Lee said, in light of the few negative comments directed his way, he and his wife talked about whether he needed to be the one pushing these conversations.

But he said it is the “elephant in the room,” and no one else has been pushing this version of the conversation statewide.

Plus, he does not want to see his town lose young people because Kennewick did not step up and answer the simple questions that could ensure they feel acknowledged and welcome, especially during tumultuous times.

“Most people are pretty reasonable and really just want to live in a safe community where they can live their American dream. And my concern is where, if we don’t have a broader conversation, we are accidentally going to deprive a whole segment of people from their American dream,” said Lee.

“I just want to make sure that we are doing justice for those people and that they have a seat at the table.”

This story was originally published June 9, 2020 at 12:57 PM.