The words of Psalm 20:7 danced over the hundreds gathered outside Moscow’s City Hall as Latah County commission candidate Gabriel Rench was placed in handcuffs Sept. 23. Nearby Christ Church Member Daniel Foucachon followed the group to the waiting police car with his camera.
Rench’s arrest and the two others which followed gained international attention, with violent emails and calls from nearly every U.S. state, Australia and Canada pouring into city official inboxes. The communications had slowed to a trickle by last Friday, but that was before U.S. President Donald Trump shared the video Foucachon captured.
Foucachon’s video depicts several officers arresting Rench for allegedly refusing to identify himself to police. He was not charged, but two other individuals, Sean and Rachel Bohnet, were arrested for suspicion of resisting or obstructing an officer. Rench, the Bohnets and another two individuals were cited with suspicion of breaking Moscow’s mask order at the Christ Church Psalm Sing held that day, according to the Moscow-Pullman Daily News.
Matt Carobini, who lists himself as a contributor for the satire site The Babylon Bee, shared a clip of Foucachon’s video to Twitter on Sept. 23 with the caption “Apparently we’re arresting people for singing hymns in America.” He listed the emails for Moscow’s city council members in his thread.
“Due to the zero hospitalizations and zero deaths in the area, and the fact that the Mayor officiated a wedding with no social distancing precautions or masks just a few weeks prior, it’s obvious that local and state officials are using (COVID-19) as an excuse to shut religious gatherings down,” Carobini said in a statement. “I’m proud of those faithful Idaho followers of Christ who gathered to sing hymns and thankful for the President sharing the video which has more than 3 million views.”
As of Oct. 7, Latah County had 653 confirmed and 17 probable cases of COVID-19, according to Public Health – Idaho North Central District. Updated case counts and context can be found on The Argonaut’s case count page.
Young Americans for Liberty President Cliff Maloney shared Carobini’s post the next morning, pinning it to the top of his Twitter profile.
“If you would have told me in 2019 that we were just 1 year away from Americans being ARRESTED for holding outdoor church services, I would have thought you to be insane,” Maloney’s caption stated. “This is one of the most heartbreaking things I’ve ever seen. Pray for America.”
Maloney stated Young Americans for Liberty rejects the trend of people inviting the government to “irreversibly expand its control over our lives” when crises occur in the U.S.
“When it comes to what happened in Moscow, Idaho, churchgoers shouldn’t be arrested for unmasking during worship services while countless rioters across America are destroying property without masks on,” Maloney said.
Donald Trump shared Maloney’s tweet at 5:49 a.m. today, adding an all-caps caption stating “DEMS WANT TO SHUT YOUR CHURCHES DOWN, PERMANENTLY. HOPE YOU SEE WHAT IS HAPPENING. VOTE NOW!”
Maloney and Trump’s comments take the video somewhat out of context, Foucachon said. Christ Church has held Psalm Sings roughly once per month for years, but they are separate from the weekly Sunday services and Wednesday Beer and Psalms events, he said. Foucachon regularly uploads videos of the Psalm Sings to his YouTube channel.
Psalm Sings normally occur in Friendship Square and last half an hour, Foucachon said. The Sept. 23 event, a “flash” Psalm Sing lasting about 15 minutes, was moved to the Moscow City Hall parking lot to express opposition to Moscow’s mask order.
Foucachon would be more likely to abide by Moscow’s COVID-19 guidelines if the city shared a metric for when the mask order would end and an established definition of an emergency, along with encouraging face coverings instead of requiring them. As it stands, however, he doesn’t agree with the city’s decisions.
“I’m not at all anti-mask,” Foucachon said. “My brother-in-law is a surgeon, he wears a mask in the (operating room). No problem. I would say that I’m against the mandate. I think the role of government should be to recommend masks. I think that you’re going to get more compliance from the right recommendations than throwing people in jail for not doing it.”
Another misconception Foucachon has noticed is how the arrests are described in the captions of some viral clips. Rench was arrested for allegedly refusing to identify himself to police, but was not charged. The Bohnets were arrested on suspicion of resisting or obstructing an officer. None of them were charged for participating in a religious event.
“I wish, across our nation, people would fact check before they put out certain headlines on things that they weren’t there for,” Moscow Police Chief James Fry said. “Gabriel Rench and the group were not arrested for singing psalms, as it’s been put out. They were arrested for not identifying themselves. That’s a huge difference from what the national media has been putting out.”
Fry’s biggest frustration with the situation is the inaccurate information still circulating. He has not seen anyone correcting misstatements, either. The misunderstandings have put the Moscow Police Department under scrutiny.
Both Foucachon and Moscow Mayor Bill Lambert criticized reactions making face coverings and COVID-19 legislation a partisan issue.
Lambert, a decades-long Republican, described himself as a moderate, focusing on working together rather than fighting those who may not share all his beliefs. Instead of blaming others for missteps and problems, politicians should work together to solve issues, he said.
“Sometimes a democracy is messy,” Lambert said. “It’s the best thing in the world, to have a democracy like what we have. I just hope we can all work together to keep it.”
Fry and Lambert aren’t sure what this renewed attention will bring to Moscow. The threats which flooded Moscow officials’ inboxes could ramp up again, but Fry said “we’ll have to wait and see.”
This article has been updated to add comment from Cliff Maloney and current COVID-19 case count numbers for Latah County.
The White House could not be reached for comment. Gabriel Rench, Sean Bohnet and Rachel Bohnet declined to comment for this article.
Anteia McCollum contributed to this report.
Lex Miller can be reached at [email protected]
uh
sus