barskey's letter to the court

[Mike Barskey]

The government has a trial for me on January 25. I am contemplating sending this letter to them. Does anyone have any comments or suggestions?

Robin Pinelle
Clerk of Court
Derry District Court
10 Courthouse Lane
Derry, NH  03038

Robin Pinelle,

You are having a trial that you are demanding that I attend on January 25, 2010 at 12:45p. Your case number is 431-2009-CR-03861. I am not interested in wasting my time to attend your trial.

The last time your government and your "justice" system demanded that I attend one of your trials (case number 427-2009-CR-02675), I drove over 2 hours to get there just to have the prosecutor tell me he had dropped the charges a few days before. Then, of course, I had to drive more than 2 hours to return home - after wasting 30 minutes in the courtroom to hear my name called. That was almost 5 hours of my time wasted - I had to reschedule an entire day's worth of my plans. And on May 1, 2009 in Keene (case number 09-CR-00733, I think) I drove over 90 minutes to attend their trial and the same thing happened: the prosecutor told me as I walked in the courtroom that he had dropped his charges against me. That was over 3 hours of my time wasted by your "justice" system.

In both cases, the government agents knew my address, so they could have mailed me notification that they rescinded their demands that I attend their trials. Also, my phone number is not unlisted, so I was contactable via phone. And in the Keene case, they had sent law enforcement officers to my house to deliver their paperwork before the trial, so they could have done that to notify me of their cancellation, too.

In your case (431-2009-CR-03861), as in the others, there was no victim other than myself. I hurt no one, I threatened no one, I damaged no one's property, I stole no one's property. The only victim was me; I was victimized by the threats of your "justice" system: either I attend your trial, or you will forcefully put me in jail. And if I do attend your trial and you find me "guilty" of something (again: I hurt no one, I threatened no one, I damaged no one's property, I stole no one's property), your "justice" system will threaten me more: either I pay you money, or you will forcefully put me in jail (By the way, I would opt for jail, as I have done in the past; I refuse to give the government my money in response to threats.).

In case you didn't have it before, my mailing address is 10 Benning Street #104, West Lebanon, NH 03784. Feel free to contact me via the United States Post Office (or, preferably, an institution that doesn't use force to fund itself, like UPS or FedEx). There is no logical reason why a discussion such as one that would take place at your trial, couldn't take place via written correspondence. Of course, the government demands obedience, which I will not give it. And, of course, the government wants me in their "possession" so government agents can more easily kidnap me and cage me, should they desire, but my desire is to not make it easy for you to kidnap or hurt me.

If I am incorrect and I have victimized someone, please ask them to contact me! I am very eager to clean up my reputation by apologizing and paying restitution to anyone I have hurt or or whose property I have damaged. Or, if there is a victim and they are afraid to communicate with me directly (though I'm not sure how someone could be afraid to send someone else a letter), please let them know that we can arrange a neutral third party to facilitate our discussion and arrangements. There is no need to involve any form of violence, and so the "services" of the State will not be necessary (or appreciated).

To sum up, I will not be attending your trial (but you can communicate with me via written correspondence) because your government and "justice" system are a waste of my time, and because I hurt no one, I threatened no one, damaged no one's property, and stole no one's property. And, if I'm incorrect and I did accidentally victimize someone, I am more than happy to work with them to correct my wrongs.

Sincerely,


Mike Barskey

[thinkliberty]

I like it. 

[John]

Good on you!

[TackleTheWorld]

The way you cited the previous court dates which came to nothing is convincing.  The offer to recompense the victim is great.  While it's true that much time will be wasted in going to court, you also mentioned that you would prefer jail to a fine.  Jail is a waste of days rather than hours.  I think it would be more clear if you either omit that "By the way", or rewrite it in terms of money instead of time.  For example: "I cannot afford to attend your trial.", " ..5 hours away from my job",  "...your systems are a loss of income."

[George Donnelly]

An excellent letter!

But I don't want to offer any encouragement on a course of action that leads to jail. I'm real iffy on jail at the moment.

[Kat Kanning]

Try it, you'll like it.

[K. Darien Freeheart]

I'd include an invoice for your on-location service call plus travel expenses.

[MaineShark]

Excellent.  Only change I would make is to eliminate the mention of the Post Office and alternatives, and just say "by mail."  No need to burn out too many fuses in their heads, all at once.

Joe

[Russell Kanning]

I'm real iffy on jail at the moment.

I really recommend jail. Then barskey can write a letter to the government each day.
I think in a truly free society there should be a mandatory 2 year stint in jail.

lets see ..... 1% of the US population is in jail. We could just have everyone spend 1% of their lives in jail. That wouldn't be much more than 8 months. It would probably be good for us.

[John]

lets see ..... 1% of the US population is in jail. We could just have everyone spend 1% of their lives in jail. That wouldn't be much more than 8 months. It would probably be good for us.

If people always did what was good for them wouldn't they be more likely to live to 100 years?
I'll need to think about this formula ...

[dalebert]

Excellent.  Only change I would make is to eliminate the mention of the Post Office and alternatives, and just say "by mail."  No need to burn out too many fuses in their heads, all at once.

Agreed. On that note, I was going to suggest that you simplify it to just a point or two and avoid any libertarianeze which will just go right over their heads. You may have to dumb it down to their level a bit.

[Mike Barskey]

Thanks for the suggestions. I agreed with and used most of them. Here is the version of the letter that I mailed:

Robin Pinelle
Clerk of Court
Derry District Court
10 Courthouse Lane
Derry, NH  03038


Robin Pinelle,

You are having a trial that you are demanding that I attend on January 25, 2010 at 12:45p. Your case number is 431-2009-CR-03861. I am not interested attending your trial.

The last time your government and your "justice" system demanded that I attend one of your trials (case number 427-2009-CR-02675), I drove over 5 hours to attend and waited 30 minutes for the prosecutor to speak to me, just to have him tell me he had dropped the charges a few days before - I had to reschedule an entire day's worth of my plans. And on May 1, 2009 in Keene (case number 09-CR-00733, I think) I drove over 3 hours to attend their trial and the same thing happened: the prosecutor told me as I walked in the courtroom that he had dropped his charges against me.

In both cases, the government agents knew my address, so they could have mailed me notification that they rescinded their demands that I attend their trials. Also, my phone number is not unlisted, so I was contactable via phone. And in the Keene case, they had sent law enforcement officers to my house to deliver their paperwork before the trial, so they could have done so to notify me of their cancellation, too.

In your case (431-2009-CR-03861), as in the others, there was no victim other than myself. I hurt no one, I threatened no one, I damaged no one's property, I stole no one's property. The only victim was me; I was victimized by the threats of your "justice" system: either I attend your trial, or you will forcefully put me in jail. And if I do attend your trial and you find me "guilty" of something (again: I hurt no one, I threatened no one, I damaged no one's property, I stole no one's property), your "justice" system will threaten me more: either I pay you money, or you will forcefully put me in jail. I refuse to give the government my money in response to threats, so you would force me into a cage.

In case you didn't have it before, my mailing address is 10 Benning Street #104, West Lebanon, NH 03784. Feel free to contact me via mail. There is no logical reason why a discussion such as one that would take place at your trial, couldn't take place via written correspondence.

If I am incorrect and I have victimized someone, please ask them to contact me! I would be very eager to clean up my reputation by apologizing and paying restitution to anyone I have hurt or or whose property I have damaged. Or, if there is a victim and they are afraid to communicate with me directly (though I'm not sure how someone could be afraid to send someone else a letter), please let them know that we can arrange a neutral third party to facilitate our discussion and arrangements. There is no need to involve any form of violence, and so the "services" of the State will not be necessary (or appreciated).

To sum up, I will not be attending your trial (but you can communicate with me via written correspondence) because your government and "justice" system require a substantial and burdensome loss of my income, time, and resources, and because I hurt no one, threatened no one, damaged no one's property, and stole no one's property; i.e., there is no victim. And, if I'm incorrect and I did accidentally victimize someone, I am more than happy to work with them to correct my wrongs.


Sincerely,


Mike Barskey

[TackleTheWorld]

Succinct and persuasive. 

[Russell Kanning]

that letter will not bring happiness and comfort to the bureaucracy

[Lloyd Danforth]

They will suffer a few minutes of confusion and after he doesn't show up they will write the Warrant.
It is a great letter but, it isn't going to make any bureaucrat unhappy or, uncomfortable.