John Taft Investigative Reporter

GRANTS PASS, Oregon (October 9, 2002) -- The following article by Anita Karczewski was read during a public press conference held in front of the Josephine County Jail at 2 P.M., Tuesday, October 8^th. This statement explains why her husband is conducting his food strike. The media attending included Shaun Hall representing the Grants Pass Daily Courier. The absence of public officials including Judge Allen H. Coon who issued the arrest warrant for Raymond Karczewski, 65, on Sept. 12^th, was noted. The next press conference is scheduled for 1 P.M., Saturday, October 12^th, in front of the county jail. This event will mark the 30^th day of Raymond Karczewski’s Hunger strike. Day number 30 is generally acknowledged as a critical date, as adverse physical reactions to the fast become more pronounced.

 RAYMOND KARCZEWSKI - A MAN WHO IS WILLING TO DIE FOR FREEDOM

By Anita Karczewski

"Today, October 8th, 2002, my husband, Raymond Karczewski, an inmate in this jail, is in the 26th day of a hunger strike. A hunger strike that few people are aware of.

This 26-day-long hunger strike began the moment he was arrested in the corridor of the Josephine County Courthouse for "failure to appear" at an arraignment we had just attended in courtroom #3 at which Judge Allan H. Coon presided.

My husband is in this jail for exercising his Unalienable Right to Liberty.

My husband is in this jail because he did not authorize the confiscation and use of his private property by Josephine County Sheriff's Deputy Michael Burke on September 5th of this year.

My husband is in this jail because the court has not proven its jurisdiction over him.

By birth, he established his Unalienable Right to Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness guaranteed him by the Constitution of this Constitutional Republic.

By Common Law and man's law he established his superior claim to his private property - his automobile and his name.

Having fulfilled his obligations to God and to man, he has challenged the court to fulfill its own obligations, to abide by its own laws, case law, which states that "once State and Federal jurisdiction is challenged it must be proven," and "where there is absence of jurisdiction, the administrative and judicial proceedings are a nullity and confer no right, offer no protection, and afford no justification and may be rejected upon direct collateral attack."

My husband has repeatedly challenged the court to prove its jurisdiction over him or to drop all charges against him and release him from custody.

The court cannot or will not provide the required proof of jurisdiction.

Therefore, my husband has been a victim of false arrest and false imprisonment for the past twenty-six days.

In protest of his false arrest, false imprisonment, and the unauthorized confiscation and use of his private property, he has undertaken this hunger strike.

There is a rumor circulating that my husband's hunger strike is a hoax. This rumor seems to have originated with a member of the Sheriff's Department employed at this jail. This malicious rumor is easily and unequivocally proven false by the facts.

Yesterday, October 7th, my husband was examined by a practicing nurse. The facts that have been established by the examination are:

His weight upon being booked on September 12th was 280 lbs. Yesterday his weight was 256 lbs. - a loss of 24 lbs. in 25 days. His blood pressure was 150/90 His pulse rate was 96. This is a very high pulse rate for him. He is experiencing dizzy spells, most often upon standing. Although he has eaten nothing since his arrest on the 12th of September, he has vomited twice. Once on Saturday and once on Sunday.

These results are within the parameters of reactions by the body to fasts that have lasted as long as his has, and are cited in studies of lengthy hunger strikes. These articles can be found on the Internet.

I encouraged my husband to ask for salt to maintain some balance in his system. He has requested salt three times now and three times he has been refused.

Therefore I can only deduce that it is the intent of the judicial system in Josephine County to punish my husband, perhaps unto death, for demanding his Unalienable Constitutional Rights as a sovereign, natural person.

You, and others, may wonder why a man or woman would go to this extent for his convictions. Our rights and freedoms in this Constitutional Republic are slowly, incrementally being stripped away. Rights and Freedoms that other men in earlier times were willing to die for as is my husband. A government instituted as a servant of the people is quickly arrogantly becoming the master of the people. This government has made my husband, Raymond Karczewski, a political prisoner. This is why my husband is on a hunger strike."