1 threat doesn’t deserve another

On Tuesday morning, the Mat-Su Valley Frontiersman received a tip that two local women filed for and were granted 20-day protective orders against a Pennsylvania man they said had been threatening them for a year.

One of those women was Sarah Palin. The other was her friend, Kristan Cole. Palin testified the 18-year-old man, Shawn Christy, threatened to track her down at her book signings in the Lower 48, told Palin “that she better watch her back,” said he was buying a one-way ticket to Alaska and sent a gun-purchase receipt.

The story went up on the newspaper’s website. Minutes later, dozens of Sarah Palin-related sites had linked to the story. On Monday, our website had about 4,300 hits. After the story broke Tuesday, that number climbed to 8,700. Wednesday hits spiked to 75,000 and by Thursday afternoon we’d had more than 200,000 hits, mostly from new visitors.

Even after we broke the story that Christy is not in Alaska and has never been to Alaska, threats against him continued on our website and Facebook page. Many comments were not approved because they suggested hunting Christy and killing him.

Folks asked us to post a picture of the young man so “decent” people could hunt him down and kill him. And that is exactly why we won’t publish a photo that could identify him.

We were shocked at the number of people from across the U.S. calling for his death and offering to pull the trigger on a .45 loaded with “liberal lead.”

So far, Christy faces no criminal charges. The orders granted to Palin and Cole are documents filed in a civil proceeding.

What does it take to get a 20-day restraining order? That depends on how threatening the judge perceives the situation to be. Considering the evidence presented Monday, these protective orders seem justified. Getting a protective order approved for a longer period of time, however, takes into account testimony from the person being accused, not just from the person requesting the order.

The story we broke nationally Tuesday began in 2008 when Christy, then 16, and the rest of the world discovered vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin.

He’s a big fan. He donated to her political action committee. He spent his savings buying a $200 ticket to an Aug. 27 Pennsylvania event where she spoke.

He has had lots of opportunities to be arrested. The U.S. Capitol Police launched an investigation because Christy made more than 20 threats against President Barack Obama, more than 40 threats against 2008 Republican presidential candidate John McCain and another 40 against Palin. The Secret Service did its own investigation. Agents have visited Christy’s home and spent hours talking to him on more than one occasion.

They did not arrest him. They did not charge him. Neither did the FBI in Anchorage and Allentown, Pa., who also investigated.

But on our web page, readers have tried, convicted and sentenced Christy.

Based on his public trial and suggested execution, his hometown police department has brought in patrols from neighboring towns to help protect his family.

No one in the Christy family denies Shawn Christy made more than 100 threats to various public officials. Even his parents aren’t sure why he hasn’t been arrested.

The Christys are conservative Christian people who heat with wood and homeschooled their son through high school. Shawn Christy is not liberal. He does not hate Sarah Palin; he’s a fan — a young fan obsessed and then frustrated because he wanted to make contact with the Palins and be part of their phenomenon.

“I was in the wrong,” Shawn Christy admitted from his parents’ home in Pennsylvania.

His speech isn’t clear. But his ideas are.

There is no crime this young man could have committed, been charged with and convicted for that would give anyone the right to hunt and kill him as so many of the commentors suggested.

We wish the dozens of people who posted threats on our website — surely many much older than Shawn — could see that as clearly.