NEWPORT — The Oregon Dept. of Justice is investigating the case of a familiar Democrat activist who was cited by police following a meeting of the Lincoln Co. Board of Commissioners.

According to Jenna Wallace, the Lincoln Co. District Attorney, Deborah Kozar Duus was ticketed by the Newport Police Dept. for one count of Harassment on Aug. 10, 2025, for an incident where she allegedly struck someone documenting the meeting with a camera.

“I have engaged the Department of Justice to review the case and the case file will be sent to them this week,” DA Wallace told the Boiler Bay Beacon on Monday.

Kozar Duus is listed as an influential member of the Lincoln Co. Democrat Central Committee on its web site and the leader of frequent rallies and protests at a busy highway intersection in Newport. She is described on social media by an eager follower as “the field general of our army.”

Under Oregon criminal law, the charge of Harassment is a Class B misdemeanor punishable by jail or probation and is described in ORS 166.065 as being comprised of unwanted physical contact, public insults or gestures intended to provoke a violent response or false reports that cause alarm.

The Newport Police Dept. opened the case after Michael Morse, a 47-year-old registered Independent also recognized for his political activism, complained that Duus injured him minutes before the opening of an Aug. 6 county commission meeting. A self-described citizen journalist and public auditor, Morse claimed he was taking photos of the speaker sign-up sheet, a public document, when Kozar Duus allegedly struck him.

“She hit me and sprained my wrist with enough force the doctor described it the next day as a whiplash injury,” he told the Beacon.

“She hit me and sprained my wrist with enough force the doctor described it the next day as a whiplash injury,” he told the Beacon.

Kozar Duus, invited to comment for this story, had not yet responded by press time. On a community Facebook post, however, she recalled the encounter:

“At the August 6th BOC meeting I was standing at the table with the sign in sheet to speak during the Public Comment Period. Michael Morse, the young man who countered my rallies on the 101 & 20 all last year was standing next to me. I feel it was a cordial meeting. He suddenly raised his phone up to take a picture of the clip board with all my info. I impulsively pushed his camera away (and) grabbed the clipboard with my name, address, email & phone number and took it urgently up to the Commissioners sitting at their table saying, ‘He’s trying to take a picture of my info.’ Michael is back at the table yelling ‘she hit me,’ ‘I have a right to public information,’ ‘I’m going to get a cop to arrest her for hitting me,’ and he ran out of the room. I was actually very afraid of him getting my information. I did not know once I wrote my info on the clip board it was public information.” (Facebook, Newport & South Beach Oregon Community)

Kozar Duus wrote that she was cited in Newport after a deputy sheriff at the Siletz Pow Wow told her to report to the Newport P.D. the next day, Sunday. Duus stated the case had been scheduled for court Aug. 25 but “Thank goodness the DA threw it out Aug. 23,” a Saturday.

With the DA’s office straining under a staffing crisis, DA Wallace recently announced some criminal cases will not be tried. Weakened by the lack of crisp video evidence — the county cameras had not been turned on yet, they said — Case No. 076199 seemed to fit the mold. However, Morse appealed to DA Wallace after also hearing she planned to drop the case. He argued the body cam of a meeting guard confirmed the purported harassment.

On Monday, Wallace sent the case to the DOJ “for a second opinion,” she stated.

Though unresolved, the incident has already led to less transparency in the way citizens sign up for public comments at county meetings. New rules require would-be speakers to fill out a blank form and submit it to a meetings official rather than using a sign-up sheet that can be seen by all.