Me! I moved to that town a few years ago when the mayor – now retired – was a liberal. I got to know the old guy when he and his allies congregated every morning at Randy’s coffee shop. I noticed the tendency of those leftists to censor me. For instance, at the last candidates’ forum, that mayor refused to read my question out loud along with everyone else’s because I referenced Gov. Brown’s violation of our basic rights. “Your question seemed divisive,” the old mayor claimed, to justify his amendment of my free speech.
So imagine how happy I am to have a conservative mayor now, that “troublemaker” Adam Craven. He stuck his neck out in the scamdemic when, as a city coucil member, he got the city to defy Gov. Brown’s lockdown, opening local businesses and civic resources like the rec center. Only a week or so later, the State dropped their tyrannical mandates, influenced no doubt by other small towns – Baker City, Sandy, Yamhill – who had broadcast similarly defiant statements. But Adam Craven of Brownsville, Oregon had planted his stone in Goliath. He understands that we lose all human rights when we fail to protect the civil liberties of the individual. The collective is made up of each of us!
How are we blinded to that? Hysteria, I say. Malefactors foment fear to justify their abuse of power. Folks don’t think clearly when they’re terrified of illness.
In highschool, Adam’s dad was diagnosed with Huntington’s Disease. The trauma bonded Adam with his girlfriend Katie, whose father was dying of lupus. Katie was able to cook meals for Adam’s dad; he pronounced her childish, jury-rigged concoctions, “World class. The best I’ve ever had!” She got a degree at UO, supervising social workers rescuing homeless youths. She eventually became Adam’s wife and the mom to his tiny boys Waylon and Jayce. Sadly, Adam’s dad passed before he could meet his grandkids.
The new father and new mayor works independently in remodeling as well as pipe fitting for local industries. Adam loves the thrill of “crane day”, when a giant lift helps position the carefully prepared pipes into huge mechanisms. Adam’s leisure passions include the traditional Oregon rites of huntin’ and fishin’. He knows “the truth shall set you free”, gaining greater courage from his faith in Jesus. But some folks in town still remember him as the young hooligan who blockaded Main Street with trashcans.
Adam knows the frustrations of being a rural kid, one reason he pushed to reopen local recreation options once the nature of the plandemic was exposed. Did you know that Rob Reiner’s Stand By Me was filmed in Brownsville? A small town can be a haven for childhood innocence in a world where adolescents are dying of heart attacks from unnecessary medical injections. It just takes brave adults like Adam Craven to stand up for what is right.
This story took a bizarre turn in 2021 when I was washing my car in the driveway. A stranger ambled up to me to chat. He ended up trying to recruit me as a stealth candidate for city council. For some reason he assumed I was a liberal (was it my Burning Man bumpersticker?) who would be willing to pretend to be conservative through the election. This character Alan Buzzard set about defaming Adam Craven as a far-right Q-anon extremist, claiming Adam was destroying human rights by opposing Gov. Brown’s edicts from on high.
I was so appalled by the defamation and subterfuge, I reported the stealth-candidate scheme at a city council meeting. “My relatives were exterminated by actual Nazis so I’m appalled when principled civil servants like Mr. Craven are smeared as ‘far right’. Such slander can even make him a target of the FBI.”
Adam knows the frustrations of being a rural kid, one reason he pushed to reopen local recreation options once the nature of the plandemic was exposed. Did you know that Rob Reiner’s Stand By Me was filmed in Brownsville? A small town can be a haven for childhood innocence in a world where adolescents are dying of heart attacks from unnecessary medical injections. It just takes brave adults like Adam Craven to stand up for what is right.
This story took a bizarre turn in 2021 when I was washing my car in the driveway. A stranger ambled up to me to chat. He ended up trying to recruit me as a stealth candidate for city council. For some reason he assumed I was a liberal (was it my Burning Man bumpersticker?) who would be willing to pretend to be conservative through the election. This character Alan Buzzard set about defaming Adam Craven as a far-right Q-anon extremist, claiming Adam was destroying human rights by opposing Gov. Brown’s edicts from on high.
I was so appalled by the defamation and subterfuge, I reported the stealth-candidate scheme at a city council meeting. “My relatives were exterminated by actual Nazis so I’m appalled when principled civil servants like Mr. Craven are smeared as ‘far right’. Such slander can even make him a target of the FBI.”
Adam and Katie |
I completed my public statement with the observation, “Polemicizing citizens is evil because it cultivates hatred. There are folks in town who feel justified in hating their neighbor because they’re victims of a ruthless divide-and-conquer strategy. I espouse the concept of Love Thy Neighbor, particularly when we’re defaced – faceless – behind masks, dehumanized and demonized as disease spreaders…. If you need fraud to achieve power, you may want to rethink your goal. Love is the ultimate power.”
We’re all flawed, but I know that Adam Craven really is striving to bring all his constituents together for the benefit of the charming little Oregon town we call home.
The author VC Bestor is Director of the non-profit Fanged Wilds and Women Program,
a project encouraging women to engage constructively with apex predators.