Winter issues statement

In response to criticism following his comment regarding the Heart Mountain Interpretive Center, Joint Agricultural Committee Chairman and District 28 Rep. John Winter issued a statement to the Independent Record.

Last week, legislatures participated in a tour of the Heart Mountain Interpretive Center. 

Before the tour, and as they were closing out a morning of testimony and lawmaker discussion on agricultural and public land issues, Winter took a minute to remind his fellow lawmakers of the upcoming visit to center. 

“If you’re gonna go to the,” Winter said, before pausing, “Jap camp, that’s what I call it, we need to leave here by about 12:30,” he said with a chuckle.

In Winter’s statement he states, “In response to much criticism I have received relative to my statement at the Ag Committee meeting in Powell on Tuesday regarding the Japanese relocation site near Heart Mountain, I want to make a public statement relative to my poor choice of words prior to our tour of the relocation site.”

“First of all, I apologize to any person or organization that may have been offended by my choice of words. I did not say those things to denigrate the good Japanese people everywhere, including those who continue to reside and contribute to the State of Wyoming. The words I used just slipped out of my mouth as I was addressing the committee about the time of the tour. This is how we, who lived in the area from a different era, referred to the Camp,” added Winter.

Winter describes what he has learned following the comment. “Since that moment, I have learned much more about the tragedy of those Japanese people being forcibly removed from their homes and businesses by our Federal Government. In the interest of safety for our Country during that time in our hour of emergency; i.e., World War II, the decision was made to relocate people in the United States of Italian, German and Japanese ethnicity where they could be monitored. Unfortunately, the Japanese were the primary target. In hindsight, it was a real tragedy.”

Winter added, “The Heart Mountain Relocation Interpretive Center is a fine facility for which I am grateful. Everyone who has the opportunity to visit the Center should do so as you will be enlightened as I was to the history of the times.

Winter ended his statement with, “Thank you for the opportunity to clarify myself and express my feelings to the Japanese people. I hope people everywhere will forgive my poor choice of words and move forward in defense of people who have been wronged by overzealous decisions through the years,”