Yakima Mayor Janice Deccio Calls 911 on Signature Gatherers
This is One Crackima's synopsis and response to an article about Yakima Mayor Janice Deccio calling 911 on initiative petitioners outside the West Valley Walmart.
The original article was written by David Mullen. It was published by Accurate Perspective on September 13, 2023, and titled "Yakima Mayor Deccio calls 911: 'Far right wingers' are collecting signatures."
What Was the Signature Collection Article About?
On September 3rd, Yakima Mayor Janice Deccio made a non-emergency 911 call. Accurate Perspective obtained a recording of the call via public records request. Mayor Deccio stated her reason for calling 911 as, "There's some far-right wing petitioners at Walmart."
Mayor Janice Deccio's 911 Call
The first 911 dispatcher handling the call wisely engaged her supervisor.
Mayor Deccio stated to the dispatch supervisor:
"I've had some constituents call me to tell me about some right-wing petitioners over at Walmart, and that Walmart does not want them on their property. And the police had come out and told them that they can't do anything about it. And I'm wondering how can that be? If petitioners were on my yard, the police could take them out. If they were on my private property."
The supervisor read Mayor Deccio an email from the legal department to address her question. The email said that the removal of a petitioner from Walmart would require an order from the Yakima Superior Court.
Mayor Deccio seemed affronted by the amount of effort it would take to have the petitioners removed. Dispatch offered to have a YPD sergeant contact the Mayor at a later point, which the Mayor accepted.
Other Local Political Officials Take to Facebook
Accurate Perspective also reported that 45 minutes after Mayor Deccio's 911 call, failed congressional candidate Doug White made a Facebook post:
Doug White declares the petitioners are "illegal," gives the name of the YPD sergeant handling this nonissue, and asks his leftist audience a not-so-rhetorical, "What are you going to do about this?"
Additionally, current City Councilwoman Soneya Lund (District 5) also commented on Doug White's post, insinuating that it's unfortunate for the petitioners to be acting on their constitutional rights. Lund posted that she would be assisting Walmart with obtaining a court order.
Accurate Perspective cited the Washington Secretary of State's FAQ's on initiative signature gathering, which details petitioners' rights and limits. The article concluded by recommending the public vote against Mayor Janice Deccio & Councilwoman Soneya Lund.
One Crackima's Opinion on the Petitioner Article
Accurate Perspective's article reveals the corruption and double standards we're seeing across Yakima political offices. We also checked out the Facebook post Doug White made for ourselves, and the ensuing comments were informative.
1. Mayor Deccio calling 911 on petitioners is inappropriate.
Petitioners at a Walmart is NOT an emergency situation. There have been no reports of violence. The Mayor's 911 call was ultimately a waste of time and resources.
According to the call, Mayor Deccio said she had already emailed Police Chief Matthew Murray about the petitioners. Dispatch then read Mayor Deccio an email from the legal department.
This implies that an answer had already been prepared for Mayor Deccio and was likely in transit to her; she was just too impatient to wait for a response.
2. Walmart's stance on the petitioners is unclear.
There doesn't seem to be a hard answer on whether Walmart actually told the petitioners to leave.
Mayor Deccio and Soneya Lund claim it happened, but they're also treating nonviolent petitioners like an emergent situation and trying to infringe on rights the City has clearly explained to them:
Removing the petitioners will require an order from the Yakima Superior Court.
Unfortunately, Accurate Perspective didn't interview anyone from Walmart's management, but they do note that Walmart hadn't appeared to file a request to have the petitioners trespassed.
We haven't seen Walmart make or respond to any Facebook posts.
The actions of both officials and news force rational people to ask, "Does Walmart even care about this situation?"
3. Doug White walks a dangerous line.
For this behavior, we're glad Doug White failed at his congressional run in 2o22.
In his post, Doug White named the YPD sergeant working on the situation and then asked his volatile leftist audience what they wanted to do about the petitioners.
This is the start of doxxing and sparking violence; it's naïve to think otherwise.
Everyone remembers what happened with the George Floyd riots in 2020, and that the left is actively calling to defund the police. There was even a comment on Doug White's post from a woman who claimed cops only protect white nationalists and said, "Defund the police already!"
Don't get us wrong: counterprotesting is a constitutionally protected right. But Doug White's post and the allowance of such comments indicates he's in the camp of radical left anarchists.
4. Soneya Lund & Mayor Deccio's responses are unprofessional.
Soneya Lund, and Mayor Janice Deccio haven't used any official channels to explain their actions or to communicate with the public. In fact, to date of our publication there haven't been any press releases from City Hall, and the "official media" of Yakima seems to be looking the other way – thanks for nothing, Yakima Herald-Republic.
The only responses we've seen from Lund and Deccio have been through social media, namely on Doug White's Facebook post. In our opinion, they've responded poorly.
Both Lund and Deccio commented that they believe conservatives receive preferential treatment from the police, and that conservatives are unreasonable.
Two Faceboook screenshots from the comments section of Doug White's post on Walmart petitioners. In the first, Soneya Lund implies that conservatives receive preferential treatment from police. In the second, Mayor Janice Deccio blatantly calls conservatives unreasonable (September 2023).
On top of that, Soneya Lund commented against a person who brought up legitimate concerns about City Council's priorities and unequal treatment, saying "*yawn*...End of story. Go be mad elsewhere. Your conspiracies are showing."
Soneya Lund's language is highly unprofessional, dismissive, and rude to any member of the public. In fact, if our memory serves correctly, City Council members have been censured for simply calling the head of Yakima Pride "an idiot" on social media.
Perhaps some equality is in order.
5. No officials are protecting journalists or the public.
An obviously fake profile going by the name of "Darcy Dosprimos (Darcy Lysette)" also hopped onto Doug White's post. The comments made by "Darcy Dosprimos" were very hostile and degenerate.
And yet...neither Doug White, nor Soneya Lund, nor Mayor Janice Deccio stepped in. They all permitted comments like this to run rampant against journalists and members of the public:
Collection of Facebook comments from "Darcy Dosprimos" on Doug White's post regarding the Walmart petitioners (September 2023).
Mayor Janice Deccio even commented earlier in the post that she was a journalism major in college who champions people's constitutional, First Amendment rights.
Our Final Conclusion
Mayor Janice Deccio and City Councilwoman Soneya Lund do not represent Yakima. And we NEVER want to see Doug White in office.
Accurate Perspective is correct: Vote them out!
One Crackima salutes David Mullen for fighting evil. We also commend Yakima's 911 dispatch for handling the Mayor's call with professionalism. We thank YPD and the Yakima Sheriff's Office for defending the constitutional rights of the People.
For Accurate Perspective's original article, go here.
If the article has moved, the One Crackima hard copy is here.
