Kat and Dave Waylaid & Robbed of Free Press Van

[Dave Ridley]

thanks for spreading the word ian

[PattyLee loves dogs]

Kat, I am sorry for the hassle. Let me know if you need anything, I will PU for you from LEB. PL

What is needed to keep your press operating to the prisons?

I still want our Grafton Book Discussion club

[RevDebbie]

Anyone can obtain a Kingdom of Heaven driver's license, vehicle title, registration and plates from the Embassy of Heaven Church.  If detained and/or cited while using these documents, you may be able to mount a decent legal defense citing the separation of church and state.

http://www.embassyofheaven.com/catalog/Vehicles.htm

[Kat Kanning]

Thank you Patty.  I still have the car and they towed the van to the farm.  We haven't taken the van out for like a year...this was the first time.  We've just been using it to haul wood around the farm and stuff like that.  The paper to the prisons just involves $$ for printing and mailing.  I have about $400 of $500 needed to do the June issue.

For book discussion, how about I schedule How to Make Friends and Influence People for during burning porcupine?  Kira's interested in it and will be back then.  She's taking off with her dad next week.

RevDebbie, I tried to answer your message on Facebook, but I don't think it sent right.  I've heard of the embassy of heaven guys, yes   Russell had open their page on 'dealing with jail' the time the Feds came in and threw him on the ground, arrested him.

[Pat McCotter]

For book discussion, how about I schedule How to Make Friends and Influence People for during burning porcupine?  Kira's interested in it and will be back then.  She's taking off with her dad next week.

You want to burn this book?!?!?

[condon]

Dang it. I'm sorry to hear about this. A few words about Merle: He's a very good police chief, and a very nice guy. He does a good job and is not an abusive law enforcement type. We refer to him in Grafton as a "peace officer." He keeps the peace. With that said, he is obligated to enforce the law. One of the laws that he is obligated to enforce is the motor vehicle registration requirement. He was probably aware that the van was not registered when he drove by it. We cannot say that he should "ignore" that particular law, or we get into the whole area of selective enforcement of laws, which is the direct road to tyranny and abuse. I want to note also that Merle was almost apologetic about having to have the van towed; he was not abusive and officious as so many cops are. He also offered to give Kat a ride home, which is very kind (and Dave thanked him for it on camera). He also asked Kat whether she wanted McDow's or Frank's to tow the car, at her option. And finally, Lloyd is exactly correct: Because Merle was being filmed, there's no way he could simply tell Kat "Sorry, you have to take the van back now, and you can't drive it on the road until you get it registered." That would have showed him failing to enforce the law, and enforcing the law is his job, no matter what the law is. I have said in the past to other people in the Free Town of Grafton, and now tell everyone outside the Free Town, we're quite lucky to have Merle as our police chief. He's getting on toward retirement, however, and we're going to need a new police chief, so any liberty-oriented types out there who may have police experience, or anyone else who is interested, get in touch with me or Bob Hull and let's talk about it.  ---Tim Condon

[Russell Kanning]

I do not refer to the local cop as a "peace officer" ... he is paid enforcer for "the state"

if the camera was not rolling ... would he have "selectively enforced" the law?

[Bald Eagle]

Last I remember, cops have "discretion" about whether or not to enforce laws pertaining to non-felonies.

Tax issues (registration revenue) may not fall under that discretion though.
They never mess with the money.

[Mike Barskey]

Kat, I'm sorry the police hassled you and cost you money and time. Maybe the lesson Merle's trying to teach you is to not use the govt's dump site, but to instead dump your trash in the woods somewhere less likely for a cop to catch you driving.

I'm also sorry that people bother to explain to you that Merle's actually a very friendly guy who has no choice in the matter and must enforce every law - even those that create victims where none existed previously. Surely you know that Merle is a good guy and wouldn't take your husband away given the chance, or threaten you if you don't give money to the govt for driving your own vehicle. After all, he feels almost apologetic about "having to" use force. You should feel sorry for Merle.

[Sam A. Robrin]

Dang it. I'm sorry to hear about this. A few words about Merle: He's a very good police chief, and a very nice guy. He does a good job and is not an abusive law enforcement type. We refer to him in Grafton as a "peace officer." He keeps the peace. With that said, he is obligated to enforce the law. One of the laws that he is obligated to enforce is the motor vehicle registration requirement. He was probably aware that the van was not registered when he drove by it. We cannot say that he should "ignore" that particular law, or we get into the whole area of selective enforcement of laws, which is the direct road to tyranny and abuse. I want to note also that Merle was almost apologetic about having to have the van towed; he was not abusive and officious as so many cops are. He also offered to give Kat a ride home, which is very kind (and Dave thanked him for it on camera). He also asked Kat whether she wanted McDow's or Frank's to tow the car, at her option. And finally, Lloyd is exactly correct: Because Merle was being filmed, there's no way he could simply tell Kat "Sorry, you have to take the van back now, and you can't drive it on the road until you get it registered." That would have showed him failing to enforce the law, and enforcing the law is his job, no matter what the law is. I have said in the past to other people in the Free Town of Grafton, and now tell everyone outside the Free Town, we're quite lucky to have Merle as our police chief. He's getting on toward retirement, however, and we're going to need a new police chief, so any liberty-oriented types out there who may have police experience, or anyone else who is interested, get in touch with me or Bob Hull and let's talk about it.  ---Tim Condon

Is this a joke?  --An intentional one, I mean?

[AntonLee]

I think Mike Barskey is right. . . they're telling you that you should have dumped your waste products in the woods.  Those men with guns are awesome. . . they create landfills just with a flip of their wrist!

[J’raxis 270145]

With that said, he is obligated to enforce the law. One of the laws that he is obligated to enforce is the motor vehicle registration requirement. He was probably aware that the van was not registered when he drove by it. We cannot say that he should "ignore" that particular law, or we get into the whole area of selective enforcement of laws, which is the direct road to tyranny and abuse.

A freestater was just stopped recently in Manchester for an expired registration; they let him go with a warning. Twice I've missed a stop sign and not been ticketed. They have discretion whether or not to enforce these laws.

Because Merle was being filmed, there's no way he could simply tell Kat "Sorry, you have to take the van back now, and you can't drive it on the road until you get it registered." That would have showed him failing to enforce the law, and enforcing the law is his job, no matter what the law is.

This is probably the key point, and a potential drawback (in a pragmatic sense) of filming everything. Since he was on the record, he had to cover his ass.

[KBCraig]

With that said, he is obligated to enforce the law. One of the laws that he is obligated to enforce is the motor vehicle registration requirement. He was probably aware that the van was not registered when he drove by it. We cannot say that he should "ignore" that particular law, or we get into the whole area of selective enforcement of laws, which is the direct road to tyranny and abuse.

A freestater was just stopped recently in Manchester for an expired registration; they let him go with a warning. Twice I've missed a stop sign and not been ticketed. They have discretion whether or not to enforce these laws.

The biggest form of discretion they have is selective vision. Merle always had the option of not "seeing" the expired sticker.

[Kat Kanning]

Dang it. I'm sorry to hear about this. A few words about Merle: He's a very good police chief, and a very nice guy. He does a good job and is not an abusive law enforcement type. We refer to him in Grafton as a "peace officer." He keeps the peace. With that said, he is obligated to enforce the law. One of the laws that he is obligated to enforce is the motor vehicle registration requirement. He was probably aware that the van was not registered when he drove by it. We cannot say that he should "ignore" that particular law, or we get into the whole area of selective enforcement of laws, which is the direct road to tyranny and abuse. I want to note also that Merle was almost apologetic about having to have the van towed; he was not abusive and officious as so many cops are. He also offered to give Kat a ride home, which is very kind (and Dave thanked him for it on camera). He also asked Kat whether she wanted McDow's or Frank's to tow the car, at her option. And finally, Lloyd is exactly correct: Because Merle was being filmed, there's no way he could simply tell Kat "Sorry, you have to take the van back now, and you can't drive it on the road until you get it registered." That would have showed him failing to enforce the law, and enforcing the law is his job, no matter what the law is. I have said in the past to other people in the Free Town of Grafton, and now tell everyone outside the Free Town, we're quite lucky to have Merle as our police chief. He's getting on toward retirement, however, and we're going to need a new police chief, so any liberty-oriented types out there who may have police experience, or anyone else who is interested, get in touch with me or Bob Hull and let's talk about it.  ---Tim Condon

Is this a joke?  --An intentional one, I mean?

No, Condon's really a statist.  He even likes the war in Iraq.

[Tom Sawyer]

The fact that he turned around and followed the van... He knew what he wanted to do, and he did it.

Being polite as they cost you a ton of money doesn't make it cost you any less. It's so they feel better, 'Really I'm one of the good guys.'

The repuplicans think...  wow if we just had nice cops like our buddy Merle...