The Goat
08-16-2012, 10:35 AM
Really hits home when its right in your back yard.
SC Senator Lee bright shared this article on FB. http://www.facebook.com/pages/Senator-Lee-Bright/145572918801248?ref=stream
I also shared this article to FB with this comment. If your in SC I ask you to do the same.
"Sheriff Wright considers Operation Rolling Thunder a success. I guess killing a innocent little girl and trampleing over the rights of innocent citizens is considered a "success" now.
"The war on drugs is a war against us all, whether you do drugs or not."
Operation Rolling Thunder indicative of a quasi-police state
http://www.goupstate.com/article/20120815/ARTICLES/120819810/1130?p=2&tc=pg
Guest columnist talks about his experience with being pulled over on I-85
I am writing about Operation Rolling Thunder. It is the law enforcement "venture" that was conducted along Interstate 85 this past week that included 200 officers from around South Carolina. Last Friday, Spartanburg County Sheriff Chuck Wright touted it as having been a tremendous success. However, for a number of reasons that I will explain here, I feel he couldn't be more wrong.
Enlarge
Chuck DiRico
On Wednesday, I "experienced" Rolling Thunder firsthand as I was traveling through South Carolina on my way to Atlanta, where I am attending graduate school, from my home in Virginia.
Near mile marker 75, an SUV with flashing police lights pulled behind me, and I immediately pulled over. After doing so, I quickly realized that this would be no routine traffic stop because the officer, who was wearing full body armor, ordered me to exit my vehicle.
Outside, I was informed that I had been stopped for "following too closely" and he then began asking me a series of probing questions. He did so in a very direct and generally unfriendly manner. I haven't been spoken to in such a way since I was a recruit in boot camp years ago. Anyway, he asked more than 50 questions that ranged from where was I going to if I had LSD in my vehicle. He was then informed by dispatch that I had no prior serious criminal convictions, yet his tone never softened.
After telling him I had nothing illegal in my car, he still asked if he could search it. I said yes, but I also informed him that I now thought the "situation" was getting ridiculous. I then asked whether I was going to receive a ticket or not, and he responded with, "Following too closely is now the least of your concerns" as he handcuffed me.
His "backup" arrived, and they too were wearing body armor with one even brandishing a machine gun. They then thoroughly searched my vehicle, and by thorough, I mean they took apart my television. Finally, after 45 minutes of being interrogated, frisked, cuffed and utterly humiliated, I was simply handed my license and told not to follow closely in the future.
I wasn't even afforded the proverbial "On behalf of the great state of South Carolina, I apologize to you" that Ben Stiller's character in the comedy "There's Something About Mary" received after he had been treated poorly by South Carolina officers. And while I do realize the movie scene was a comedic exaggeration, let me remind you that it, like most other jokes, is only funny because it's at least partially true.
Also, In Friday's news conference, Sheriff Wright gloated over the nearly 50 pounds of marijuana found, the nearly $25,000 seized, and the 1,000-plus traffic cases during Rolling Thunder. I contend that the 50 pounds of marijuana being confiscated during an operation of this scale is laughable. That's of no real consequence in the "war on drugs" that Sheriff Wright and others like him are continuing to wage, despite its well documented failures. And is $25,000 being seized truly a success?
I suspect those 200 yahoos running roughshod up and down I-85 all week spent plenty in fuel alone. And what did it cost to lodge the visiting officers? The officer who pulled me over was from Kershaw County. And how much will it cost to try, convict and jail these marijuana offenders? This debacle will cost the taxpayers.
Also, how many of these 1,000-plus drivers stopped were visitors to South Carolina? How many were treated as poorly as I was? Won't they be hesitant about returning to your state? I personally am intending on commuting through Tennessee when I travel between Atlanta and Virginia now.
Prior to this debacle, I had even been considering making my home in South Carolina. There's little chance of that now. I have no intentions of living in a quasi-police state. Don't you realize travel and tourism make up your state's No. 1 industry? Do most of these 1,000-plus drivers feel that South Carolina is truly "made for vacation," as the state's tourism slogan suggests it is?
And regrettably, there was the incident last week in which a woman fled from Rolling Thunder officers. She led them on a high-speed chase that endangered hundreds of other drivers, lost control of her vehicle and wrecked. Sadly, her 7-year-old daughter was ejected from the vehicle and later died.
While I don't directly blame this death on the operation, I do feel that it somewhat contributed. This woman was obviously presumed guilty of a serious offense from the get-go because operation officers were so relentless in their pursuit. I saw the video.
And guess what the mother was initially being pulled over for? Following too closely and improperly changing lanes.
Don't you realize these cops can pull anybody over for following too closely, whenever and wherever they see fit? One of the basic principles of the American justice system is that people are innocent until they are proven guilty. Yet, I felt like the officers I dealt with in Rolling Thunder were presuming guilt first.
Therefore, I challenge you, the residents of South Carolina, to either make changes in your law enforcement leadership, or allow your state's form of "justice" to perpetually be viewed as the joke it currently is.
Chuck DiRico is a resident of Christiansburg, Va.
SC Senator Lee bright shared this article on FB. http://www.facebook.com/pages/Senator-Lee-Bright/145572918801248?ref=stream
I also shared this article to FB with this comment. If your in SC I ask you to do the same.
"Sheriff Wright considers Operation Rolling Thunder a success. I guess killing a innocent little girl and trampleing over the rights of innocent citizens is considered a "success" now.
"The war on drugs is a war against us all, whether you do drugs or not."
Operation Rolling Thunder indicative of a quasi-police state
http://www.goupstate.com/article/20120815/ARTICLES/120819810/1130?p=2&tc=pg
Guest columnist talks about his experience with being pulled over on I-85
I am writing about Operation Rolling Thunder. It is the law enforcement "venture" that was conducted along Interstate 85 this past week that included 200 officers from around South Carolina. Last Friday, Spartanburg County Sheriff Chuck Wright touted it as having been a tremendous success. However, for a number of reasons that I will explain here, I feel he couldn't be more wrong.
Enlarge
Chuck DiRico
On Wednesday, I "experienced" Rolling Thunder firsthand as I was traveling through South Carolina on my way to Atlanta, where I am attending graduate school, from my home in Virginia.
Near mile marker 75, an SUV with flashing police lights pulled behind me, and I immediately pulled over. After doing so, I quickly realized that this would be no routine traffic stop because the officer, who was wearing full body armor, ordered me to exit my vehicle.
Outside, I was informed that I had been stopped for "following too closely" and he then began asking me a series of probing questions. He did so in a very direct and generally unfriendly manner. I haven't been spoken to in such a way since I was a recruit in boot camp years ago. Anyway, he asked more than 50 questions that ranged from where was I going to if I had LSD in my vehicle. He was then informed by dispatch that I had no prior serious criminal convictions, yet his tone never softened.
After telling him I had nothing illegal in my car, he still asked if he could search it. I said yes, but I also informed him that I now thought the "situation" was getting ridiculous. I then asked whether I was going to receive a ticket or not, and he responded with, "Following too closely is now the least of your concerns" as he handcuffed me.
His "backup" arrived, and they too were wearing body armor with one even brandishing a machine gun. They then thoroughly searched my vehicle, and by thorough, I mean they took apart my television. Finally, after 45 minutes of being interrogated, frisked, cuffed and utterly humiliated, I was simply handed my license and told not to follow closely in the future.
I wasn't even afforded the proverbial "On behalf of the great state of South Carolina, I apologize to you" that Ben Stiller's character in the comedy "There's Something About Mary" received after he had been treated poorly by South Carolina officers. And while I do realize the movie scene was a comedic exaggeration, let me remind you that it, like most other jokes, is only funny because it's at least partially true.
Also, In Friday's news conference, Sheriff Wright gloated over the nearly 50 pounds of marijuana found, the nearly $25,000 seized, and the 1,000-plus traffic cases during Rolling Thunder. I contend that the 50 pounds of marijuana being confiscated during an operation of this scale is laughable. That's of no real consequence in the "war on drugs" that Sheriff Wright and others like him are continuing to wage, despite its well documented failures. And is $25,000 being seized truly a success?
I suspect those 200 yahoos running roughshod up and down I-85 all week spent plenty in fuel alone. And what did it cost to lodge the visiting officers? The officer who pulled me over was from Kershaw County. And how much will it cost to try, convict and jail these marijuana offenders? This debacle will cost the taxpayers.
Also, how many of these 1,000-plus drivers stopped were visitors to South Carolina? How many were treated as poorly as I was? Won't they be hesitant about returning to your state? I personally am intending on commuting through Tennessee when I travel between Atlanta and Virginia now.
Prior to this debacle, I had even been considering making my home in South Carolina. There's little chance of that now. I have no intentions of living in a quasi-police state. Don't you realize travel and tourism make up your state's No. 1 industry? Do most of these 1,000-plus drivers feel that South Carolina is truly "made for vacation," as the state's tourism slogan suggests it is?
And regrettably, there was the incident last week in which a woman fled from Rolling Thunder officers. She led them on a high-speed chase that endangered hundreds of other drivers, lost control of her vehicle and wrecked. Sadly, her 7-year-old daughter was ejected from the vehicle and later died.
While I don't directly blame this death on the operation, I do feel that it somewhat contributed. This woman was obviously presumed guilty of a serious offense from the get-go because operation officers were so relentless in their pursuit. I saw the video.
And guess what the mother was initially being pulled over for? Following too closely and improperly changing lanes.
Don't you realize these cops can pull anybody over for following too closely, whenever and wherever they see fit? One of the basic principles of the American justice system is that people are innocent until they are proven guilty. Yet, I felt like the officers I dealt with in Rolling Thunder were presuming guilt first.
Therefore, I challenge you, the residents of South Carolina, to either make changes in your law enforcement leadership, or allow your state's form of "justice" to perpetually be viewed as the joke it currently is.
Chuck DiRico is a resident of Christiansburg, Va.