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

[american spirit]

Sorry, can never lose a battle of wits with the unarmed. Besides some of the snippy little one-liners where exactly is your position within the parameters of this thread.

[Maelstrom]

That prohibition is also in force on the States.

If it isn't enumerated in the State Constitution it still belongs to the people.

[Maelstrom]

Have I expressed antipathy for either of them?

Or

Are you merely trying to elicit such a response to further a senseless debate in which two dead men are merely the excuse for tearing my FreeRepublic apart?

[Maelstrom]

That's fine...I see it the other way around, of course:

People who believe in a limited government or enumerated powers were provoked into defending Matthews' unteneable action.

One Particular Harbor set that as his self-assigned task, and I cannot blame you in any way for being drawn into the debate.

I'm betting you too believe that our government should be properly limited according to it's enumerated powers. We are not enemies on this thread, nor likely many others.

Glad to have you back!

[dcwusmc]

WRONG.... In our Constitutional Republic, with respect to goobermental powers, IF IT IS NOT SPECIFICALLY AUTHORIZED FOR GOOBERMENT TO DO, IT IS PROHIBITED. I am not taking a position on this so-called administrative law, 'cause I don't know enough about it... but in general the above applies to gooberment at all levels, FedGov thru the Constitution for the United States; the Sovereign States through their Constitutions... However, I am greatly in favor of bureaucraps at ALL levels of gooberment being boiled in oil. They are the absolute bane to the existence of liberty. This includes bureaucraps in uniform... PEACE officers are not bureaucraps IF they are doing their job of walking their beats, showing the flag and discouraging CRIME. When they are doing anything else, like stealing motor cars because the registration's expired, they are being no more than armed bureaucraps and deserve to be french-fried.

[Maelstrom]

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/732303/posts?page=187#187

[stands2reason]

It seems american spirit has skipped right over your question, wimpy. American spirit, you've defaulted on your argument. Can I assume everything you've written is full of **it, then?

[Askel5]

Here y'all go. Wallow in it. Roll it around in your mouths, and see how it tastes.

Wallow in what? See how what tastes?

This article's headline describes him as a "constitutionalist". Last night's article headline described him as an "Activist" with a subheader that mentioned he "mistrusted government".

Are you so dimwitted that you don't realize who's water YOU are carrying?

None of us have defended in the least this man's actions. What's your problem?

[f.Christian]

Creation/God...Christianity---secular-govt.-humanism/SCIENCE---CIVILIZATION!

Originally the word liberal meant social conservatives(no govt religion--none) who advocated growth and progress---mostly technological(knowledge being absolute/unchanging)based on law--reality... UNDER GOD---the nature of GOD/man/govt. does not change. These were the Classical liberals...founding fathers-PRINCIPLES---stable/SANE scientific reality/society---industrial progress...moral/social character-values(private/personal) GROWTH(LIMITED non pc-intrusive govt)!

Evolution...Atheism-dehumanism---TYRANNY...

Then came the SPLIT SCHIZOPHRENIA/America---

[Catspaw]

These people have danced in the blood of the fallen, neither Man has been placed in his grave yet. For all we know Matthews could have held the view that he has the right to murder because it's prosecution isn't an enumerated power in the Constitution...OR...For all we know the officer that stopped him could have told Matthews that it was open season on anti-government freaks and today was Matthews' lucky day.

This post of yours is valiantly trying to understand the motivations of a cop killer, to wit: "all we know Matthews could have held the view that he has the right to murder because it's prosecution isn't an enumerated power in the Constitution." Does someone have the right to murder anyone because "isn' an enumerated power in the Constitution? Sounds like rationalization and justification for murder, not just this one, but any murder.

Actually, if you had read the story in my link, Matthews' premediation for the murder of a cop--any cop--that dared to stop him predated his murder of this specific police officer by four years. But hey, if it wasn't an "enumerated power," it's Matthews' right to kill anyone he feels like, at least according to your posit.

You go on to say, "For all we know the officer that stopped him could have told Matthews that it was open season on anti-government freaks and today was Matthews' lucky day." Did the officer--and Taylor was not the officer who pulled over Matthews--in fact, say this to Matthews? Your statements imply that the officer that pulled over Matthews did, indeed, say this. And again, is this your rationalization and justification for Officer Taylor's murder?

Where does Officer Taylor fit into your grand libertarian scheme of things? Was he just a tool of the repressive government who had the audacity to actually become a police officer, and by doing so, this made him a free target for any murderous thug who happened to take a bead on him?

[stands2reason]

I know how I would feel if he had been murdered by some loose-cannon over a 12 MPH Over speeding ticket.

177 posted on 8/13/02 3:29 PM Central by Dead Corpse

Speaking from experience, huh?

[wimpycat]

Words of wisdom from the peanut gallery.

[MissAmericanPie]

I'm a Constitutionalist, but I also believe in civil laws. I happen to believe some of them don't belong on the books, but I will obey them anyway until someone can be convinced to remove them.

To me a cop is an agent of God, the first line of law and order, an individual cop may disgrace his office, but I still respect the office he holds. I can't imagine anyone going off like this guy did, it's so nutz and pointless. I wish there were another name like hyper-Constitutionalist to describe guys like this, lol.

[Dead Corpse]

No.

[RabidBartender]

I'm certainly not equating the murderer with the anti-law enforcement types here, but their ideologies and the intensity they portray their hatred for any law enforcement seem quite similar.

When a situation like this occurs, I am certain many turn to websites like this and they see rhetoric immediately questioning the police force and insinuations that if any authority figure is involved, it is at fault. It doesn't make FR look good, and it provides more ammo for the libs.

Which is not to say we shouldn't question the government, it is simply the outright hatred some people have for authority and the speed in which they attack those who disagree with them which is quite disturbing.

Off-topic question that just popped into my head, if you are a Constitution-interpreter (can't think of a proper term here - no insult intended). Shouldn't the employees of the government or police also be considered "the People" in reference to protection from the government?

[Dead Corpse]

I can imagine a few circumstances, but not this one. Not by a long shot.

[dcwusmc]

So by your lights, the Founders were terrorists. Interesting. Also, you are saying that our current FedGov is a terrorist organization, which I can agree with. From the Bonus Marchers to NFA to McCarthy to Ruby Ridge to Waco... one string of terror after another. Hey, you may be on to something here. The latest is when Big Brother goes to States who have passed legitimate medical MJ laws and fedgov says that they are not allowed to do that. So much for the Constitution and the 10th Amendment. That is terroristically killing and advocating violence for THEIR version of the Constitution, which is somewhat at odds with the one that is written down and was handed us by the terroristic Founders... Hmmm You give us much food for thought.

[habs4ever]

Why are you asserting this is about "enumerated powers" and the like? This is about Don Matthews.

Period.

It isn't about "restoring Constitutional Government", but about a freak gone mad with his own views of what type of laws he would respect.On his terms.Oh, and if it mean't killing a cop, he relished the idea.

But for you to make the leap that is a concerted effort by others here to rip the Constitutionalists apart, then maybe Matthews hit too close to home.His perversions of his principles ought to give some second thoughs about what they think they know about Constitutionalism and, whether they are walking a tightrope themselves.

[wimpycat]

I'm in favor of limited government of course, like Clarence Thomas, like William Rehnquist, like my Senator Jesse Helms, like Kenneth Starr, like William F. Buckley, etc. and other people who have a freakin' clue. 9 out of 10 people on FR would agree with me. But I'm NOT in favor of weird, retarded, sub-intellectual, dumbass, paranoid, ill-researched "interpretations" of the Constitution, by self-appointed and self-annointed Constitutional "scholars" and "defenders" who don't know Jack Sh** about it. Stupid BS about driver's licenses and city ordinances, and firecracker fines, etc. being un-Constitutional is so completely out-of-touch with an understanding of the Constitution that it's not even funny. So if americanspirit's logic makes sense to you, then I am NOT the right person for you to be courting.

[wimpycat]

You're a stand-up gal, Miss Pie.