Police arrest Census taker

[Silent_Bob]

http://www.westhawaiitoday.com/articles/2010/05/29/local/local02.txt

Police arrest Census taker
by John Burnett And Peter Sur
Stephens Media

Saturday, May 29, 2010 7:27 AM HST
A battle is brewing between the state and federal governments over a Census taker arrested in Puna for misdemeanor trespassing.

The U.S. Attorney's office filed papers Thursday in federal court in Honolulu to take the case of 57-year-old Russell Haas out of 3rd District Court. That will pit the feds against local prosecutors.

"I'm looking to have it kept in state court," county Deputy Prosecutor Christopher Bridges said Friday.

Haas pleaded not guilty on April 8 to second-degree trespassing. He was arrested March 10 at 12:30 p.m. in in Hawaiian Acres, after a resident Haas says was an off-duty police officer allegedly refused to cooperate with the Census and called Puna police.

"When I opened his gate and walked in ... he stepped out of his garage and said, 'Please get off my property,'" Haas said Friday. Haas said he identified himself as a Census worker, and the man again requested for him to leave.

"I said, 'Can I please just give you the Census (form)?' And he didn't want it," Haas said. "He said he was going to call the cops, so I said, 'OK, fine.' We'd been trained to wait by the gate for the cops to get there and hand them the forms that we would have handed to the guy. The police then hand it to them and tell them, 'It's the law, do it.' Then everybody would walk away and it would be fine. That was what I expected.

"But when I was standing next to the gate talking to the guy, he pulls something out ...and out pops this little tin shield, and it falls and clatters on his driveway. And I realized he was telling me he was a cop."

"Then I went, 'Dude, if you're a cop, you know that you have to be in the Census. You have to be because you've sworn an oath to uphold and obey (the law).'"

Haas, who is a former New Jersey police officer, said while he and the man were talking across the gate, police "pulled up behind me, suddenly."

"I handed them the Census and expected them to hand them to this guy and say, 'That's it,'" Haas said. "They walked over and talked to him for a minute or two, then walked back to me ... and then stuffed it into my chest, and said, 'He doesn't have to enter your Census. He doesn't have to enter any Census. He doesn't have to fill out any of your forms or answer any of your questions. And if I were you, I'd get into my car and get the hell outta here, right now.'

"I turned to him and said, 'Or what?' And he said, 'I'll lock you up.'" And I turned back and said, 'So make your case.' They threw the cuffs on me, took me down to Keaau Police Station and I waited there until my daughter bailed me out." Haas' bail was $25.

According to the Census Bureau website, people are required by federal law to respond to the census. Title 13 of the U.S. Code says adults who refuse or willfully neglect to complete the questionnaire can be fined up to $100, and people who refuse to answer questions posed by census takers can be fined up to $5,000.

The identity of the man who refused to answer Haas' questions wasn't immediately known.

[Lloyd Danforth]

They should give those census guys some carrying around bail cash.

[MengerFan]

It's hard to pick a side when two gangsters have a fight.

[liftsboxes]

I'll take a state cop siding with the right to property and privacy over a census worker with a false sense of importance.

Most of the police I see today resemble a gang of thugs, but I'd like to believe that there is the occasional Sheriff Taylor.

Sincerely,

Polly Anna 

[Roycerson]

If he did everything just like he was trained, is he on the clock until he gets out?

At twelve dollars an hour that $480/wk for 40 hours and $2304 in overtime.

[FreelanceFreedomFighter]

According to the Census Bureau website, people are required by federal law to respond to the census. Title 13 of the U.S. Code says adults who refuse or willfully neglect to complete the questionnaire can be fined up to $100, and people who refuse to answer questions posed by census takers can be fined up to $5,000.

(emphasis mine)

The "Census Bureau website" can say we all need to bend over and kiss their feet, but that doesn't make it true! This is BS. The maximum fine for not answering is $100. For giving false answers is $500. PERIOD. There is no "up to" in there. The only place I've seen $5000 is if the Census Bureau and/or it's workers misuse the data they've collected. I've heard this $5000 fine for not answering a number of times. I always say "show me" and no one who's said that has been able to show me. In fact, I've had a couple of people tell me they can't find it when looking at the law. Hmmmm... But these MSM outlets just keep printing/publishing that same LIE.