The last place you expect to run into a federal government goon squad is the Blue Ridge Parkway, the scenic highway that runs through Virginia, North Carolina and Tennessee.
But the abuse of power spawned by the Bush administration and the rights robbing USA Patriot Act runs rampant throughout the federal bureaucracy, as I learned this week while traveling the Parkway to get to an assignment photographing a summer music festival for my newspaper.
The festival, FloydFest, draws thousands of people each July to a picturesque patch of land just off the Parkway not far from the Blue Ridge hamlet of Floyd, VA. Now in its sixth year, the festival enjoys a national reputation. It also provides an opportunity for the National Park Service police to harass patrons of the festival.
For the last two years, the Park Service has brought in its "CIT" (Criminal Interdiction Team) from Asheville, North Carolina, to police crowds that use the Parkway to reach the festival. The team, composed of swaggering young officers with little regard for due process or civil rights, is the embodiment of federal excess.
As I drove towards the site Thursday, I passed two CIT Park Police officers that had pulled cars over and were forcing the occupants to pull everything out of the car so they could search coolers, back packs, luggage, glove boxes and consoles.
I pulled off the road ahead of the second NPS patrol car, grabbed my camera and headed back to take a photo of the police action. As I approached, the Park Service officer wheeled around and pointed at me.
"Sir, if you raise that camera to take a photograph I will place you under arrest," he barked.
I identified myself as a working journalist on assignment and said I was simply covering a news event.
"Sir," he retorted, "this is U.S. government property and under the provisions of the USA Patriot Act you cannot take photographs of official government activity without authorization. Put your camera down now!"
I could not believe what I was hearing. I grew up in this part of the country and have photographed on the Blue Ridge Parkway since my days as a high school student. I asked for his badge number. He refused to reveal it.
"Sir, you have 15 seconds to leave or you are under arrest." He had his hand on his gun so I left. Media General, our newspaper's owner, has strict rules about interaction with police. At the top of the hill, I stopped and shot some photos back towards the scene.
At the festival, patrons told numerous horror stories about encounters that day with the Park Service Police. One young woman was pulled over because she had beads hanging from her rear view mirror. They detained her for more than an hour while they searched her car and found nothing. Another young man was stopped because he had a bolt missing from his license plate frame. When the cops found no drugs or alcohol, they ticketed him for "improper equipment."
On Wednesday night, the CIT cops pulled over a car driven by Shannon Zeman, the sheriff of Floyd County, VA. Zeman later told Virginia State Trooper Andrew O'Connor that the parkway cops were rude and abusive, even to a fellow cop.
Calls to the Park Service police headquarters were not returned Friday. I called the office of Congressman Rick Boucher and they promised to check into the situation. According to the National Park Service web site, park police "provides highly trained and professional police officers to prevent and detect criminal activity, conduct investigations, apprehend individuals suspected of committing offenses against Federal, State and local laws."
Nice to know the park service cops have professionals on board. Next time, let's hope they send the pros instead of the goon squad from the Criminal Interdiction Team in Asheville.
UPDATE -- 07/29/2007: The National Park Service recalled their CIT unit and ordered them back to Asheville after Congressman Rick Boucher, who represents the area, intervened on behalf of the festival. Boucher's office received numerous calls of complaints about the NPS police activity on Thursday and Friday and called the director of the National Park Service. Security for the remaining two days of the festival was turned over to the Virginia State Police who patrolled the Parkway but did not harass festival attendees.
UPDATE -- 07/30/2007: Talked with Congressman Boucher today. He is "very upset" over the actions of the Parkway Rangers and says he will meet personally with the director of the Parkway to "make sure nothing like this happens again." Boucher said he does not believe the Patriot Act gives a Park Ranger the authority to prohibit a person from taking pictures and he will insist of a "full and complete investigation" of the incidents of this past weekend.
Technorati Tags: Doug Thompson
Doug I have NO trouble believing your story. I've read one horror story after another on the 'Net. Seems like this type of behavior is sharply on the rise.
I have one question simmering in my mind after reading this nightmare. WHY are people putting up with this goon squad type of behavior? What is to stop people en masse from putting their collective foot down and refusing to obey such unlawful behavior? What would these rogues do if citizens everywhere flat out refused to cooperate instead of behaving like scared sheep? Just what could those two thugs have done if everyone refused to cooperate with their out of control behavior?
simon
it's a shame
George W. Bush has made a mockery of the meaning of
of the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence.
To live in a democratic society such as ours.. means to be free from any type of governmental censorship.
Everytime something happened that affect the lives of our peoples ... the government holler "executive privilege" ... and I don't think that's right nor fair.
No man or woman that sits in the oval office should have the right to try and bend the will of
the people to his or her line of thinking.
Congress should enact a new law in this country and name it "Executive Privelege" ... make it a Constitutional admendment .. spelling out what a President can and cannot hide from "we the people"
Let January 2009 come .. oh happy day
People shouldn't put up with this behavior.
Andrew. People feel safe with a Big Daddy overseeing our actions. The history of the world shows this desire to understand the overseer in everything we do. I used to feel that it was an extension of having God determine our every action and we, like other nations, have given our President this authority.
The problem is that America stood alone in giving the citizens their own choices and we could not accept the responsibility. How many times a day do you hear "There ought to be a law" and it is often picked up by local, state and then federal powers.
Our own citizens would rather have the government creep into their lives like a rampant cancer than take the time to face the problems themselves.
Everyone has a story like Doug's where the government takes on a police state just because they can. Fighting the federal government is harmful but we can raise the next generation to stand up for their own rights.
"Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety."
Benjamin Franklin
And we have neither liberty or safety in this country. A new trend that really bothers me is referral to the United States as the "Homeland". It stinks of Nazi Germany and is insidiously altering the way citizens too thick-headed to see what is happening think of our country.
If you tell the truth you don't have to remember anything.
Mark Twain
PeterW
The right wing blowhards say the terrorists hate us for our freedom so if the patriot act reduces our rights the terrorists win. The fact that this happened on federal park property angers me even more. A federal park belongs to WE THE PEOPLE not the government. It would be different if it was a military base but a park is OURS!
simon
it just goes to show that the current administration has gotten it all wrong ...that for reason it has forgotten these lines:
The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.
Judge Roy Bean is laughing his ass off in a very warm place right about now...Looks like we will all need to take a personal recording device with us when we step out to get the morning paper off the lawn.Welcome to the land of the paranoid and the home of the persecuted.
Bryan, don't take this the wrong way but we are so far from the day where a recording would help it ain't even funny.
I don't know what disturbs me more, the knowledge that this thuggish behavior is becoming more prevalent or the feeling that we are powerless to do anything about it.
Unfortunately this is nothing new, it is only expanding.
Motorcycle Riders have had to put up with this on the way to events for years.
We tried to warn you it would eventually affect others. Few listened.
In Asheville, NC you can't even fly a flag upside down without the big brass balls cops kicking down your door. Maybe the good folks will have to rename it arseville?
A couple who said they were protesting the state of the country by flying the U.S. flag upside down with signs pinned to it found themselves in jail following a scuffle with a deputy Wednesday morning.
www.citizen-times.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=20...
Even in NJ you can't either.
Washington Township police officer Scott E Miller filed criminal charges on June 11, 2007 against a Washington Township man for insulting the American flag.
lehighvalleyramblings.blogspot.com/2007/07/flying-flag-upside-down-results-in.html
Should we, as good citizens, start complaining about everyone that flies a flag in inclement weather or at night with illumination?
www.house.gov/israel/constituentservices/flags_usc...
The flag should not be displayed on days when the weather is inclement, except when an all weather flag is displayed.
This web page sums up nicely the issue.
www.jpfo.org/alert20020628.htm
...And I told him that flying the flag upside-down was as great a sign of respect for my country as I could think of. After all, America is in trouble, and flying its flag upside-down is a sign of distress*. The inverted flag calls out to everybody who sees: "Please help the United States. Don't let the most promising nation on earth fall into tyranny."
Interesting that they picked the one illegal thing to do.
Why did they have to use the flag for there message?
Again, I'm not a right wing nut job, but this is the land of the brave and home of the free. Why would you want to disrespect the flag like that? I know that they said that they weren't, but they were. I can think of thousands of ways to show dissent about the way the country is going...but I'm not going to pick the one that is illegal. Aren't they proud of our great land. You know...the free one, where you can come and go freely, get an education, a job, your day in court.
That inclimate weather stuff is non-sense. Folks don't fly there flags in the rain on purpose. These people were doing this outright, on purpose. Quote
"Please help the United States. Don't let the most promising nation on earth fall into tyranny." If they are so concerned about that, maybe they should join the army and go fight those who want to destroy us.
I would suggest that they move if they feel that way.
It is not illegal to fly a flag upside down. That is the universal sign of distress. And you say that "...they should join the army and go fight those who want to destroy us." Has the army finally gotten some sense and is it finally attacking Bush and Cheney?
Found something that many of you here at CHB might be interested in reading. It does seem to help explain much of the (why) of what has happen over the last several years, especially with this current white house administration.
"The present currency and economic crisis were brought on by Bush's and the Fed's hyperinflationary monentary policies. These policies were executed simultaneously for maximum effect. These were entirely premeditated. Many people now believe that the Bush administration and the Federal Reserve are intentionally creating an 'Argentina-type meltdown' so they can privatize state owned assets and usher in the North American Union-the future 'one state' alliance of Canda, Mexico and US along with the new regional currency, the Amero."
How accurate and true the above is, I'm simply not sure but it does seem possible and again, helps to explain why all this sudden and intense (on-going) transformation of this Nation... into what has become (to many) unacceptable.
Hi Gene...
I’ve been trying to figure out for some time why the Bushistas would purchase a 100,000 acre ranch in Paraguay? They also had a special law approved by Paraguay’s governing body to insure that they have special, permanent immunity from being prosecuted for war crimes, international crimes, and from being deported…?! To me it says that these mattoids have something truly evil planned for the U.S. and when they pitch their bucket of engineered crap on the fan they’l end up safely in the southern hemisphere. What's interesting is that the media said it was in Chaco, Paraguay, but there is no city named Chaco in the country at least none that I can locate via Google Satellite mapping. Chaco is located across the border in Argentina. The military base associated with Bushco's travels is in Mariscal_Estigarribia Paraguay that was constructed by the Paraguayan government, but is no doubt headed for upgrades courtesy of the U.S. taxpayer.
The U.S. is unquivocally dead broke! We now have 9.7 trillion of public debt over our heads with a total debt in the order the 55 trillion dollar range due to projected shortfalls in Social Security, Medicare, and government pension programs. American corporations are awash in red ink and both the current and impending credit disaster in the housing market is also working against us. American citizens as a whole are grossly in debt with a nominal $7500 of CC debt hanging over the average household. The dollar is tanking against all the worlds currencies both major and minor, even against the Mexican and Philippine peso?!
Our stock market is the worlds worst performing market against all publicly traded markets. Our DOW index is nothing bur "smoke and mirrors". Trade wars and impending national default is on the horizon. The result could be a massive breakdown in public confidence leading to rioting, insurrection and the possibility of nuclear war breaking out. If we can’t pay our debt or try to do so with grossly inflated currency, international investors will flee the dollar like rats from a sinking ship.
China has already repatriated 1 trillion dollars from the U.S. during the past six months. China could use this crisis to repatriate Taiwan which could lead to the excuse for pre-emptive missile launch from either side; then the unthinkable becomes the thinkable. China’s nuclear war planners have already gamed the outcome where they already know they will be the world’s premier northern hemispheric survivors of such a holocaust.
Bushco also has a plan to shove a North American Union down our collective throats with a new currency called the Amero as the Western hemispheric currency. If the dollar goes bust as well as all entitlement programs both public and private then they just might be able to pull this off as desperate, starving people are given an offer they can’t refuse. The dollar is now worthless, so they’l issue a new currency called the Amero with each household getting a pre-determined amount of cash to start fresh again, whatever that means…?!
Countries going bust is not new in the history of the world. When politicians begin to debase a currency; ie.,disassociating it from being linked to anything of value they will continue to do so like termites in a house until the entire national financial infrastructure tumbles down around our ears. Johnson chucked the silver certificate from being linked to silver in the mid-sixties. Nixon cut the dollar away from the gold standard in the 70’s turning the dollar into a pure fiat currency; i.e, “faith money”. They’ve run the printing presses feverishly for the past 40 years and have totally debased our currency to the point that it’s only worth a few cents on the dollar compared to a 1947 buck.
Supposedly Fort Knox has 8100 metric tons of gold in storage. If you convert this to troy ounces; i.e, 31.1 grams per troy oz you end up with each ounce having to be worth about $36,800 per ounce if we were to go back to backing the dollar with gold, which is ludicrous to say the least, but it gives people an idea as to how debased their currency has become to something that has true value and has had so throughout history.
Meanwhile, Bushco and all their insider cronies from not only the U.S., but Europe too can all be partying down hearty in their Paraguayan ranch/bunker while the “groundlings” are left holding this nightmarish financial bag and their body bags too!
All I can say is get ready down below!
http://www.thetruthseeker.co.uk/article.asp?ID=5324
http://usinfo.state.gov/media/Archive/2006/Jan/12-...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mariscal_Estigarribia
http://maps.google.com/maps?ll=-22.044846,-60.6200...
Carl Nemo **==
p.s. I suggest folks download Google Maps. It's a fun link under any circumstances if you wish to investigate your world from space. Using the the Search function you will see that Chaco is in Argentina across the Argentine province of Formosa with Paraguay and Mariscal_Estigarribia to the north by scrolling northward. Too bad they don't provide one meter resolution then we could watch the Bush twins poolside...:))
Well Carl you sure put some effort in that comment and every word is true. This is one insidious mess we are in and it is exploding right infront of our lives, ie. happening in "real time". Stocks will be interesting to watch come Monday morning. Subprime is fixing to be headline and all the toxic financial worthless paper is bubbling to the top of this investment cesspool.
Thanks Gene...I've been quietly trying to remind folks about "goodbye dollar, hello Amero" for a while now but no one seems to believe it.
The reference to Argentina is quite accurate.
Doug -- I believe you contacted the wrong website and organization when attempting to locate the supervisors of the National Park Service Law Enforcement Rangers (the correct title) you encountered. The United States Park Police is part of the National Park Service but has NO law enforcement rangers among its rank. U.S. Park Police Officers are responsible for the NPS urban areas in and around San Francisco, New York City, and Washington, D.C. (I'm the former Chief of the U.S. Park Police.)
Rangers are supervised by folks at each individual park and, ultimately, their park superintendent. Once you identify the park (and I believe you already have), you will be on your way to identifying the supervisors for the rangers.
Please let me know if you have any questions that I can answer from this end. Thanks.
Teresa Chambers
tcchambers@HonestChief.com
www.HonestChief.com
Good morning Doug. We had an expression for that type of behavior back in the late 80’s and early 1990’s. It was called “Jack Booted Thugs”.
I recommend you start carrying a recording devise with you so that when “they” become abusive you can record it. The individual citizen has more technology on our side than ever before. I fear we all need to use it. And, do not forget the cell phone. It is a powerful tool.
Again, with all due respect I urge you to not take too much stock in the notion that a recording will do you any good, even if evidence of abuse is clearly uncovered. We're past the point where it means anything at all. In fact, you should not be surprised if it becomes flat out illegal to even try to use such evidence at all.
Predicating a belief that the citizen, or more accurately, SUBJECT has any power whatsoever against abusive law enforcement is a bygone concept, especially if the magic words "PATRIOT ACT" are involved.
simon ... PATRIOT ACT sucks
how can we as Americans abide by a law that violates every morial fiber of our existence.
The PATRIOT ACT is a bunch of crap ... the US government uses this law as a smoke screen to cover up
all their wrong doings not just to America but to the world.
The current Administration has got to go.
If we don't wake up and smell the coffee ; then we will find ourselves living in "george orwell's 1984"
America and the world please wake up .. before we find our every action and thought under governmental scurtiny.
Wake up
I'm posting a link to Reader Rant that does explain some of the problems that we face in America under the present Bush Administration.
The poster is well informed on the financial mess we are in. Give it ia try and read through some of the link; they are worth keeping.
http://tinyurl.com/2zygyw
If you want to post, you will have to register first but you can read all of Reader Rant.
Doug, I'm glad you got to witness this activity firsthand although you would have had no trouble imagining such actions taking place if someone else had told you so. Here's the link to CIT organization in Asheville, NC.
http://www.nccrimecontrol.org/Index2.cfm?a=000003,...
What's interesting the Park Service basically outsourced it's enforcement needs for the festivities since they don't have the manpower to do so. As bad as these types seemed they at least have some verifiable homebase of operations.
There's far worse than this going on in the country. Most of the regular enforcement agencies are short-handed so they outsource their enforcement and security needs. The U.S. Marshals service will outsource to a private security service if they have a need for prisoner escort or protection. While on this type of duty these type of guards will be paid a U.S. Marshals wage. But here's the rub. One day a guard might simply deployed to a shopping mall as a security agent, but then his firm acquires a government contract with the U.S. Marshals service, the National Park Service or whatever Federal or State agency, then they are then deployed to higher order enforcement activities to which they are not familiar nor have the necessary training to act in a non-belligerent, professional manner. Believe it or not some of these private subcontracting firms don't even perform adequate background checks nor do they drug test their applicants.
I'm not saying the CIT base org fits in this category, but in the event they too outsource to another firm for such events, then one can see that the level of professionalism, deteriorates rather quickly until you've got basically a "billy-bob" mall guard busting heads on behalf of the National Park Service...?!
The Third Reich rounded up many of their SA and SS goons from German prisons knowing that these type personas would thoroughly brutalize the population in exchange for their freedom and enjoy doing so with relish.
So my admonition is not to assume when you see someone in a uniform with badge associating them with an agency of renown that they are the same caliber personnel along with the associated training.
This type of outsourcing is right up Wackenhutt, Blackwater, and many other large security firms located throughout the U.S. A rogue government will have no trouble finding "thugs" to oppress the population for a price.
My best advice is for folks to exit an area immediately if they see such activity occurring and don't question them because if you do overstep their enforcement bogey for an arrest, they will use the full force and power of their vested authority to do maximum damage. It's better to retreat, then lodge complaints through either State or Federal reps. If no response, remedial or otherwise is forthcoming then it needs to be kicked up to the elected rep level.
Carl Nemo **==
Dear Mr. Nemo:you are dead on correct SIR, however, We do not have time to blanch.We have to run him off the ranch. Rosa Parks weighed how much, 105lbs ?
Hi Bryan McClellan...
Thanks for the attaboy concerning my post/s, but I both winced and then laughed. Your lead line shows up as
Dear Mr. Nemo: you are dead
I thought at first it was a communique from Bushco's South American "hit squad", just joking of course, then again...?! :|
Nemo **==
In reading all of the previous comments, the first thought that went through my mind was "Blackwater?"
This sounds like something they would be involved in and would do.
I knew we were in trouble before the 2000 election if Bush got in. I just knew it. My research on Bush gave me a very bad feeling.
That was exacerbated when Cheney decided HE was the best VP candidate. But then he had to fly out to Wyoming to register as a voter there, even though all these previous years he had declared Texas as his "homestead" residence.
When you begin that way -- as the Bushies did -- it raises big red DANGER! DANGER! flags.
I now officially hate ALL republicans. They just can't be trusted or believed. The slime of the dung pile.
In the words of Harry Caray..HOLY COW. My apologies,I promise to work on my sentence structure, grammatically stunted individual here ,please forgive...
I'm hoping to retire in another couple years. A very unexpected development has thrust itself into the equation. That is, given a choice of where to live I'm really sad to say it may not be the "Good Old" USA.
Hi Warren...
Many wealthy and not so wealthy Americans are leaving this nation annually. It's not a subject that's often discussed by the MSM but it's a fact. A few years back a Senator, I believe Senator Pat Moynihan proposed that citizens that dumped the U.S. should have to give up a large portion of their wealth in order to leave the U.S.?! The theory being that they made their money while here and now they've decided to dump their homeland so they must forfeit some of their holdings. The idea didn't fly but it shows how their ever-grasping political intellects operate.
My recommendation is to look into the Scandinavian countries or North America;ie., Canada. Canada had a policy a few years back that anyone bringing a million dollars or more in assets to their country would get instant Canadian citizenship.
My wife's side of the family are Canadians formerly German immigrants and I always enjoy our trips to Canada. It is a stunningly beautiful country to say the least. There's nothing quite like Canada in the fall of the year! Canada is like going back 20 years in time as far as I'm concerned. There's both gentility and elegance about their country.
Canadians don't hate Americans, they simply think we are "nuts" as a nation. I can't blame them. It seems America's leadership is obsessed with the waging of war for the benefit of the MIC and as far as tax revenues are concerned, to hell with "we the people"; i.e, our money belongs to the M.I. Complex plain and simple!
My wife and I are seniors in our sixties and early seventies and we've considered bailing from this madness lately. Life in America is simply too intense; ie., too mindlessly violent. There's more to life than going to sleep only to awaken to some more bad news. There's no shortage of bad news when it comes to our nation at any level. Lately I've referred to the phenomena as "The Empire of the Rising Scum"... :))
So Warren, I say, "go for it" and good luck! You'll probably find Canada as your best choice with Europe being a more radical choice unless you are willing to roll up your sleeves and learn another language and customs in your later years. Good luck on your decision.
Carl Nemo **==