{"id":189479,"date":"2021-03-04T17:15:38","date_gmt":"2021-03-04T22:15:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=189479"},"modified":"2021-03-04T17:16:04","modified_gmt":"2021-03-04T22:16:04","slug":"a-little-too-soviet-grandsons-of-idaho-pastor-slapped-with-13-criminal-charges-for-protesting-lockdowns-with-stickers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/a-little-too-soviet-grandsons-of-idaho-pastor-slapped-with-13-criminal-charges-for-protesting-lockdowns-with-stickers\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018A Little Too Soviet\u2019: Grandsons Of Idaho Pastor Slapped With 13 Criminal Charges For Protesting Lockdowns With Stickers"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">36<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fa-little-too-soviet-grandsons-of-idaho-pastor-slapped-with-13-criminal-charges-for-protesting-lockdowns-with-stickers%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=189479&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><div><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/GettyImages-1263038343.jpg?w=1200&#038;h=800&#038;ixlib=react-9.0.3\" class=\"ff-og-image-inserted\" \/><\/div>\n<p>Two brothers, aged 18 and 14, and their father, 42-year-old Nathan Wilson, face <a href=\"https:\/\/dougwils.com\/books-and-culture\/books\/for-immediate-release.html\">multiple misdemeanor charges<\/a> for mocking their town\u2019s strict lockdown tactics with stickers.<\/p>\n<p>Wilson, a bestselling author and television producer from Moscow, Idaho, faces an \u201caiding and abetting\u201d charge for having made the stickers \u2014 which his sons distributed throughout the town. He explained in an interview with The Daily Wire why he believes city officials are targeting both him and his sons for political and religious reasons.<\/p>\n<p><strong>\u201cA Little Too Soviet For My Taste\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Douglas Wilson, Nathan\u2019s father, is the 67-year-old senior pastor of Christ Church, an evangelical congregation in Moscow, a university town of about 25,000 people approximately 80 miles south of Spokane, Washington. Christ Church made national news last September when local police arrested three people and cited five others for attending their \u201cpeaceful protest\u201d against Mayor Bill Lambert\u2019s repeatedly extended <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ci.moscow.id.us\/DocumentCenter\/View\/21341\/Resolution-No-2020-27-Continued-Acceptance-and-Extension-of-The-Mayors-Amended-Public-Health-Emergency-Order-20-03-to-1159-pm-on-June-9-2021\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">public health order<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>As The Daily Wire <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailywire.com\/news\/high-hypocrisy-5-cited-3-arrested-at-outdoor-church-service-in-idaho-after-not-wearing-masks\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">reported<\/a> at the time, the protest consisted of about 20 minutes of psalm singing in front of city hall, where city officials, upon learning of the planned event, had arranged small yellow dots six feet apart as guidance for the participants.<\/p>\n<p>Gabriel Rench, a deacon at Christ Church who was running for county commissioner at the time, was among those hauled away from the outdoor church service to the county jail, ostensibly for standing too close to his friend, not wearing a mask, and refusing to show his identification. In January, a county magistrate judge tossed the case against him without comment, but Rench explained during a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailywire.com\/news\/idaho-church-deacon-arrested-outdoor-service-discusses-victory-against-state\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">recent interview<\/a> with The Daily Wire that the overwhelmingly liberal community of Moscow still remained overtly hostile to him.<\/p>\n<p>WATCH:<\/p>\n<p>\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"3 arrested at Moscow church&#039;s &#039;worship protest&#039; for violating  COVID-19 orders\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/zlkIC0V7buc?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/p>\n<p>The incident at the outdoor worship event incensed members of the church, including Gabriel\u2019s brother, Aaron. \u201cThose arrests really pushed me over the brink,\u201d Aaron said in a recent <a href=\"https:\/\/dougwils.com\/books-and-culture\/books\/for-immediate-release.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">press release<\/a>. \u201cWatching my brother being cuffed at a psalm sing was rough. It\u2019s still hard for me to comprehend that our local police department would do something so clearly unconstitutional and illegal, no matter how much the city council wanted them to.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Aaron, a\u00a0literary agent as well as a television and film producer, is business partners with Nathan Wilson. \u201cMy business partner\u2019s brother gets arrested at a psalm sing,\u201d Nathan said. \u201cAaron and I both felt the need to do something. We talked about using our resources to sue the city, but we settled on something more low-key. Funnier. Our company, Gorilla Poet Productions, produced protest stickers instead.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe had a desire to protest police tactics and enforcement tactics that were illegal,\u201d Wilson said, claiming the local police often \u201carrest first and then figure out the legalities later.\u201d Not wanting to contribute to the already tense powder keg their small town had become, however, Wilson explained how he and Rench instead decided to produce about 650 protest stickers, some of which read, \u201cSoviet Moscow.\u201d Others made fun of the town\u2019s mask mandate slogan, reading: \u201cSoviet Moscow \u2014 Enforced Because We Care.\u201d<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"500\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Sticklers Stamping Out Stickers <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/wgHRZtx8kE\">https:\/\/t.co\/wgHRZtx8kE<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Douglas Wilson (@douglaswils) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/douglaswils\/status\/1367145790641176579?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">March 3, 2021<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>\u201cWe had a pressure-cooked town with a mask ordinance, and we had police enforcement that was getting really jackbooted, really Soviet,\u201d Wilson recounted. He said the city council encouraged residents to \u201csnitch\u201d on fellow citizens by calling a hotline to report alleged violations of COVID-19 protocol. Moscow\u2019s Latah County, which has a population of more than 40,000, has had a total of 2,772 COVID-19 cases and eight deaths as of Thursday, according to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/interactive\/2020\/us\/idaho-coronavirus-cases.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">The New York Times<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cA little too Soviet for my taste,\u201d Wilson said. \u201cSo we made the Soviet Moscow protest stickers.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><strong>\u201cIt\u2019s About The Politics\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Police were apparently tipped off when Wilson\u2019s 18-year-old son, Rory, was seen going around Moscow with his 14-year-old brother slapping the stickers on city poles. \u201cThat\u2019s when cops got upset,\u201d Wilson said. \u201cBut they were non-damaging vinyl stickers that were going up in protest of police enforcement of the mask order\u2014you know, threatening people with jail time, et cetera, arresting people at a psalm sing.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>In an encounter similar to the interaction worshippers at the psalm sing had, the Moscow police officers reportedly approached Wilson\u2019s sons and demanded identification. Rory, his father explained, was well-versed in the <a href=\"https:\/\/worldpopulationreview.com\/state-rankings\/stop-and-id-states\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">state law<\/a> that does not require Idaho residents to identify themselves to law enforcement if they are not driving.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHe was correct on the law,\u201d Wilson said. \u201cThe [police] were incorrect on the law and\u00a0they then began to interrogate him in handcuffs.\u201d Wilson went on to claim that Rory was not read his Miranda rights as police handcuffed him and placed him on the concrete sidewalk. The officers also allegedly pulled Rory\u2019s juvenile brother aside and interrogated him without a parent, guardian, or lawyer present.<\/p>\n<p>Wilson, who was asleep at the time, received a phone call from a police officer to attend to his sons. The officer, Wilson remembers, \u201cwas very serious, like something enormous has happened. I was relieved when he told me my boys were okay. They were only a couple blocks from my house, so I got there quick.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The first thing the officer told him, Wilson said, was \u201cthat he does not agree with the messaging.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI told him that I supported and understood the messaging,\u201d Wilson continued. \u201cAfter that, he refused to allow me to approach my minor son, where he was being interrogated on the hood of a cop car. I tried to keep things friendly, to diffuse the crackle in the air, but the atmosphere remained pretty strained. I was proud of my boys. It is important to stand up against men who begin to abuse power, even when that abuse is small, and especially when those men are carrying badges and guns.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s about the politics,\u201d Wilson asserted. \u201cIt\u2019s about the messaging. They don\u2019t like being protested. They want to have absolute power and they don\u2019t want their power to be questioned in any way. So if you question it, you\u2019re going to end up in handcuffs on the sidewalk. Your rights are gone.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNo property was damaged, nothing of any kind,\u201d Wilson added, noting how the stickers were designed for outdoor use and easily removable. \u201cNothing criminal happened at all, except for the way the police made the arrests and mistreated the suspects and disappeared evidence and everything else.\u201d He maintains that police dash-cam and body-cam footage of the incident with his sons has \u201cmagically disappeared.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Since a March 1 <a href=\"https:\/\/dougwils.com\/books-and-culture\/books\/for-immediate-release.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">press release<\/a> exposed the incident with the Wilson boys, Moscow police have seemingly begun cracking down extensively on all stickers around town. On March 2 alone, they responded to four sticker incidents, which were cited as \u201cmalicious mischief,\u201d according to the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ci.moscow.id.us\/CivicAlerts.aspx?AID=1680\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">police daily activity log<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>The city ordinance which the officers reportedly referenced against his sons has never been enforced and did not even apply to political speech, Wilson said. \u201cThey continue to behave in fundamentally illegal ways,\u201d he said of the Moscow police.<\/p>\n<p>The Moscow chief of police did not respond to The Daily Wire\u2019s request for comment on such allegations.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhile the Moscow Police Department now has five illegal arrests on their slate instead of just the three psalm sing arrests, they really aren\u2019t the root problem,\u201d Wilson clarified. \u201cThe mayor and the city council have put them in an almost impossible position throughout this endlessly extended mask mandate. There are some great people in our department, and I feel bad that they\u2019ve been forced into their current role.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Wilson\u2019s boys were allowed to return home that night without citations, but police later showed up to deliver criminal charges against Wilson and his sons at the behest of city attorney <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ci.moscow.id.us\/directory.aspx?EID=16\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Liz Warner<\/a>, who was the same city official who went after Gabriel Rench.<\/p>\n<p>Warner, whom Wilson described to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.faithwire.com\/2021\/03\/02\/teens-in-moscow-idaho-face-13-criminal-charges-for-posting-protest-stickers-opposing-mask-mandates\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Faithwire<\/a> as \u201cvery hostile toward conservative Christians,\u201d moved to charge Rory Wilson with 13 counts of posting signs or fliers on poles without permission, each count of which carries a potential prison sentence of six months. Latah County also decided to charge Rory\u2019s little brother as a juvenile and even roped in their father for good measure because he designed the offending stickers.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI guess they want me on misdemeanor conspiracy to commit sticker or something like that,\u201d Wilson said.<\/p>\n<p>Warner did not respond to The Daily Wire\u2019s request for comment.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt has been extremely\u00a0disappointing\u00a0to watch local government charge these two boys with a criminal offense,\u201d said attorney Sam Creason, who is representing the Wilsons. \u201cFrom what I have seen, the young men have impeccable reputations for leadership and respect amongst people who\u00a0personally\u00a0know them. While some may not like\u00a0<em>what\u00a0<\/em>was posted, or\u00a0<em>how\u00a0<\/em>it was posted, the constitutional right to free speech prohibits the government from using ambiguous and unused ordinances to punish opposition.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe are confident that the appropriate court will dismiss the charges based upon both the law and the facts in this case.\u00a0Hopefully, we can reach that result without too much more heartache or attention,\u201d Creason added.<\/p>\n<p><strong>\u201cDepressing And Astounding\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Nathan Wilson believes his family is being harassed at least in part because of his father\u2019s prominence in the community. \u201cMy father especially is known locally as a conservative Christian pastor, so he is seen as the enemy,\u201d he said. \u201cSo for progressives, he\u2019s a very, very backwards, Bible-believing minister.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Wilson offers the fact that he is also being prosecuted for his sons\u2019 stickers as evidence of the fact that local officials have a particular animus against his family. \u201cThe fact that they\u2019re going after me, I think I\u2019m more of a prize than my sons because I\u2019m a generation closer to the minister they hate,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>Nathan\u2019s father, Douglas Wilson, is a prolific and outspoken author who has already written extensively on his <a href=\"https:\/\/dougwils.com\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">personal blog<\/a> in the past few days about the ordeal regarding his son and grandsons.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe suspected that a story like this would have some feet, and so it has proved,\u201d Douglas Wilson wrote. \u201cMoscow, Idaho has once again shouldered its way to the front of the crowd in a desperate attempt to remain a national laughingstock. We are being governed in a pretty tedious way \u2014 by martinets who are not very competent.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Reminding his readers that city officials were left with egg on their face regarding the psalm sing at city hall, Wilson offered the debacle afflicting his family as an example of the \u201cChristian case for the necessity of a guarantee of free speech.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe foundational reason for insisting on free speech has to do with the Christian doctrine of the nature of man,\u201d Wilson continued. \u201cEvery restriction that is placed on men is a restriction that must be enforced by men. And the men who enforce are almost always a greater hazard to our liberties than the man in the street who wants to pop off about something. The men who enforce any restrictions on free speech have the same problem of sin that the general populace does, and in their case this sinfulness is combined with political power.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Nathan Wilson, who grew up in Moscow, reflected soberly on how much his hometown has changed since the pandemic. \u201cIt\u2019s really been kind of a depressing and astounding experience for me because I grew up in this small town.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Likening Moscow to Mayberry, Wilson remembered that even his old babysitter is on the town\u2019s police force.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAnd it\u2019s just kind of sad to discover where we are now and what all this COVID tension and all these mask orders and everything else have turned us into.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><strong>Related<\/strong>: <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailywire.com\/news\/idaho-church-deacon-arrested-outdoor-service-discusses-victory-against-state\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">EXCLUSIVE: Church Deacon Arrested For Outdoor Worship Service Discusses Victory Against Idaho<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><em>The Daily Wire is one of America\u2019s fastest-growing conservative media companies and counter-cultural outlets for news, opinion, and entertainment. Get inside access to The Daily Wire by becoming a<\/em> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailywire.com\/subscribe\"><em>member<\/em><\/a><em>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Two brothers, aged 18 and 14, and their father, 42-year-old Nathan Wilson, face multiple misdemeanor charges for mocking their town\u2019s strict lockdown tactics with stickers. Wilson, a bestselling author and &#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2274744,"comment_status":"close","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/GettyImages-1263038343.jpg?w=1200&h=800&ixlib=react-9.0.3","fifu_image_alt":"\u2018A Little Too Soviet\u2019: Grandsons Of Idaho Pastor Slapped With 13 Criminal Charges For Protesting Lockdowns With Stickers","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-189479","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/GettyImages-1263038343.jpg?w=1200&h=800&ixlib=react-9.0.3","fifu_image_alt":"\u2018A Little Too Soviet\u2019: Grandsons Of Idaho Pastor Slapped With 13 Criminal Charges For Protesting Lockdowns With Stickers","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/189479","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=189479"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/189479\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2274744"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=189479"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=189479"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=189479"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}