Community Arrangement

Walking home at dusk from an afternoon’s jack rabbit-shooting in the flat, dusty San Joaquin Valley, Levi Multanen, 33, thought of his nephew, long missing in the South Pacific. That reminded him how much he hated Japs. Passing the home of Nisei Charles Iwasaki, a raisin-grape grower, Rancher Multanen paused. He knew who lived there—a Jap. Impulsively he leveled his shotgun, fired four times. He walked home, feeling better. The Iwasakis, scared but unwounded, did nothing.

In the past month there had been seven, cases of violence against Nisei in the San Joaquin Valley. It seemed time for at least a gesture of law & order. Rancher Multanen was arrested, charged with “rude and threatening” use of his gun.

Twoscore Parlier Township ranchers showed up for the trial. Before the trial started they talked with Justice of the Peace L. B. Crosby, 65. Mounting the bench, Justice Crosby said: “I guess we know how we feel about this. What shall we do?” He did not wait for an answer. He sentenced Multanen to six months in jail, promptly suspended sentence.

In Washington, Interior Secretary Harold Ickes, whose War Relocation Authority had heckled Valley authorities for their tolerance of terrorism, sputtered with rage: “A disgrace to the bench. . . .” Justice Crosby sputtered right back. His decision, he said, was “a community arrangement.” Observed one Parlier resident: if the judge had been any tougher, he would have been run out of town.