Posted on 03/04/2005 9:21:09 AM PST by knews_hound
Arson suspect defended: He's no terrorist, parents say of son
Published 2:15 am PST Friday, March 4, 2005
NEWCASTLE - Greg and Ryan Lewis were out painting the barn on their hilltop property last month when the well-dressed men showed up along the ridge.
"We thought they were Jehovah's Witnesses," Greg Lewis said. But the visitors weren't handing out religious tracts; they were FBI agents investigating firebombs placed in at least three construction sites since Dec. 27.
Within hours, the agents would arrest 21-year-old Ryan and begin a painstaking search of the sprawling, two-story home the young man helped his parents build.
Ryan Lewis, an avid golfer, basketball player and artist, would be labeled a domestic terrorist and a suspect in all three arson cases, which authorities say were done in the name of the shadowy environmental group, the Earth Liberation Front.
And his family has gone from the initial emotion of "utter devastation" to worry and, slowly, to anger over how they see the young man being portrayed. "We want to see, whatever Ryan has done, that there be a just punishment," his 49-year-old father said during an interview at the family home. "We think Ryan falls into the area of a protest gone wrong." "He is not a terrorist," added his 43-year-old mother, who teaches first grade in Roseville.
Lewis has pleaded not guilty to three counts of attempted arson and five counts of arson in connection with firebombs placed at construction sites in Lincoln on Dec. 27, Auburn on Jan. 12 and Sutter Creek on Feb. 7. Two other bombing attempts in Auburn, at the courthouse and at a Department of Motor Vehicles office, occurred after his arrest and remain under investigation.
Exerpted, click for more of this tawdry tale...
(Excerpt) Read more at sacbee.com ...
This little pissant needs 25 years in Folsom to reflect on his poor judgement.
Cheers,
knews hound
Sacto ping list ?
Klebold and Harris' parents said they were good kids too.
If this young man knows what's good for him, he'll start naming his co-conspirators.
His parents mindset has a lot to do with his becomming a terrorist.
They seem to lack the concept of Evil.
So9
The change began in part, they said, when he started taking philosophy classes at Sierra College.
"We would have intense discussions," Sherry Lewis said. "He slowly didn't believe in God. Then he didn't believe in the Bible."
He declared himself an anarchist, and resisted his father's efforts to persuade him that anarchy does not have a long record of success in world history.
The parents say they spent a great deal of time trying to understand their son's beliefs. When Lewis went to an anti-war protest in San Francisco, his father went along.
And when Lewis went to an Earth Day conference at Sierra College, his father also attended and came away shocked by what he had heard.
There, an author known as an anarchist spoke to students and, according to Greg Lewis, told the group violence may be necessary to achieve goals such as protecting the environment.
"I said, 'Hey, you're not swallowing this crap, are you?' " Greg Lewis recalled.
He said Ryan replied he was an anarchist and concerned about the environment. Greg, who works doing home renovations and remodeling, told him there are environmentally sound ways to build, and that Ryan could have 5 acres to do so himself.
He's guilty.
Oh, the irony.
Sounds like the parents needed to do a little better job with their child before he ever heard this crap. If I had heard this stuff when I was in college, I would have broken out into laughter and went and got another beer.
Exactly why Ward Churchill etc. are so dangerous.
Absolutely right. Perhaps those "what a good kid" parents should sit down with a few videotapes of news footage showing the absolute fear and stress of the residents of those communitie while their "good kid" went about his reign of terror.
The parents' idea of punishment would be to have BoBo the Firebug go build houses for Habitat for Humanity with the king of dictator supporters, Jimmah Cahtah. Knews_hound, I like your idea better - 25 years at Folsom where being a geek really gets you "props" in the exercise yard.
Oh I'm sure he is going to make all kinds of new and interesting friends in Folsom....
Couldnt happen to a nicer kid.
Cheers,
knews hound
"I don't think this is on the same level of being a murderer," Greg Lewis said.
Nope, not yet. It's a good thing they caught him before someone was killed.
And in the case of a death, you know this little a$$hole's parents would harp on how it was "for the greater good," and "he didn't mean to kill anyone - he was just trying to make a statement."
And I'm sure the fact that it "wasn't intentional" will be a big comfort to the victim's family.
IMO, that's what he deserves anyway.
In fuedal Japan, the penalty for arson was being burned alive. If it weren't for that pesky 8th Amendment, we could watch that on pay per view.
L
Whenever anyone claims to be an anarchist, the answer should be a good right hook and the statement (directly to them on the ground), "So am I. How do you like the methodology so far?"
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