Bullying and boycotting a leader of the Richland School Board recall effort is reprehensible

True to form, the group supporting the Richland School Board’s defiance of WA state’s mask mandate is now encouraging other tactics that cross a line.

Members of Resist the Recall have called for a public boycott of a Richland business because its owner is a leader in the effort to oust school board members Audra Byrd, Kari Williams and Semi Bird.

The three have been accused of violating the state school mask mandate, breaking state laws on open meetings and public records, and disregarding school district ethics policies.

If the boycott was meant to cause personal financial damage to a recall organizer, it fortunately has not had the intended effect.

Bradley Rew, owner of Rewster’s Craft Bar and Grill and Horn Rapids Golf Course, says that business has remained pretty much the same since the boycott effort launched.

He said some people have made a point to visit the restaurant just to say they oppose the recall — and then they leave.

But other citizens have gone out of their way to give Rew business as a way to “boycott the boycott,” he said.

While it’s a relief this misguided idea to bully Rew turned out to be a dud, the motivation behind it is still disturbing.

The boycott is a retaliatory move aimed to inflict personal, financial damage — plain and simple. It’s a morally reprehensible intimidation strategy.

And while there are those who will say that the recall effort is retaliation against Byrd, Williams and Bird, there is a huge difference between following a public process to hold elected officials accountable and going after citizens on a personal level.

Of the three, Audra Byrd appears to be the only member named in the recall who promoted the Resist the Recall boycott on her own public Facebook page. Semi Bird told the Herald he did not call for the boycott and is not involved in the Resist the Recall social media posts.

Williams has kept her public Facebook page focused solely on school district issues before and since the recall petition began.

But their supporters are passionate, and occasionally Rew has seen that side first-hand.

He is one of four Richland citizens behind the recall effort. The others are Mike Lawrence, former Department of Energy manager of the Hanford nuclear reservation; Anthony Peurrung, deputy director for science and technology at the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory; and Brian Brendel, president of Columbia Energy and Environmental Services.

Rew also owns Gale Rew Construction and other businesses in addition to the Horn Rapids Golf Course and restaurant.

He told the Herald that in the last three months his house has been egged, his truck windows smashed, and his businesses broken into and vandalized. However, he has no way of knowing if these attacks are related to the recall effort.

But there was one time when he was at the grocery store and a couple started yelling at him specifically about masks and kids.

“I just had to leave my cart,” Rew said.

People against the recall also have made employees at his restaurant feel uncomfortable and on the verge of being frightened, but Rew seems to be taking the backlash in stride.

He is undeterred in his belief that the actions taken by Byrd, Williams and Bird were illegal.

If one group thinks it is OK to break the law to get its way, what’s to stop another group from doing the same thing? And then where will we be?

That’s at the heart of the recall effort, says Rew.

The three school board members voted in February to make masks optional, a decision which led the Richland superintendent to close schools for two days. State officials had warned that school funding could be withheld if the district defied the mask mandate.

But Byrd, Williams and Bird maintain that they did what parents wanted them to do and they dispute the illegality of their actions.

On Tuesday, Superior Court Judge Norma Rodriguez tossed out one of the five allegations in the Richland School Board recall case, but there are still four charges being considered by the Washington State Supreme Court.

If the high court agrees they meet the legal standard for a recall vote, Rew’s group can begin collecting signatures to put the issue on the ballot for voters to decide.

If those supporting Bird, Williams and Byrd are so sure they are in the right, why harass those involved in the recall effort? Be civil, stand by your principles and let the legal process play out.

Encouraging a boycott of anyone’s businesses is disgraceful and doesn’t help your cause.

This story was originally published June 15, 2022 at 11:11 AM.