#Kootenai County

[onlytiktoks]

[360nw]

The COEUR D'ALENE RESORT Lights on the boardwalk. November 2023

[justinspoliticalcorner]

Melissa Gira Grant at The New Republic:

Teresa Borrenpohl later told the Coeur d’Alene Press that, as it happened, she didn’t know if it was an arrest or a kidnapping. She was seated in a nearly-full town hall hosted by the Kootenai County Republican Central Committee on Saturday. At first, the scene was similar to those that have played out over the last week or so, with opponents of the Trump and Musk takeover showing up to tell their lawmakers to show some spine, even in deeply conservative counties. But then, when a group of unmarked security descended on Borrenpohl, the conflict at the town hall took a more terrifying turn.

A member of the panel was giving an anti-abortion talking point when a voice from the audience talked over him, saying “Women are dying.” The panel member continued. The moderator, a local website developer named Ed Bejarana, interrupted to lecture audience members who he said were “just popping off with stupid remarks,” and Teresa Borrenpohl yelled back, “Is this a town hall or a lecture?” Bejerma continued: “You’re just crazy people.”

Kootenai County Sheriff Robert Norris by then was standing over Borrenpohl. He was in plainclothes and she didn’t recognize him at first. “Get ‘em out!” Bejarana exclaimed, to boos and applause. Sheriff Norris told Borrenpohl to get up or be arrested. He leaned over to a woman next to her, recording the scene on a phone, and said she would also be removed. Borrenpohl was likely recognized by at least some in the room as a former Democratic candidate for office, but she said she didn’t know why she was in trouble. She stayed in her seat. “That little girl is afraid to leave!” Bejarana called from the stage. “She spoke up and now she doesn’t want to suffer the consequences.”

A man dressed in a black jacket, olive pants, and an earbud or earpiece stepped into the row and grabbed Borrenpohl’s wrist. She yanked it back. He went for her hands again. She pointed at the man looming over her, yelling out, “this man is assaulting me.” The man stepped further into the aisle, joined be a second in identical attire. “Is this your deputy?” she yelled. “Sheriff Norris, is this your deputy?” If the men were working for the sheriff, they weren’t showing any insignia. Their faces were blank. “Who the fuck are these men?” Borrenpohl yelled again. As the two men grappled her, some in the audience began to cheer, while others took up the woman’s demand that the men identify themselves. A third man in the same jacket and pants arrived, holding a bunch of plastic zipcuffs. They got Teresa Borrenpohl on her stomach, kneeling over her. Then they dragged her out of the room.

In the past week, with Congress in recess, Republican lawmakers across the country have faced hostile town halls, where constituents dissatisfied with the Trump/Musk chaos in the federal government boo, chant, and interrupt. Some Democrats have been facing pressure from their own. “Tyranny is rising in the White House, and a man has declared himself our king,” one audience voter challenged his representative at a town hall in Georgia days before. “So, I would like to know rather, the people would like to know, what you, congressman, and your fellow congressmen are going to do to rein in the megalomaniac in the White House?” Like the rolling pickets outside Tesla showrooms in recent weeks, these actions have at times been intentionally disruptive, meant not merely as protest but to interrupt business as usual. What was done to Borrenpohl in Coeur d’Alene for speaking out at a town hall is a terrifying escalation. In Idaho, the lines between Republican politics and political violence are thinner than they are in some places, but there’s no reason to believe this escalation won’t be repeated.

Who were the men who accosted Teresa Borrenpohl, and what was the local sheriff doing with them? Much remains murky—LEAR did not respond to a request for comment for this piece—but the Coeur d’Alene Press has found some answers. The unmarked security force were from a private security firm called LEAR Asset Management, the Press reported, but Sheriff Norris “claimed no knowledge of the security personnel or who hired them.” The man who founded and runs the group is Paul Trouette, who was seen in Coeur d’Alene several months ago at a city council meeting, opposing a local ordinance that would have required private security outfits more clearly identify themselves. At the time, the Kootenai Journal reported, Coeur d’Alene Police Chief Lee White “made references to situations in which security personnel were confused with law enforcement officers, or acted as if they were law enforcement officers, within the last year in Coeur d’Alene.”

LEAR has operated in California going back at least to 2012, with Trouette running what “looks like a military assault force,” as Time magazine observed in 2014. “Clad in body armor and camouflage and carrying AR-15 rifles, they creep through the trees toward their target: one of the illegal marijuana gardens dotting Mendocino County.” More recently, LEAR seems to have turned up pro bono and perhaps uninvited to clear an encampment where unhoused people were living near Ackman Creek in Mendocino County. After a local news outlet reported on Paul Trouette doing security at the clean-up, a county agency involved in the effort said “it is unclear to us who contacted Lear.”

At a GOP town hall organized by the Kootenai County Republican Central Committee this past weekend in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, Teresa Borrenpohl was unlawfully dragged out of the meeting by private security for speaking out against the diabolically un-American agenda of DOGE and MAGA.

[xfilesinamajor]

"Your voice is meaningless right now."

A woman was forcibly removed from an Idaho townhall meeting on Saturday, February 23 for daring to shout "This is a town hall" when speakers objected to the questions and interruptions from Democrats. When she refused to accompany the Sheriff out, three unnamed, ununiformed men arrived to drag her from her seat. Many people recorded the incident, and she can be heard clearly asking, multiple times, whether the men were officers and who they were. She was subsequently pinned down and arrested for "trespassing and battery."

The woman has been identified as Teresa Borrenphol, a local Democratic activist.

I've watched the video. It's profoundly disturbing. The men assaulting her do not identify themselves or answer her questions. She appeals directly to the Sheriff, who also refuses to answer. There are a few vocal objections from other areas of the audience, but no one offers any assistance. The emcee scolded other members of the audience of "filibustering" and said "You're voice is meaningless right now...I can talk over all of you."

I suspect Ms Borrenphol will be alright, and I respect her immensely for refusing to be quietly removed. But we need to be talking about this. She went to a town hall, exercised her right of free speech, and was mocked and called a "little girl" as she was physically hauled off by unnamed goons. This is not America. Or I should say--tragically--it is America. It's Trump's America, and it is a terrifying place to live.

[kootenaicountyhandyman]

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[the-rad-menace]

Dr. Teresa Borrenpohl was violently dragged out of a town hall meeting by plain clothes hired security who refused to identify themselves (aka hired goons with no actual legal authority) for speaking out of turn. They were taking orders from the sheriff of Kootenai County, Bob Norris, who was also in plain clothes and did not identify himself to her. Why the fuck was the sheriff using hired goons? (He has a history of despicable behavior, btw. Google Kootenai Sheriff Bob Norris.)

The most bone chilling part, though, is that the people around her, watching her being manhandled and dragged by three adult men, were jeering at her and cheering on the violence. These people think that anyone who thinks differently from themselves and dares to say so in a public forum deserves violence. This is where we're at.

She intends to take legal action. Here's her fundraiser. She's blown her original goal out of the water, but I figured I'd link it all the same. I hope she sues the shit out of everyone involved.

[ciara-clycone]

🚨Innocent Woman manhandled and arrested for speaking opinion at TownHall. 🚨

Men who wore plain clothes and NO VISIBLE SECURITY DETAIL or BADGES approached a woman who was voicing her complaints.

They threatened her by telling her to be quiet or go to Jail.

They did not answer questions as to WHO THEY WERE.

They manhandled her, FORCED HER TO THE GROUND and used ZIP TIES To tie her wrists.

ALL WHILE THE GOVERNEMNT OFFICALS MOCKED AND RIDICULED HER

THE VILE MEN INCLUDED WITH SUCH A HEINOUS ACT ARE

Event's emcee Ed Bejarana who mocked, belittered and hindered her freedom of speech and did not prevent any of this from happening.

Kootenai County Sheriff Bob Norris

Unnamed men who no ID or BADGES from LEAR Asset Managment

THIS WAS HELD IN A HIGH SCHOOL. A TOWN HALL. THIS IS WHERE PEOPLE WERE SUPPOSED TO BE ABLE TO VOICE THEMSELVES.

I know people who work at Security. They have visible signs of their job on their clothes and badges. Their main rule is not to escalate any issues but calm people down.

The County Sheriff Bob Norris(WHO DID NOT SERVE OR PROTECT HIS PEOPLE) and the security officals (LEAR Asset Managment) did not do what was in their job description. Only they shilled for republican poltiican who mocked freedom of speech and women.

And what did those security people get out of it? "The police chief has asked to have the security firm’s business license revoked."

GOOD!

(Source: https://apnews.com/article/idaho-protest-woman-removed-town-hall-b4348df006fe83723f95769a05007098)

Coeur d’Alene city code requires security agents to wear uniforms “clearly marked” with the word “security” in letters no less than 1 inch tall on the front and no less than four inches tall on the back. The security personnel at Saturday’s town hall were in plainclothes, with no visible sign they were security. 

Sherrif White said. “As far as I know, (LEAR Asset Management has) a license, but not a license to perform activity such as this.” 

This is what SECURITY DID: "They came and took her by the arms and pulled her and then took her by her feet and pulled her into the aisle,” she said. “They laid her face-down on the floor. Two of them were on top of her, holding her down, and then eventually they boosted her up on her feet and dragged her out the door. I was worried about their handling.”  

( Source: https://cdapress.com/news/2025/feb/24/update-on-town-hall-chaos-woman-who-was-dragged-out-speaks-police-chief-condemns-security-name-of-security-firm-confirmed/

(other source: https://ca.news.yahoo.com/kootenai-county-town-hall-meeting-111627284.html?guccounter=1&guce_referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZ29vZ2xlLmNvbS8&guce_referrer_sig=AQAAABjx2fkuHqdH4T0_OZK4Ze_b-Xp0ujr0KByWbuNNIEah5yFAVpBELaAxxexGLIItuSFWns4QsKsYepMd1BaxM0tsg-JYQm1otdLEDUIjGpbCafab35_xoDrfQ9TIk3Y6zt-QkXdrv4hFZ-WDJPajPX6RGRsHUbkcnunfI9lX5FuW)

[shannendoherty-fans]

Shannen's Native American Descent

We all know Shannen Doherty was of Irish descent through the paternal side of her family.

The Doherty / O’Doherty family is an Irish clan based in County Donegal. The O’Dohertys are named after Dochartach (c. 10th century), a member of the Cenél Conaill dynasty which in medieval Irish genealogy traced itself to Niall of the Nine Hostages. The O’Doherty clan and family name is one of the most ancient in Europe. The clan traces its pedigree through history, pre-history, and mythology to 2BC. (Source)

Shannen and her dad, John Thomas Doherty, in Ireland ca. 1996/97.

Shannen was also from English and Scottish descent through her mother Rosa Elizabeth née Wright. The red-haired Southern belle also has Native American ancestry, most concretley the Chumash people (Source), and thus has Shannen (Source).

Shannen and her mum spending time in nature, ca.2024.

Shannen explained that she wasn't able to be with her dad when he passed away on the 4th of November of 2010. Her best friend Chris Cortazzo told her to spend some quality time with her mother and him at his ranch in Tennesse, which is surrounded by Native American ground. When she was there suddenly the wind shaked the plants and trees and she felt her father’s arms go around her and say “It’s ok baby, I love you. I’m here" (Source) (Source).

Her mother Rosa said that one of her great-great-grandmothers (she doesn't know the grade) was forced to move in the called "Trail of Tears", the forced displacement of approximately 60,000 people of the "Five Civilized Tribes" [Cherokee, Chickasaw, Choctaw, Muscogee (Creek), and Seminoles] between 1830 and 1850, and the additional thousands of Native Americans within that were ethnically cleansed by the United States government (Wiki). Furthermore, she said her ancestor was from the Chumash people and was forced to move from Mississipi to Oklahoma (Source).

Rosa also said about Shannen's Native American's heritage:

"The whole Indian heritage to Shannen was very, very important ... Shannen swore when she bought this property [a ranch in Malibu to live with her mum, her friends, and to do a shelter for horses]… she says, I just feel it. She says, I know that this is where I'm supposed to be. And she just felt that whole Indian."

Also she was proud of having directed "Charmed"'s episode "The Good, The Bad and The Cursed" that features a storyline involving American's First Nations people's and Native actors Kimberly Guerrero (from Colville and Salish-Kootenai native peoples from Alaska) and Michael Greyeyes (Nêhiyaw (Plains Cree) from Muskeg Lake Cree Nation in Saskatchewan, Canada).

Shannen Doherty (R) with First Nations' actors Kimberley Guerrero and Michael Greyeyes.

The Chumash are a Native American people of the central and southern coastal regions of California (Wiki), in portions of what is now Kern, San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara, Ventura and Los Angeles counties, extending from Morro Bay in the north to Malibu in the south to Mt Pinos in the east. Their territory includes three of the Channel Islands: Santa Cruz, Santa Rosa, and San Miguel; the smaller island of Anacapa was likely inhabited seasonally due to the lack of a consistent water source.

Modern place names with Chumash origins include Malibu, Nipomo, Lompoc, Ojai, Pismo Beach, Point Mugu, Port Hueneme, Piru, Lake Castaic, Saticoy, Simi Valley and Somis. Archaeological research demonstrates that the Chumash people have deep roots in the Santa Barbara Channel area and lived along the southern California coast for millennia.

The Chumash lived in over 150 independent villages, speaking variations of the same language. Much of their culture consisted of basketry, bead manufacturing and trading, cuisine of local abalone and clam, herbalism which consisted of using local herbs to produce teas and medical reliefs, rock art, and the scorpion tree. The scorpion tree was significant to the Chumash as shown in its arborglyph: a carving depicting a six-legged creature with a headdress including a crown and two spheres. The shamans participated in the carving which was used in observations of the stars and in part of the Chumash calendar. The Chumash resided between the Santa Ynez Mountains and the California coasts where a bounty of resources could be found. The tribe lived in an area of three environments: the interior, the coast, and the Northern Channel Islands. Some researchers believe that the Chumash may have been visited by Polynesians between AD 400 and 800, nearly 1,000 years before Christopher Columbus reached the Americas.

Chumash Family by American sculptor George S. Stuart

The maritime explorer Juan Cabrillo was the first European to make contact with the coastal Alta Californian tribes in the year 1542. Spain claimed what is now California from that time forward, but did not return to settle until 1769, when the first Spanish soldiers and missionaries arrived with the double purpose of Christianizing the Native Americans and facilitating Spanish colonization. The Chumash people moved from their villages to the Franciscan missions between 1772 and 1817.

Mexico seized control of the missions in 1834. Tribespeople either fled into the interior, attempted farming for themselves and were driven off the land, or were enslaved by the new administrators. After 1849 most Chumash land was lost due to theft by Americans and a declining population, due to the effects of violence and disease. The remaining Chumash began to lose their cohesive identity. In 1855, a small piece of land (120 acres) was set aside for just over 100 remaining Chumash Indians near Santa Ynez mission. This land ultimately became the only Chumash reservation, although Chumash individuals and families also continued to live throughout their former territory in southern California.

No native Chumash speak their own language since Mary Yee, the last Barbareño speaker, died in 1965. Today, the Chumash are estimated to have a population of 5,000 members.

Map of the Trail of Tears

Chumash worldview is centered on the belief "that considers all things to be, in varying measure, alive, intelligent, dangerous, and sacred." "They assume that the universe with its three, or in some versions five, layers has always been here."

Human beings occupy the Middle Region, which rests upon two giant snakes. Chronological time is unimportant, though the past is divided into two sections: the universal flood that caused the First People to become the natural world and, thereafter the creation of human beings, the arrival of the Europeans, and the devastating consequences that followed."

The middle region (sometimes referred to as 'antap), where humans and spirits of this world live and where shamans could travel in vision quests, is interconnected with the lower world (C'oyinahsup) through the springs and marsh areas and is connected to the upper world through the mountains. In the lower world live snakes, frogs, salamanders. The world trembles or has earthquakes when the snakes which support the world writhe.

Water creatures are also in contact with the powers of the lower world and "were often depicted in rock art perhaps to bring more water to the Chumash or to appease underworld spirits' at times of hunger or disease." Itiashap is the home of the First People. Alapay is the upper world in Chumash cosmology where the "sky people" lived, who play an important role in the health of the people. Principle figures of the sky world include the Sun, the Moon, Lizard, Sky Coyote, and Eagle. The Sun is the source of life and is also "a source of disease and death." The Sky Coyote, also known as the Great Coyote of the Sky or Shnilemun, is considered to be a protector and according to Inseño Chumash lore, “looks out for the welfare of all in the world below him”. During the creation of mankind, the Sky Coyote was present among the other important cosmological figures. The Eagle, also known as Slo’w, is the force that maintains momentum and order among the other stars so that they do not fall down on and destroy earth.

Chumash pictographs.

The Chumash cosmology is also centered around astronomy. Rock art and arborglyphs that have been found within Chumash sites are thought to have depicted Polaris (the North Star) and Ursa Major (the Big Dipper). These two astrological entities were paramount to the Chumash belief system as well as their perception of time. It is believed that the Chumash used these constellations to determine what time of the year it was depending on the position of Ursa Major around Polaris.

***

I love that Shannen showed her respect to her ancestry in some "Charmed" episodes, like in 2x10 "Heartbreak City" (click to see if bigger):

Charmed 3x01 "The Honeymoon is Over" (click to see bigger):

And the already mentioned 3x14 "The Good, The Bad and The Cursed" (click to see bigger). Her love for horses also comes from that connection:

[elusive-phantom]

Per the Alt National Parks Service:

The Trump administration often labels judges as activists when they rule against its interests but remains silent when decisions are in its favor. Similarly, the House Speaker is now dismissing concerns raised at town hall events over Elon Musk’s activities in Washington, alleging that the attendees are merely paid agitators. The level of narrative control at play is unprecedented.

To understand this issue more clearly, consider a recent Republican town hall in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho. Teresa Borrenpohl, a local attendee, was forcibly removed by unidentified men after questioning the event’s format. She had simply asked whether the gathering was meant to be a “lecture or a town hall.” When she expressed her displeasure, two men with no visible identification approached her. After she refused to leave, they escalated their force, dragging her out of the venue. Borrenpohl later stated that she felt her civil rights had been violated.

The Coeur d’Alene Police Chief later confirmed that the men who removed her were from a private security firm called LEAR Asset Management. The Kootenai County Republican Central Committee claimed Borrenpohl was arrested for trespassing and alleged that she bit a security guard during the altercation. Borrenpohl, however, stated she bit one of the men in self-defense, as they forcibly removed her without identifying themselves.

Notably, LEAR Asset Management did not have proper authorization to remove her. Their actions violated local ordinances, as they failed to wear uniforms clearly marked with the word “Security,” a requirement under Coeur d’Alene City Code 5.32.050. As a result, the city’s police chief has requested the revocation of the firm’s business license.

Adding to the controversy, there is a dispute over whether the event was private or public. The Kootenai County Republican Central Committee asserts it was a private event, giving them the authority to remove attendees. However, the Coeur d’Alene School District, which provided the venue, insists that it was a public event. This discrepancy raises critical questions about the legitimacy of the security firm’s actions and the protocols for handling such incidents.

In response to these events, the city attorney’s office has dismissed the misdemeanor battery charge against Borrenpohl, recognizing potential violations of her First Amendment rights.

This incident underscores the growing tensions at town hall meetings, particularly those addressing recent federal budget cuts and mass layoffs linked to Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). Many citizens are voicing concerns over Musk’s influence in government decisions, leading to increasingly heated confrontations at these events.

[justinspoliticalcorner]

Justin Glawe at Public Notice:

As three men manhandled Teresa Borrenpohl at a Republican town hall on February 22 in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, Sheriff Bob Norris stood nearby, filming what was quickly becoming a violent and attention-grabbing encounter. Norris didn’t step in to help Borrenpohl. Instead, he sided with the men — three private security guards dressed in all black with no bearings or badges — warning Borrenpohl that he would pepper spray her. (You can watch footage of the incident below. Warning — it’s disturbing.) The day after the incident, Norris began posting to his Facebook page. With no caption, he shared a photo of a MAGA hat. The next day, he posted a photo of himself grinning with Texas Gov. Greg Abbott and another photo with members of the NYPD at Donald Trump’s 2024 presidential inauguration. He also posted the results of his recent election, in which he garnered 70 percent of the vote. Finally, Norris posted a statement from a member of the Republican group that held the event from which Borrenpohl was removed.

“None of this would have happened if Borrenpohl had been respectful of others,” said Brent Regan of the Kootenai County Central Republican Committee in the post shared by Norris. While Norris was busy posting pro-Trump material on his Facebook page, the video of the attack on Borrenpohl was going viral. Coeur d’Alene Police Chief Lee White quickly announced that the charges against Borrenpohl — who allegedly bit one of the security guards — would be dropped. Norris has mostly avoided speaking to the press about the incident, but a review of his online footprint shows that he is awash in far-right beliefs, Public Notice and American Doom have found. He appears to be part of a troubling wing of US law enforcement that considers itself culture warriors who bear allegiance to Trump. In an increasingly divided nation primed for protests and other events that will inevitably involve police, this wing of law enforcement could play a pivotal role in determining the level of violence carried out on behalf of a president who has explicitly called for it. As Trump flouts court orders, threatens Democratic officials, militarizes immigration enforcement, and threatens use of the military at protests, rightwing Americans — from members of Congress to local police — are becoming emboldened and defensive of the policies coming from the White House. Borrenpohl is far from alone in making her voice heard at an event held by Republican elected officials. Just in the past week, citizens across the country have been showing up at town halls held by members of Congress to express their opposition to Republican policies and Trump administration actions, to the point that GOP insiders are warning elected officials to avoid such events altogether. But rowdy voters at town halls could just be the start. As spring turns to summer and the daily onslaught of attacks on democracy continues to flow from the White House, widespread street protests — and counter-protests — are a real possibility. And it will be local law enforcement agencies bearing the brunt of the growing strife between red and blue America, with their actions becoming a test of their loyalty to the Constitution and democratic ideals over their fondness for Trump.

This Public Notice piece from Justin Glawe highlights how incidents like the manhandling of Teresa Borrenpohl by 3 private security guards could be the norm with Trump as the tyrant-in-charge.

[dertaglichedan]

Sheriff’s Office releases names of 31 Patriot Front members arrested in Saturday bust

All 31 members of a white nationalist group arrested on suspicion of conspiring to riot in Coeur d’Alene during a Pride event had bonded out of the Kootenai County Jail as of Sunday afternoon.

The Kootenai County Sheriff’s Office released the names and photos of all suspects on Sunday, a day after the Coeur d’Alene police chief said the Patriot Front members were en route to the Pride in the Park event with riot gear, a smoke grenade and paperwork police say resembled an operations plan.

Patriot Front is a white nationalist group with branches across the country that specializes in vandalism, racist propaganda and “flash demonstrations” meant to intimidate minorities, according to a report from the Anti-Defamation League.

The Patriot Front members were discovered packed inside of the back of a U-Haul moving truck after a concerned citizen tipped police off about what looked like “a little army.”

Thomas R. Rousseau, the group’s founder, was among those arrested. Also arrested were Kieran P. Morris, Garret J. Garland and Mitchell F. Wagner, all of whom were documented by the Southern Poverty Law Center and activist groups as active members of hate groups, according to an April report by the center.

Wagner, who is listed in court documents to be from Florissant, Missouri, was charged with felony first-degree property damage after he was accused of defacing a Black history mural at Washington University in St. Louis in March, according to Southern Poverty Law Center and news reports from that area.

The Sheriff’s Office said the men were from all across the country, including Michigan, Texas, Alabama, Colorado, Idaho, Wyoming, Utah, South Dakota, Washington, Oregon, Illinois and Arkansas. Court records indicate that at least one of the men had lived in Missouri.

Their names are:

Jared M. Boyce.

Nathan D. Brenner.

Colton M. Brown.

Josiah D. Buster.

Mishael J. Buster.

Devin W. Center.

Dylan C. Corio

Winston W. Durham.

Garret J. Garland.

Branden M. Haney.

Richard J. Jessop.

James M. Johnson.

James J. Johnson.

Kieran P. Morris.

Lawrence A. Norman.

Justin M. Oleary.

Cameron K. Pruitt.

Forrest C. Rankin.

Thomas R. Rousseau.

Conor J. Ryan.

Spencer T. Simpson.

Alexander N. Sisenstein.

Derek J. Smith.

Dakota R. Tabler.

Steven D. Tucker.

Wesley E. Van Horn.

Mitchell F. Wagner.

Nathaniel T. Whitfield.

Robert B. Whitted.

Graham J. Whitsom.

Connor P. Moran.

The Sheriff’s Office said it is unknown when their next court appearance would be.

[thelovelygods]

Teresa Borrenpohl later told the Coeur d’Alene/Post Falls Press that, as it happened, she didn’t know if it was an arrest or a kidnapping. She was seated in a nearly full town hall hosted by the Kootenai County Republican Central Committee on Saturday. At first, the scene was similar to those that have played out over the last week or so, with opponents of the Trump and Musk takeover showing up to tell their lawmakers to show some spine, even in deeply conservative counties. But then, when a group of unmarked security descended on Borrenpohl, the conflict at the town hall took a more terrifying turn.

A member of the panel was giving an anti-abortion talking point when a voice from the audience talked over him, saying, “Women are dying.” The panel member continued. The moderator, a local website developer named Ed Bejarana, interrupted to lecture audience members who he said were “just popping off with stupid remarks,” and Teresa Borrenpohl yelled back, “Is this a town hall or a lecture?” Bejerana continued: “You’re just crazy people.”

Kootenai County Sheriff Robert Norris by then was standing over Borrenpohl. He was in plainclothes, and she didn’t recognize him at first. “Get ’em out!” Bejarana exclaimed, to boos and applause. Sheriff Norris told Borrenpohl to get up or be arrested. He leaned over to a woman next to her, who was recording the scene on a phone, and said she would also be removed. Borrenpohl was likely recognized by at least some in the room as a former Democratic candidate for office, but she said she didn’t know why she was in trouble. She stayed in her seat. “That little girl is afraid to leave!” Bejarana called from the stage. “She spoke up, and now she doesn’t want to suffer the consequences.”

A man dressed in a black jacket, olive pants, and an earbud or earpiece stepped into the row and grabbed Borrenpohl’s wrist. She yanked it back. He went for her hands again. She pointed at the man looming over her, yelling out, “This man is assaulting me.” The man stepped further into the aisle, joined by a second in identical attire. “Is this your deputy?” she yelled. “Sheriff Norris, is this your deputy?” If the men were working for the sheriff, they weren’t showing any insignia. Their faces were blank. “Who the fuck are these men?” Borrenpohl yelled again. As the two men grappled her, some in the audience began to cheer, while others took up the woman’s demand that the men identify themselves. A third man in the same jacket and pants arrived, holding a bunch of plastic zipcuffs. They got Teresa Borrenpohl on her stomach, kneeling over her. Then they dragged her out of the room.

In the past week, with Congress in recess, Republican lawmakers across the country have faced hostile town halls, where constituents dissatisfied with the Trump-Musk chaos in the federal government boo, chant, and interrupt. Some Democrats have been facing pressure from their own. “Tyranny is rising in the White House, and a man has declared himself our king,” one audience voter challenged his representative at a town hall in Georgia days before. “So, I would like to know—rather, the people would like to know—what you, Congressman, and your fellow congressmen are going to do to rein in the megalomaniac in the White House?” Like the rolling pickets outside Tesla showrooms in recent weeks, these actions have at times been intentionally disruptive, meant not merely as protest but to interrupt business as usual. What was done to Borrenpohl in Coeur d’Alene for speaking out at a town hall is a terrifying escalation. In Idaho, the lines between Republican politics and political violence are thinner than they are in some places, but there’s no reason to believe this escalation won’t be repeated.

Who were the men who accosted Teresa Borrenpohl, and what was the local sheriff doing with them? Much remains murky, but the Coeur d’Alene/Post Falls Press has found some answers. The unmarked security force were from a private security firm called LEAR Asset Management, the Press reported, but Sheriff Norris “claimed no knowledge of the security personnel or who hired them.” LEAR did not respond to a request for comment for this piece. The man who founded and runs the group is Paul Trouette, who was seen in Coeur d’Alene several months ago at a City Council meeting, opposing a local ordinance that would have required that private security outfits more clearly identify themselves. At the time, the Kootenai Journal reported, Coeur d’Alene Police Chief Lee White “made references to situations in which security personnel were confused with law enforcement officers, or acted as if they were law enforcement officers, within the last year in Coeur d’Alene.”

LEAR has operated in California going back at least to 2012, with Trouette running what “looks like a military assault force,” as Time magazine observed in 2014. “Clad in body armor and camouflage and carrying AR-15 rifles, they creep through the trees toward their target: one of the illegal marijuana gardens dotting Mendocino County.” More recently, LEAR seems to have turned up pro bono and perhaps uninvited to clear an encampment where unhoused people were living near Ackman Creek in Mendocino County. After a local news outlet reported on Paul Trouette doing security at the cleanup, a county agency involved in the effort said, “It is unclear to us who contacted Lear.”

When exactly LEAR began operating in Idaho is unclear. Kootenai County’s local Republican Party has been dominated by MAGA Republicans in recent years. Militias and militia-like groups in the region had also found a foothold again, after years of residents confronting them, going back to efforts to run the Aryan Nations out of the area in the 1990s.

The town hall in Coeur d’Alene was not the first time Trouette and other LEAR security forces have been deployed against community activists. A few years back, they were working to surveil anti-logging tree sits and protests in the Jackson Demonstration State Forest in California. CAL FIRE said LEAR was working as “safety managers,” not private security. But local environment justice and Indigenous groups reported that LEAR employees were instructing loggers on how to make “citizen’s arrests” of protesters. In one incident outside a logging gate, according to local public radio outlet KZYX, about 20 minutes after Paul Trouette left the site, a “large black truck with no license places” arrived and pulled alongside a Native Hawaiian activist and singer who was part of the effort to defend the site from logging. As a lawyer working with one of the groups wrote, “They didn’t say who they were, they didn’t say we’re with the police, or we’re with Cal Fire. They just came up to her and said, you need to leave. And when she said that she wouldn’t, they responded by reaching into their pocket and throwing bullet casings at her face and saying, you know, it’s dangerous in here. And I think any reasonable person would feel that that was a death threat.” One of the men in the truck was reportedly wearing a Blue Lives Matter mask.

Only after the three men from LEAR dragged Teresa Borrenpohl into the hallway outside the auditorium on Saturday did Coeur d’Alene police arrive and intervene, at first seemingly unaware of who the LEAR guys were, asking if they were with the sheriff. According to the Coeur d’Alene/Post Falls Press, Police Chief White “said it’s not appropriate for law enforcement to forcefully remove a person from a town hall for speaking out of turn or shouting.” White also told the Press that “his officers declined the sheriff’s request that Borrenpohl be arrested for trespassing.” (She was charged with misdemeanor battery for allegedly biting one of the men who grabbed her, but the charge was dismissed by the city attorney on Monday; she did not respond to TNR’s request for comment before publication.)

Late on Monday, the Coeur d’Alene police announced that LEAR’s license to operate in the city was now revoked due to the incident. Police also said that LEAR had been hired by the town hall organizers. Sheriff Norris has maintained that the firm’s actions were proper. They are certainly in keeping with LEAR’s history of policing protest while the agencies who hired them distance themselves from the private security they hired.

In the recent past, unfortunately, what the far right do in Idaho has been an indicator of what may be erupting elsewhere—whether that’s masked militia groups patrolling Pride events or violent white supremacists running for office. Under this Trump administration, it feels like a series of limits are being tested, and in this part of the country, the tests were already underway. A Unite the Right attendee already won an endorsement from the Kootenai County Republican Central Committee in 2021 (he lost). Sheriff Norris already went viral for hunting for “explicit” books in a local library. Now, with the apparent blessing of the county sheriff, a group of men who would not identify themselves and who were working for the local Republican Party have dragged someone out of a political meeting, her speech considered grounds for arrest. What’s next? And who will stand in their way?

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[transmascchloeprice]

These filthy Nazis have stopped hiding what they are. They assaulted someone for asking a question. Dirty pigs