<Begin Segment 14>

FA: Jimmie, can you tell me about your arrest by the FBI in Denver for the publication of your editorials?

JO: Well...

FA: Where were you sitting? Where were you?

[Interruption]

JO: Well, this happened on July 20th, which was long after I was removed from the Rocky Shimpo. And it was a period when we were having very hot weather. And I was physically tired and I felt my show dog needed a good long run, so it was a coincidence, I got up early at 4:30 that morning with the intention that I would go out at the break of day and finish my jog and then have the weekend to drive up probably to Mountain Valley and let my dog run. And then I'll rest while I watch him. It was still dark when there was a knock. And when I opened it, why, here was a man who identified himself as an FBI agent. And I could see just barely discernable, several other men, I didn't know how many. But he said at the time that there's another FBI agent and two United States marshals men. And he asked, well, he asked, first, of course, he asked if I was Jimmie Omura, and I said yes. Then he told me that I was under arrest. Then he held up a piece of paper and the man behind him shined a flashlight over his shoulder at that piece of paper and he began to read the indictment. Not all of it, just the first paragraph. And it was a secret indictment by the grand jurors of Wyoming. So then he entered the house and started to go through boxes. I don't know what he took at the time, but he took some, some papers and stuff like that. He went through all the boxes while I sat on a chair and watched him, you know.

FA: Well, how did you feel when the FBI agent comes to your door and reads you an indictment?

JO: Well, the, I had been questioned by the FBI before on that registration for selective service and so it didn't mean anything to me particularly except for the fact that I was indicted. And we had anticipated that someday they gonna come around. And we didn't look forward to it but we thought someday they would come.

FA: You were indicted for counseling draft evasion.

JO: Right.

FA: Is that fair?

JO: Well, if you're gonna indict me, you're gonna have to indict every editor who expresses an opinion, the editorial, in their publication. Because I think an editor has a right to express his opinion. That's one of the functions of journalism.

FA: And your opinion was what?

JO: Well, that I felt that the restoration of the constitutional rights and the clarification of citizenship should precede a call to service. In other words, I felt that if you're going to sacrifice your life on the field of battle, you have a right to be recognized as an American citizen.

FA: They took you to the Cheyenne jail.

JO: Yes.

FA: You wrote the letter from there.

JO: Yes.

FA: When you were sitting in the Cheyenne jail, how did you feel?

JO: Well, I was in isolation at that time, and I felt pretty teed off being put into solitary for no particular reason. And I wouldn't have minded it so much if they had let me have something to read, something to write on. At least something to write on. But lying there with nothing and you know, days are pretty long in a key situation like that. What they're doing is trying to... what do you call that? Mind... well, they're trying to work upon your mind, see. I knew that they were doing that and then I was sorry as hell about that, yeah.

FA: Where did you go after that? Where did they take you? 'Cause there was the trial. What happened between then and the trial?

JO: Well, I complained about a lot of things to the director of Bureau of Prisons, Mr. Bennett, through my wife and then when I, later on when I came out, I did directly. And because they got frustrated with all my complaints, they shipped four of us to another jail, which was Albany County Jail at Laramie.

<End Segment 14> - Copyright © 1990, 2005 Frank Abe and Densho. All Rights Reserved.