The Tip Of The Iceberg

The examples of bureaucratic abuse contained in this section, a few out of hundreds, if not thousands, are just the tip of the iceberg upon which our ship of state may crash unless we get back on the course defined by our Founding Fathers.

When we place someone in a position in government, whether it be municipal police officer, FBI Agent, Bureaucrat or member of Congress we are entrusting them to enforce the laws with responsibility to our inalienable rights. Too often, much too often, the incumbent views it as power rather than responsibility. Consequently, we get enforcement that runs the gamut from stupid or ridiculous to terribly egregious.

As we previously noted, enforcement of federal regulations is passed off to the States. As you will see from these examples, and they speak for themselves, some of the power-run-amuck mindset has infected State and Local enforcement agencies. Not universally as with the federal, but enough to see it as a definite collateral problem in need of correction. At whatever level it is possessed, power is power. And where there is power, there will be abuse.

EXAMPLES

1. Billy Munnerlyn and his wife owned a prosperous Air Charter Service in Las Vegas. With more than 9,000 trips behind him, on a routine flight to Ontario, CA, he was met by DEA agents who seized his Lear Jet and arrested him and his passenger who happened to be a drug dealer carrying $2.7 million in his luggage. It took him nearly three years to get his airplane back, but DEA personnel had ripped out the interior looking for drugs and it would take $140,000 to refurbish it, money he no longer had. But his troubles didn't end there. The DEA had put him on a list of possible drug runners and money launderers, which prevents him from getting a flying job. Now he's a truck driver.

2. At dusk, inside the house, a sheep rancher noticed a grizzly bear angling toward sheep he had penned up near the house. He grabbed his rifle, went outside and yelled at the bear, which changed course and charged him. He shot it. It turned and fled. In the morning, finding blood spots on the ground, he decided he better track the bear and dispose of it. Having a wounded grizzly in the neighborhood is not a comfortable situation. He wasn't even out of sight of the house when the bear charged him. He fired once, twice, three times. On the fourth shot the bear went down, just a few yards from him. He reported the incident to Fish & Wildlife. They came out, recovered the carcass and later confirmed this was a bear they had trapped and transplanted locally because it had been killing sheep in another area. Autopsy revealed sheep remains in its stomach. Fish & Wildlife fined him $10,000 for killing an animal on the endangered species list. He appealed. Fish & Wildlife reduced the fine to $4,000 but would not eliminate it, because "if you had not been where you were it would not have been necessary to kill the bear." Huh?

3. Firefighters called for water at 5:30 a.m.. It finally came, 9 hours later, delayed because of a dispute over whether or not water could be taken from a river containing "endangered" salmon. Four firefighters died.

4. Sick and tired of the EPA's punitive policy of levying fines and bringing criminal charges, one by one, States started enacting laws allowing businesses to self audit emissions and make corrections without suffering Penalties. After all, the purpose of the clean water and clean air acts was to clean up the environment. Right? Not according to EPA actions. They went ballistic with bullying and threats of retaliation. A few legislatures, rather than incur the wrath of the EPA caved to the pressure and did not pass the proposed legislation. After one Legislature caved in to the threats, one of the members said, "It always disturbs me when state law is dictated to us by the feds." Always?

5. How do you like the "Gun Free Zones" and "Zero Tolerance" in the public schools? An armed security guard at a nearby housing complex chased a burglar who ran into and through a school. When apprehended, the burglar was charged with misdemeanor possession of a knife. The Security Guard was charged with a felony, possession of a firearm on school property and lost his right to carry a gun.

6. While the Pennsylvania Legislature was considering legislation to allow business to self check and correct pollution, the EPA, with false data, manufactured a report that Pennsylvania air was extremely contaminated, not fit for breathing and the contemplated legislation would give the polluters a free pass to add more contaminants to the air. It received wide distribution in the state with a steady drumbeat of negative publicity directed at the Legislature. But the Legislature held firm and eventually enacted the legislation and proved that the EPA Report was a lie.

7. A DEA agent complied with the proper procedures to allow him to carry a concealed, loaded handgun on a domestic airline flight. At Security, TSA agents examined the documents, confirmed his identification and allowed him to pass with the concealed handgun but took his fingernail clippers away from him.

8. Scene, home of retired millionaire Donald Scott, Malibu, CA. At dawn, thirty officers representing three local and two federal law enforcement agencies, acting on the words of an informant and purported verification by DEA, cut a security chain, ran up the driveway with their dogs and burst into the Scott household with drawn guns, terrifying Mrs. Scott in her kitchen as she made her morning coffee. Mr. Scott, gun in hand, but holding it with his hand wrapped around the cylinder entered the room. He was told to put it down, but before he could do it, was shot by a Los Angeles Sheriff's Deputy. Why had they raided this home? An anonymous informer told them there were 3,000 marijuana plants under cultivation on the ranch and a DEA agent claimed to have seen "marijuana plants growing under the trees" while flying over the property. No marijuana plants or sign of any other drugs were found. Park Rangers who had tried to purchase the Scott property so it could be annexed to an adjoining park, only to be rebuffed, were also there. In a post-mortem investigation, the County Attorney reluctantly exonerated the shooter, despite the coroners report that the fatal bullet traveled downward at a 35 degree angle, consistent with a man bending over to put a gun on the floor, but that conflicted with the testimony of the participants. The County Attorney came one breath short of charging the DEA agent with perjury and stopped there only because he knew he couldn't prove it.

9. In Oregon John Hays ended up having to quit his ranch, because Fish & Wildlife declared his grazing area on BLM land to be critical habitat for the Canada Lynx. Government officials freely admitted that no evidence of the Lynx had ever been seen in the area except for an occasional one wandering in from the north, but the property was ideal habitat for the Lynx just in case one happened to show up at sometime in the future and the designation put him out of business.

10. Cheryl Sanders of Long Beach, Calif., was driving on Interstate 10 in Sulphur, La., when she was stopped by three police officers. They told her she had been speeding. But instead of giving Sanders a ticket, they handcuffed her and took her to a local jail for a strip search. No drugs were found on her or in her car, nor did she have a criminal record. They told her she could go but they kept her car. Why did they do it? They said it was because her Lincoln Town Car contained a 2 1/2-inch-deep compartment under a false bottom in the trunk capable of concealing narcotics.

11. Ethel Hylton arrived in a Houston airport from New York and was searched by a DEA agent in the baggage area. She was told she was under arrest because a drug dog scratched at her luggage. Ms Hylton hadn't seen a dog and when she asked to see it, the officers refused to bring it out. They searched her bags and strip-searched her, but found nothing illegal. The DEA did, however, find $39,120 in her purse. Ms Hylton had recently received an insurance settlement and had come to Houston to buy a house. The cops took all but $10 of the cash -- claiming it had a drug connection -- and sent Ms Hylton on her way. She was never charged with a crime. The Pittsburgh Press looked into her story, verified her insurance settlement, bank statements and found no criminal record.

12. James M. Knott, Sr. owns a small company manufacturing plastic coated steel wire used in lobster traps and erosion control. EPA asked to take a PH reading of the discharge he was putting into a river. It measured .7 - harmless. They came back twice more. Same result. Then, 21 heavily armed EPA agents raided the company, shut it down, arrested Knott, indicted him on felony charges and levied a $1.5 million fine. At trial, it was shown where EPA had altered the .7 readings to .2. Was anyone at EPA punished? No record of it.

13. While driving home, Michael McCormick spotted an Alligator lumbering across the road directly towards a woman with two small children at her side and two infants in her arms. Just the week before, an alligator had killed a 12 year old boy. McCormick grabbed some rope he had in the car, quickly made a loop, lassoed the alligator and tied it to a nearby fence. A friend called the police who, in turn, called Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission Officer Monty Hinkle. Instead of congratulating him for probably saving the children, Hinkle issued McCormick a citation for possession of a gator. A Fish and Wildlife Commission spokeswoman claimed McCormick should have focused his efforts on moving the woman and children rather than on restraining the alligator.

14. Before buying the property he intended to use to board horses and raise hay, Jim Baum checked with local regulatory agencies to make sure there were no restrictions on the property. He was assured there weren't any. But when it came time to do what he had told them he was going to do he found out it was listed as critical habitat for. . .you got this. . .Bigfoot. Now, he can't even sell it. A Representative of the King County Fish & Wildlife offered the suggestion that maybe someone put "Bigfoot" in there as a joke. Say what? First, how can anyone put a species on the endangered list as a "joke." Are there no controls? Furthermore, since they acknowledge it's invalid why don't they just remove it? Can't do that. When it comes to removal, a comprehensive study, which can and usually does take several years to complete, must be done.

15. In Montgomery, Alabama, police seized the home of 69-year-old Gussie Mae Gantt after videotaping police informants buying drugs in her yard. Ms. Gantt had previously called the police, complaining about drug dealing in her neighborhood, and had posted no-trespassing signs, but the drug dealers ignored them. Police waited until there was a drug deal in her yard, arranged by them, and then seized her home.

There are many, many more and as we hear of new ones, we’ll post them on the site.

 

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