Discussion: Rion Wolf Reinstatement Request

[rionwolf]

Hello everyone I Rion Wolf and I was recently voted out of Occupy Tulsa for doing Nothing Wrong while others who were doing wrong were allowed to attack my credibility with blaighten lies.... I still support the true occupiers of Tulsa indirectly and in Solidarity! So I will ask that you to vote me back in at your next GA!

And if you choose to exclude me just know you shutting out a true one! and what I would ask is you to summarize a list of charges against me so I know what I did that was so terrible other than calling out the infiltrators of a righteous movement!

[Official Occupy Tulsa]

I moved this post to a hidden section to deal with by Admins because I felt he may have been attempting a disruption.

That said, he has asked for the charges to be presented against him and I think he has that right, IF it is indeed Rion Wolf. (I assume that is the person that threatened the group among other things.) But I believed this might have been Daniel Lee's address: [e-mail] which was on the account.

I have frozen the account pending review.

--C. J. Williams

[Sandra]

I believe that email address is Rion's, not Daniel's.

While I believe that alot of Rion's behavior has been inappropriate, I agree that there was not much discussion, and there was no process. One person requested the vote, and it was done quickly. I agree that he should be presented with a compiled list of inappropriate behavior. I don't know how to go about 'repealing' this however.

[Official Occupy Tulsa]

I will move this back to the GA forum to discuss as a procedural matter and inform Rion that his case is being reviewed by the GA and that he may go to our forum to see how things are progressing.

I will also state that if anyone in the GA wishes to hear from him in the forum that we will give him access in order to address the concerns of that individual, or if the GA wishes, to give him full access until the matter is resolved.

I think repeal is easy. It's simply stated that he was not given process under any established policy within the group and therefore deserves the right to have his case reviewed.

However, before we do this, I think we would have to establish officially what everyone has been saying, that before a person can be charged with any infractions within the group that a rule must be put into place about how to treat that infraction, and then a separate ruling must be made by the group addressing an individual's case waiting to be addressed.

Charges must be brought that fall within the established guidelines. If there is any charge brought that is not covered under previous guidelines, then that charge must be addressed before the charge can be brought. The group may provide rulings about how to deal with each charge before hearing a case involving those charges.

--C. J. Williams

[Official Occupy Tulsa]

I just found out that the address above belongs to the one posting as Lawrence Black on the Occupy Tulsa and Official Occupy Tulsa web pages. This is a clear misrepresentation and an attempt to circumvent the judgment of the GA.

However, that said, this person has been respectful in his posts and I can't say I've found anything disturbing coming from him. He has made a concerted effort to continue helping the Occupy movement through his own grass roots Occupy Tulsa Neighborhoods program. I think if he is willing to follow the democracy and guidelines of the GA that it might do no harm to permit him full access once again, as long as he is not given a position of responsibility within the group beyond continuing his efforts in behalf of Occupy Tulsa as a Direct Action group with a focus on Tulsa neighborhoods. Through his group, we may have a focus upon the initiative within my own proposal.

--C. J. Williams

[Sandra]

It is confusing.

Rion introduced himself to us all at the site as 'Rion' - it's a chosen name I guess. (He's not the only one!)

Rion told me before his first arrest that his name was Lawrence Black, and we became 'Facebook friends', confirmed upon his arrest.

[Official Occupy Tulsa]

Does anyone know what charges were presented against Lawrence Black (a.k.a, "Rion Wolf") in the proceedings against him?

--C. J. Williams

[dgibson]

I've known Rion Wolf for 14 years. I've called him "Rion" since I've known him, although I've also known that entire time that his birth name is Lawrence Black. I'm long distance friends with his mother, and she and many of his childhood friends (a couple of whom I've met when they traveled to Austin) still call him "Larry" or "Lawrence". There's no attempt to deceive anyone by the use of either name. I'm from Bartlesville, and Rion's visited my parents with me up there several times over the years.

He's been an "occupier" since I've known him, since before there was a word for it. It has taken me years to really get the depth of what he's been talking about all this time.

There's no end to the things I could say on Rion's behalf, but I'm presently in Austin, not Oklahoma. But I think anyone should be able to speak fully and freely on their own behalf.

[catfromok]

This took place in the first meeting I attended. Here are Sandra's notes of the discussion that took place before the vote:

e. Urgent last minute addition to agenda/Brittany – request to vote and tell Rion he’s not welcome on site or a member of Occupy Tulsa.
i. POC/Sandra – And what if he is, what’s the proposal itself?
1. DR/Brittany – he’ll leave if he’s told it’s been voted on and he’s not welcome
2. DR/Chris N – obviously he can be there, it’s public, but can’t use our supplies etc.
ii. POC/Brandie – What are the issues?
1. Multiple answers, multiple people – public intoxication, giving away almost all sleeping bags and blankets, bringing violent transients to camp
2. C/Daniel: previous rules poster should be enforced onsite, specifically no alcohol and no drugs.


Hope this is helpful. Personally, I think someone should be given a formal warning before drastic action is taken... ie banned, etc. At the very least, they deserve to be present.
-Cathy

[scottm]

Question: could someone please give a physical description of Rion/Lawrence ? I'm having trouble recalling exactly who he is.

[quetzalhombre]

Rion Wolf is not a member of Occupy Tulsa Neighborhoods. Roberto Mendoza

[Official Occupy Tulsa]

I was thinking it was Rion who approached me about Neighborhoods. Doesn't he do something on the west side? I'm sorry I didn't take more note, but I had no means of helping him with his request.

Those charges help a lot, catfromok. Thanks.

So the concern is if he can stay sober and not invite dangerous transients to receive our supplies. Outside of that, he can't use our supplies, but can attend meetings. In that case, I'll lift his restriction in the forum to participate freely.

Thank you.

--C. J. Williams

[rionwolf]

Thanks for the list of charges! and for recognizing that I am who I am Rion Wolf aka Lawrence Black/ this is not an attempt to deceive but merely a pseudonym which alot of credible people use!

Secondly I have not invited Dangerous transients to the camp/ in truth they were there before any of you ever thought of even coming to that park.

As far as the blankets/ I did issue blankets to homeless people who were camping nearby..... and most of them returned them every morning rolled up the way I issued them to them! a couple did not return/ so that evens out the one sleeping bag I donated/ and the other was a comforter of Masar's which never came back and I had not intended that to happen/ If we want change we have to be the change we want / to label people as transient and being bad news because of that is very prejudice! We should be looking out for them as a community! Not to mention we have quite a few Transients that are part of our ranks and contribute daily! to say because some homeless are bad they all are is a two edged sword because judge yourself then because some of the worst people in the world the 1% have alot / so should we say that the blame lies on anyone who has?

And I implore any of you who have ever been intoxicated to throw the first stone!!!! I rarely drink in the almost 2 months I spent in Tulsa recently I was intoxicated twice/ I'm not a liar nor a thief!

The whole reason I came to Tulsa in the first place was to help the occupy movement and the only reason I stayed as long as I did was because I saw alot of stumbling blocks in the movements way and did not want to leave you all hanging!

I was the one who brought the lying and Fraudulent behavior to the GA's attention in the first place....

I don't need any of your supplies and never had if you ask anyone who truly knows me/ I am a survivor and get by well no matter where I am......

I just want you all to realize that I have the right to take part in our GA s and wish to be re-instated as a participant in Tulsa's Occupy...

I have alot of love for you all and actually am considering moving to Tulsa in a yr/ after I visit 20 states to encourage Occupations.

[Official Occupy Tulsa]

Well, it sounds to me like your voice was never taken away. Someone may have informed you incorrectly. I've been seeing a lot of that. It's hard to keep things straight with new people coming in all the time. I'm still trying to get things straight, because I wasn't even aware of the GA until a couple of weeks ago. Then my first experience watching a GA online was watching Stephanie (whom I had met previously) turn into a cursing, excuse-making, rationalizing, backpedaling child in the face of so many others trying to be rational and deal with it in a mature way.

That said, I too find it hard to think of transients in need as dangerous (that is, being less worthy of help than others for being less in control; there are a lot of people out there with mental problems in need of help), and I couldn't imagine being able to blame one person for the actions of another, regardless of whether the other person is transient or not. To exercise discretion, you have to have knowledge of something. If you have no knowledge of a person as dangerous, you can't make a discretionary judgment regarding them. Even if you do know their dangerous, how do you know you won't be causing a problem by refusing them help? By giving them help, are we contributing to how dangerous they are? Of course not. We're giving a human being what they need to survive.

So yeah, the transient argument I find difficult to support.

That said, did you have a bottle of alcohol on you at the time, Rion? The accusation seems to be that you brought alcohol, which is the prohibition within the guidelines. The guidelines should have no basis for simple intoxication beyond refusing to allow the person to participate in handling any responsibilities while intoxicated.

--C. J. Williams

[rionwolf]

oh yeah and as far as my looks/ you can find pics of myself at www.photobucket.com/rionwolf