Words are very important to an attorney. Whether in trial practice, where the goal is to verbally convince a judge or jury, in civil suits, or in appeals, a case can turn on the use of a right or wrong word. Attorneys know this - they're taught to be conscientious about the words they use.

That's why it's hard for us to understand why, shortly after Richard Lory was arrested, a few years ago, and before he'd even spoken to Heather Lory, the victim of a brutal rape in which one of her attackers was shot, Faver told the community and the press that the slain boy, Bruce Bradach, was not the boy who had raped Richard's daughter. Unless it was purely a legal maneuver, designed to get high bail and turn the community, and potential jurors, against Lory, long before the trial.

Since then, Faver has called it just a mistake.

But to our way of thinking, there have been too many mistakes and they just go on.

In a recent interview for another paper, Faver touted his background and length of time in Bemidji, which no one can dispute.

He has claimed to be fiscally responsible, within the bounds of his budget so to not burden taxpayers; some of us remember, though, in 1995, county residents' costs went up when Faver proposed, and the County Board adopted, a new fee schedule raising everything from court costs to well inspection fees. It's 5 cents to copy a document at the Copy Shop on Beltrami Avenue. But if the document is in a court file down the block, due to Faver's fee hikes, the copy from the Court Clerk will cost you five dollars.

Faver, in his recent interview, stressed that along with an obligation to the victim of a crime, there's a "responsibility to those who have been accused. After all, those people are presumed innocent until proven guilty."

With respect to the obligation to the victim, we have to ask, then, Why did it take months to get Heather's rapists prosecuted? Why did it only happen after she went on national television? Why are many crimes unprosecuted in this county? And with regard to the responsibility to the presumed innocent person accused, Why did the County Attorney's office seek unpostable bail ($25,000) in the Roy Martin matter, where a Native American, living with his wife on disability, was charged with committing an assault, that the alleged victim had described as being done by a white man, not fitting Martin's description, gave police a composite drawing that didn't look anything like him, and recognized Martin as a neighbor, but not her assailant, when she ran into him at a local drive-in?

Why didn't Faver allow Martin to take the polygraph test he had requested? Wasn't he interested in the possible results? Or did Faver momentarily forget his responsibility to the accused, and to justice?

First off, I want to thank you and the Northern Herald. It is enlightening that there are people like you and Ed De La Hunt and Rush Limbaugh that keep us informed of facts that, without you, we would not know.

I am sixty-seven years old. I am forced retired from the railroad since March, 1990 and on a fixed income.

I want to alert all these gubernatorial candidates and, in fact, anyone running for a position in state or federal government.

I will not vote for you if:

you support legislation that will, in any way, interfere with my Second Amendment rights to own a gun. This includes raising taxes on firearms so high as to be out of my reach, and registering my name each time I buy a gun;

you are instrumental in causing the price of cigarettes to go up, whether through lawsuits against the tobacco companies, or, again, raising taxes on them so I can't afford to buy them;

you are entertaining any ideas about increasing taxes or adding new items to the already overabundant tax list. Minnesotans are already paying too much tax on income and personal property;

you make campaign promises you know full well that you cannot keep, just because you know it's what the voters want to hear. The lies of politicians have always been a source of light-hearted humor. It isn't funny anymore.

I'm ... [darn] tired of selfish liberals running my life. So be very careful what laws you vote to enact if you want my vote.

As a social studies teacher at a rural public high school, I pay close attention to politics, especially as issues affect our education system. Lately, I've become increasingly tired of ridiculously time-consuming paperwork requirements imposed by law. It doesn't help the students; it just lessens our contact time with them.

I've listened to gubernatorial candidate Skip Humphrey, and he supports programs that require us teachers to do all this senseless paperwork -- programs like the Profile of Learning.

On the other hand, candidate Norm Coleman is talking about stopping the Profile of Learning, scaling back the paperwork, and allowing us more time with students.

When I heard this, I made up my mind: Coleman is the best candidate for us teachers -- and for the students. Coleman believes, as most parents do, that Minnesota schools are already very good, and that while there's no question [that] they could be even better, increased paperwork is not the answer.

Coleman believes that we teachers should be allowed to practice our art -- educating children.

That's what will make our schools better. We work hard to stay on the cutting edge in our fields.

Norm Coleman supports our efforts and respects us as professionals. Rural teachers, especially, and parents, too, should vote for Norm Coleman on November 3rd. He's the one who supports the kids.

Ward Kaiser, Cohasset, MN

James Harthun, a Vietnam veteran, now living in Bemidji, has spoken of highly unusual circumstances while in the service of his country, and is now endeavoring to procure his full military records to find out what actually happened to him. This is his story. This information is largely uncorroborated by official sources, and must be read as same. If correct, those sources, would, of course, have reason to fail to corroborate it.

Recap: In previous installments Harthun described his Army enlistment, and leaving July 21, 1969 from International Falls for Ft. Bragg. In his second week of basic training, he claims to have been offered a soft drink, accepted it and the next thing he remembered was being carried out on someone's back. He woke up 4-5 weeks later in, seemingly, an abandoned military hospital, and said that he had needle marks all over his body ("I felt like a human pincushion.") Harthun then describes his being given a shot and awakening in his barracks. Shortly thereafter he was sent to Ft. Jackson, S.C., to attend Army cook school. But, per Harthun, he, and 5 other enlistees were met there by a man driving an expensive convertible, wearing a 3-piece suit and claiming to be their new sergeant. Alone with Harthun, The sergeant asked Harthun to impersonate him for a physical fitness exam. Afterward, the sergeant drove Harthun to Atlanta, saying that they'd "live the high life for the next 6 weeks"

Harthun was given leave, though, and eventually received orders. He was shipped to a Special Operations Group known as "LZ Center." Following the fall of Khe Sanh, his sergeant ordered the men to fall out, "And as you go out, I'm going to give you a little pill. Every one of you will take this pill."

The pill, says Harthun, affected his mental state, and he got in a fight with 5 other soldiers. A rocket attack, during the year Harthun was at LZ Center, blinded him for two weeks.

Following completion of his tour of duty, Harthun returned to the U.S. on leave, then reported at Fort Sam Houston and was told that, contrary to policy, he was to be shipped back to Vietnam. His sergeant advised him to go AWOL, which he did; following official contacts, his orders were changed and he again reported to Ft. Sam Houston.

(Previous installments are available at our at our web site.
See The Library, Vols. 3 & 4)

INSTALLMENT V

With a year left to his service, Harthun was made an aide at Ft. Sam Houston. Harthun had disagreements, though, with a new First Lieutenant who had arrived, and ended up in a fight with him. He said that despite his previous service, and a sergeant's saying that Harthun was in the right, he was given the choice of 5 yrs. in Leavenworth Federal Prison, or a dishonorable discharge. He took the discharge.

Two years later, Harthun claims to have been told by his former sergeant that he could get his dishonorable discharge changed to honorable. So he reported, as told, to the Lake of the Woods County Veterans' Service Officer, Stodd Robinson, who also ran a store, at Baudette. He was not well received there, however. "I was told to get the ...[heck] out of his office," recounts Harthun, "I was called a dishonorable son of a bitch... and told to get out of his dime store."

"Two years later, I got a phone call... from a sergeant Floyd Nagler..." Nagler was with a military unit known as the USAR 19th PSYOP Co. Harthun produced a business card which listed Nagler at Bldg. 506, Ft. Snelling.

Harthun was told of a secret package to arrive. "I was told that a package would come in the mail. That I had to sign for it, not to show it to anybody, that when I was done reading it, to destroy it."

The package arrived, but by the contents, it appeared to be intended for someone who was still on active duty. Harthun said his "mind was blown" by reading it; he spoke to a friend, Warren Parks, in Baudette, about the package, "His conclusion was, 'Jim, it's gotta be CIA,'"said Harthun. Harthun describes the package contents he'd been told to read and destroy as being about "All this training and stuff they were going to give us, foreign languages, psychological warfare, advanced desert warfare,... "

Advised by a friend to just forget about it, Harthun was low on cash, so he called Nagler back to ask how much this, apparently special, service would pay. "He said, 'you can name your salary,'" said Harthun. Harthun told him he'd think about it. For a time he went to work, running a 24-hour hotline for the newly opened Vietnam Veterans Awareness Council in Minneapolis, also near Ft. Snelling. Finally he called Nagler back and arranged a meeting which was terminated when Harthun told Nagler he had a dishonorable discharge. "The conversation stops, just like that... He said, 'Get out of my car,'" Harthun recounts. It is not known why, when Nagler first informed Harthun of the package which was to come, he might have believed Harthun was still in some form of government service.

Several years later, 1980 found Harthun back at his home at Graceton, Minn., near Baudette. He recounts, "I get a phone call from a gal by the name of Katie Trotzky. She told me she was a lawyer that represented Vietnam veterans in discharge upgrades and that she was representing me."

Trotzky advised Harthun to appear before a Review Board in St. Paul. Harthun made the appearance. "We go in and it's a unanimous decision - by five full bird colonels - that my discharge should not only be made honorable, but with mention that it should never have been dishonorable," he said.

Per Harthun, Trotzky said that she'd represented several hundred veterans, and she'd never seen that happen before, that quickly. Trotzky had not yet had time to fully review Harthun's records which she had with her. "There's a stack of records that ... high setting in front of her; she says, 'maybe I'd better look over some of these records.' She sets down and starts paging through records - we ain't setting there ten minutes and this woman starts to bawl. And I said, 'Lady, what are you crying about?' and she said, 'Do you know what's in these records? Have you seen your records?' I said, 'Of course, I've never seen my records.' Well, she said, 'What they did to you wasn't even human. I've seen some really dirty ... [stuff] come through records, but I ain't never seen nothing like this,'" Harthun recounts, continuing with what Trotzky told him, "'This might cost me my job,' and those were her exact words," Harthun recounts, "'or it might cost me my life, but I'm not letting this go - we're going to get some justice here.'"

Per Harthun, Trotzky gave him her home phone number, as well as her husband's (who was also an attorney) number. She told Harthun to call in two weeks.

Harthun said, "I called in two weeks, to her office, they said, 'nobody like that ever worked here.'"

Note: Northern Herald has inspected a Department of Defense document, dated 10/17/80, and signed by Michael E. Glover, SFC, USA, Asst. Adjutant General, confirming Harthun's discharge upgrade. It, indeed, discloses the name of his counsel as Ms. Katie Trotzky, Veterans Resource Center, Discharge Review Service, 2020 Minnehaha Ave., Minneapolis, MN 55404