Constitutionalist blames police for fatal shootout (shooting in Massillon, Ohio)

The Canton Repository (Ohio) ^ | August 13, 2002 | ED BALINT

[ResistorSister]

CANTON — Dwight Class said it didn’t have to end this way for Donald Matthews and the Massillon police officer whom he shot and killed.

Class said Patrol Officer Eric Taylor and the other officers and state trooper who were part of a fatal police chase Friday night did not have the authority to pull Matthews over on a traffic stop.

Or to pursue and attempt to arrest him.

Class attends the meetings on constitutionality that Matthews used to lead before he died in the shootout with police that started with a traffic stop on Route 21 in Doylestown and ended at First Street NW and Cherry Road in Massillon.

Matthews was president of the National Constitutionalist Academy and studied the U.S. Constitution. He held weekly meetings at the Denny’s Restaurant on Tuscarawas Street W in Perry Township. About 15 to 22 people usually attend, Class said. He said Matthews also held weekly meetings in Cleveland.

STRONG BELIEFS. Dwight Class and his wife, Sárra,
stand outside Reed Funeral Home after attending
calling hours for Donald Matthews of Jackson
Township on Monday afternoon. Police shot and
killed Matthews after he led police on a chase and shot and
killed Massillon Police Officer Eric Taylor on Friday
night. Class said the shootout wouldn’t have occurred
if the state trooper who pulled Matthews over on a
traffic stop had shown proof that he had an oath of
office and a bond. Repository / Michael S. Balash

Class attended calling hours for Matthews at Reed Funeral Home on Monday. Visitation was held from 3 to 5 and 6 to 9 p.m.

The first session appeared to be sparsely attended. Roughly 12 to 20 vehicles were parked in the funeral home lot. Visitors trickled in during the two hours. Family members and friends occasionally gathered in the parking lot or near the entrance of the funeral home.

Class spoke strongly about the events that unfolded Friday when a state trooper pulled Matthews over for driving 12 mph over the speed limit.

If the trooper could have produced proof that he had taken an oath of office and had a bond, “it would have been a nice, simple conversation (and Matthews would have said,) ‘I recognize you as an officer now.’ ”

That would have prevented the gunshots, Class said.

“I don’t think it had to have happened at all,” the Canton resident said, citing constitutional issues.

However, his wife, Sárra Class, said Taylor “should have been shot.”

Dwight Class disagreed and told his wife to stop making the comment.

“I thought he was a good man,” he said of Matthews. “He tried to get things done; he tried to get them done peacefully. That’s what he taught in class.”

Matthews taught other constitutionalists “to get the ‘paper trail started’ ” by filing cases in court, Class said.

Class said he has filed lawsuits over traffic violations involving himself and Rodney Class. One of the cases involves New Philadelphia police, he said.

Dwight Class also said he’s filed a lawsuit in federal court in Akron over alleged civil rights violations.

He said he’s planning to take legal action this week against Massillon Municipal Judge Edward J. Elum in the Ohio Supreme Court. That complaint involves a warrant issued against Class — he said he doesn’t know what for.

Dwight Class, 51, said he retired after working 30 years at the Timken Co.

He gave a reporter a “notice” of “civil rights violations by Ohio police and (the Ohio Highway Patrol).”

“Ohio is a home-rule state,” it says. “Chances are that if the brothers and sisters are stopped by any local police, they do not have an oath of office or bond to hold a position as a civil servant.”

Without the oath or bond, an officer doesn’t have the power to arrest a citizen, Class says.

Standing outside the funeral home, he said, “We don’t have a police force in the state of Ohio; we have private, at-will employees.”

A bumper sticker on a pickup truck at the calling hours carried the slogan: “I love my country but I fear my elected officials.”

Class said he expects Friday’s incident to boost attendance at the National Constitutionalist Academy meetings.

But not everyone who attended the calling hours shared Class’s point of view.

John Newlund, 49, of East Liverpool, said Matthews was his wife’s brother-in-law.

“He gave me a card one time,” Newlund said of the academy, “and I just blew it off. I believe you should pay your taxes.”

Newlund said he would “absolutely” pull over for a traffic stop.

“He should have stopped,” he said of Matthews. “It was only a speeding ticket — it happens thousands of times a day.

“You go by the law, the law of the land.”

You can reach Repository writer Ed Balint at (330) 580-8315 or e-mail:

ed.balint@cantonrep.com

[sinkspur]

THERE IS NO PROVISION FOR THE CREATION OF ARTIFICIAL ENTITIES WHICH IS WHAT CORPORATIONS ARE!

You're reading too much Irwin Schiff or Bob Schulz or William Cooper.

What on earth does this have to do with killing a cop?

[Catspaw]

All power comes ultimately from the People. No State is allowed to usurp any power. And no government, Local, State, or National, is allowed to interfere with any of the rights that will forever be retained by the People.

So in essence, exodus, the rights of the people, and each individual, are anything they say they are, and that each person is entitled to follow what they see fit, on that given day and at that given time.

[Freemyland]

Actually, the Constitution did not create the common law.

[AppyPappy]

In this case it's against people who believe that government should be strictly limited to it's enumerated powers.

In this case, a policeman died because someone thought he exceeded his "constitutional bounds".

[wimpycat]

ROFLMAO!!! For your information, Common Law as it was imported to the US was the brainchild of the ENGLISH legal system dating back to the days of Henry II of England, and tweaked by Edward I of England.

THERE IS NO PROHIBITION IN THE CONSTITUTION AGAINST ADMINISTRATIVE OR STATUTORY LAW!!

You're the one who can't follow point A to point B. You're the one WHO CAN'T GRASP THE CONCEPT:

IF IT'S NOT PROHIBITED, IT'S ALLOWED!!!

[f.Christian]

FR wolf pack---sheoples!

[Maelstrom]

OH? You have new information? Where is it from?

And are you trying to say that everyone who feels this way is a potential terrorist? You've implied it in previous posts.

Please clarify.

[AppyPappy]

And no government, Local, State, or National, is allowed to interfere with any of the rights that will forever be retained by the People.

Unless the People CHOOSE officials to create laws to limit themselves (ie speeding).

[carenot]

Oh, I remember Cooper.

http://www.sierratimes.com/archive/files/nov/06/arwc110601.htm

[american spirit]

Ok I give, where have I been proven wrong on anything I've posted. I doubt you or anyone can prove that city codes, ordinances, etc. are constituional and that's been my main point all along.

[AppyPappy]

And are you trying to say that everyone who feels this way is a potential terrorist?

Everyone who kills innocent lives for their belief in their own version of a constitution is a terrorist. Everyone who advocates violence for that belief is a terrorist.

[AppyPappy]

I doubt you or anyone can prove that city codes, ordinances, etc. are constituional and that's been my main point all along.

They are laws created by Constitutionally elected officials; therefore they are Constitutional. The only time they are not is when they attempt to override Constitutionally derived civil rights

[wimpycat]

Ok I give, where have I been proven wrong on anything I've posted. I doubt you or anyone can prove that city codes, ordinances, etc. are constituional and that's been my main point all along.

Do you suffer from short term memory loss? As I said before, the burden of proof is on YOU to prove it's unconstitutional. What provision(s) are violated by city codes and ordinances?

[exodus]

Don Matthews didn't have a lot of money. As you can see from the picture, his friends don't have money either.
- exodus

To: exodus
What's your standard for not having a lot of money? They claim that "over $200,000" worth of fireworks were "stolen" by the police. Dunno about you, but that sounds like a lot of money to me - they ain't talking about a couple of packs of Black Cat firecrackers here...
# 84 by general_re
*************************

You should pay attention to what you post, general_re. You took the fireworks story out of context.

Just as seing a story here on FreeRepublic doesn't mean that Jim Robinson was personally involved in the story, so Don Matthews reporting a story about $200,000 worth of fireworks doesn't mean that he paid for the fireworks himself.

Police interfere with Federally and State Licensed Pyrotechnicians.

On July 27th, 1998. An annual fireworks convention and show at Weedsport NY was interfered with by a New York City Task Force, NYC Bomb squad and some members illegally pretending to be ATF agents.

New York City is about 300 miles from Weedsport.

These Thugs held 8 Federally licensed pyrotechnicians captive on the side of the road for periods up to 12 hours. They also confiscated (stole) their merchandise valued at over $200,000, this is known as Grand Theft.

These incompetent Thugs also took the confiscated fireworks to a quarry and tried to explode them all, but they left live charges scattered around the quarry. By which could cause serious harm to the public.

They did this under the pretense of enforcing an unconstitutional law which states that if an individual has over $50.00 in fireworks in their possession, they are presumed (thought crime) to have this for sale.

As shown, these thugs were totally out of their jurisdiction.

All in all we have Kidnapping, Grand Theft, False impersonation of Federal Agents, Destruction of private property, and enforcement of unconstitutional laws.

[amused]

Ok I give, where have I been proven wrong on anything I've posted. I doubt you or anyone can prove that city codes, ordinances, etc. are constituional and that's been my main point all along.

The tyranny of the majority in your community is to blame.

But I see your point, from now on I am ignoring all stop signs.

"Out of my way, I am a motorist!!!!!"

[Catspaw]

Ok I give, where have I been proven wrong on anything I've posted. I doubt you or anyone can prove that city codes, ordinances, etc. are constituional and that's been my main point all along.

The burden of proof is on you and you haven't proved anything, except to spew some hysterical posts.

Oh, and when you're providing the documentation for your assertions, please highlight where one has the constitutional right to kill a cop.

[dighton]

"Out of my way, I am a motorist!!!!!"

Needs a bit of touching-up.

"Out of the way, I am a SOVEREIGN motorist!!!!!"

[general_re]

Just as seing a story here on FreeRepublic doesn't mean that Jim Robinson was personally involved in the story, so Don Matthews reporting a story about $200,000 worth of fireworks doesn't mean that he paid for the fireworks himself.

No, but when you assert that his friends didn't have a lot of money, and I post evidence that his friends had enough money for $200K worth of fireworks, it sort of belies the notion that they were living hand to mouth. I never claimed that Matthews himself had those fireworks - I posted that to point out that "his friends" certainly did.

[american spirit]

Read #134 please and try to understand the reality of what that post is trying to tell you and some of the other "deep" thinkers on this thread. Your assertion that "if it's not prohibited it's allowed" is so ludicrous as well as moronic.
Don't you think every tyrant in history has used that same rationale?

[wimpycat]

They did this under the pretense of enforcing an unconstitutional law which states that if an individual has over $50.00 in fireworks in their possession, they are presumed (thought crime) to have this for sale.

Which portion(s) of the Constitution are violated by this particular firecracker law? Hmmmmm? You can ramble on and dump this BS all over FR all you want, but unless you can cite the specific provisions in the Constitution that are violated, then you're just spinning your wheels and not proving anything at all.