A Retort to Mr. Mark Berrymans article of Jan. 31 in the Sidney Herald.

A Retort to Mr. Mark Berrymans article of Jan. 31 in the Sidney Herald.

Upon reading the Sidney Herald article titled “Jawort V Hall trial to be moved to Great Falls”, I felt compelled to reply to such a distorted and slanted article that is absent of any facts and is clearly written to smear Pastor Jordan Hall of Sidney, all for sensationalism.

First and foremost, the many people that agree with Mr. Hall support him and are not his “followers” as the article states. Nor is Mr. Hall “a conservative pastor”.  As a pastor you are either a faithful follower of God’s Word (aka bedrock), or else a false teacher, which Mr. Hall is not. Facts are not subjective.

My name is Bart Crabtree, President of the Montana Citizens Council on Judicial Accountability. With a full board of statewide directors, we work with many legislators across Montana to correct a complete lack of accountability in our judiciary. The days of our judicial system self-disciplining are coming to an end as we are proposing a citizens oversight commission. We are legislating other areas such as Grand Jury, bringing the states first conviction integrity unit (CIU), and CPS concerns.  Judicial reform is necessary.

As to the aforementioned case and purpose of my letter, eighth judicial district court judge Elizabeth Best is arguably one of the worst judges ever to sit on the bench. There is case after case in Cascade County of her usurping our state statutes, violating judicial canon of ethics, and a character of intemperance. Her appointment to this particular case is by design and of no surprise. She believes she is the master rather than a servant of the people, and is not liked in Cascade County where there is a fervent desire to have her removed. She has already demonstrated undue bias towards Mr. Hall in statements she has apparently made, according to the Herald, which automatically disqualifies her as judge in the case, per MCA 3-1-805. Her statements, and yes now ideological beliefs, are driven simply by court motions and accusations submitted in the case by “upper seven law”, a radical leftist ‘law firm’ out of Missoula consisting of an executive director, a litigation director, and an “impact associate”. One of their two attorneys, Constance Van Kley, stated in a court document that “the pastor is making repeated public threats of violence against her and her attorneys”, and that “Hall has been making threats and calls for violence on a mass scale”. These so-called “threats of violence” are simply Biblical Scriptures. Put your discernment hats on people. This is a blatant lie to the court purposely designed to leak to the press. ‘Upper seven’ was created less than a year ago as a political machine for the left who jumps on every leftist bandwagon they can find. Their partisan politics is cloaked in bigotry, yes the bigotry they accuse others of on a daily basis. Bigotry toward Christians and the conservative base of Montanans.

Last time I looked, our (yours and mine) Constitution allows us to publicly question our government officials including judges. This is our government, your government.  Mr. Jawort’s (yeah…He’s a he) attorneys claim Mr. Hall “has been inappropriately challenging and criticizing Best in public statements”. Great, that’s what we are supposed to do. Our Constitution allows us, and Mr. Hall, the fundamental Right to post truth in the press or speak it. That is not ‘Libel’. Our Constitution allows Mr. Hall the right to challenge the court, any court. 

And lastly, the Sidney Heralds claim “that Jawort never confronted a Montana Senator during the last session” is false. It did indeed occur. Just because Mr. Jawort claims/denies that it didn’t happen, doesn’t make it so.  

Best Regards,

Bart Crabtree, President MTCCOJA

Helena, MT