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From: (no name) (no email)
Date: Fri Mar 02 2001 - 02:45:28 EST
The following message is a response to a message published on the list by Lt.
Michael Webb, a police officer, in which he makes false statements about me.
I have a right and a duty to set the record straight, and since he published
his falsehoods on the list I am publishing my rebuttal to his slander on the
list.
Please send any further correspondence on this thread to me off-list.
In a message dated 02/25/2001 11:34:33 AM Eastern Standard Time,
writes:
> Norm,
> I disagree with your thoughts as you stereotype (and exhibit some degree of
> paranoia) concerning police, customs officers, and the Coast Guard. I am a
> police officer and have never committed perjury (I assume that is what
> "purgery" was supposed to indicate) nor have I ever accepted a bribe.
Then I wasn't talking about you, was I. I was talking about cops I have had
experience with. When I mentioned the "intermittent stop light" ploy it was
from personal experience, not only of myself but also of friends and family.
Some time ago Jan and I were driving home from dinner with friends. We got
off I-95 and onto a local highway. I asked Jan to pull into a convenience
store to buy some munchies, but when we did we saw that the store was closed
so we continued through the parking lot, back out onto the highway and on our
way. It was about 11pm and were no other cars apparent. About a mile down
the road a car pulled up rapidly close behind us and turned on his blue cop
lights. When we stopped the cop demanded that Jan come back to his car where
he accused her of trying to "evade" him. We have no idea where this came
from since we were completely unaware of his presence until he stopped us.
Perhaps our turning into the convenience store parking lot gave him the
inspiration for this lie? He also claimed that he stopped us because her car
had an "intermittent stop light" for which he wrote a citation. There are
two different laws a cop can use to do this with the laws in Florida. One is
an equipment defect warning and the response is to repair the problem, have a
cop sign the ticket confirming that it has been repaired, then send the form
in. The other way is to fine the "offender" $63, which is what this jackass
did. In any case, the light was not defective. In fact it was brand new two
days before having been replaced by Jan's body shop after the old one was
broken by a careless neighbor. This citation was a complete fabrication, a
lie, perjury. And the fine Jan paid was armed robbery.
Similar scenarios have happened to friends and family.
> have arrested people for trying to bribe me. I have never fabricated a
> traffic infraction, misdemeanor or felony charge on anyone.
In my personal experience cops have committed more criminal acts to me than
criminals have. In fact, in your letter you created three fabrications about
me. I am very lucky you were not doing this on a statement or witness stand.
> I do not hang
> out at donut shops but enjoy an occasional donut. Is that so wrong?
This is the first fabrication. I made no mention of donuts or donut shops at
all. Donuts were mentioned in a quoted passage of Jay Prince's message I was
replying to. Yet in your zeal for faultfinding to justify your
self-righteous viewpoint and actions you attribute the donut shop passage to
me. I'll bet some of the people whose lives you damaged know this little
quirk of yours well.
> In my
> opinion, if you want the privilege of driving a boat or car you should
> accept and follow each and every rule and your equipment should be proper
> and conform to regulation. This may save your life or the life of a
> passenger despite your best efforts to the contrary. If you don't remain
in
> compliance, step up and face the penalty instead of blaming those charged
> with the enforcement. Your option is to give up boating or driving a car
> and find a game where you like the rules.
I am really confused as to what message you are actually reading. I wrote a
reply to Jay's message outlining how to deal with cop attacks in which I
stated that our first line of defense was to "have *all* your ducks in a
row". I also said to get a copy of the Coast Guard boarding report and: "Go
down the checklist on the boarding report, look for all possible violations,
and eliminate them."
How your mind twisted my suggestion to eliminate all deficiencies to a
reluctance to ignore the rules is beyond me. Perhaps you should seek
professional help. It may help you pay more attention to reality instead of
believing the falsehoods you create to support your warped view of the world
around you. I feel very angry that a person that is unable to perceive
reality and instead believes his own self-serving baloney has been allowed
the power to destroy lives.
However, I did say: "The local Sheriff's boat is tied up right next the
dinghy dock here. I immediately noticed that its radar dome blocks the
required all-around white light from showing forward, yet these uniformed
pirates zoom around the waterways daily robbing folks to punish them for rule
violations these slimeballs themselves continuously violate."
Once upon a time I was anchored in the Shrewsbury River in New Jersey. It
was just after sundown and I had guests aboard for dinner. A State Police
boat motored slowly by us when I noticed that his all-around white light was
not on. I motioned him over and when he came by I mentioned this to him.
Instead of thanking me for pointing out this serious safety hazard, he
whipped out his citation clipboard and demanded to see my ship's papers. I
got my documents folder and my own clipboard. I asked his name and he
pointed out his name tag which said "Duffy". Officer Duffy then proceeded to
demand that we leave the protected waters of the river and anchor off a lee
shore out in Raritan Bay where the winds were 20-25 Kts from the West. He
told me to go anchor a little indentation in the shore, a completely
unprotected cove I was aware of. It was not a designated anchorage.
However, I was not about to do so as it would be a hazard to both my vessel
and my guests whom I had to ferry ashore later in the evening. About that
time a boat went by that Officer Duffy decided to chase down so he left to do
that. Later he came by to say he could not find the fictional "anchorage
area" on the chart so we had his "permission" to stay where we were.
I could on for pages about the cops we have had the misfortune to meet on the
water and the damage they have done to us, or tried to do to us. I have
documented much of it on the live aboard list as a help to others following
in my wake, just as I outlined what steps I have found to be effective
defense when cops attack.
Every encounter, from Coast Guard to Harbormaster, has been a bitter home
invasion experience, yet there have been absolutely no deficiencies, and no
citations were issued. Some cops have actually acted to push my vessel
and/or it's crew into increased danger!
> Please note that state,
> municipal, and county law enforcement as well as fish and game officers are
> often requested and empowered by the Coast Guard to enforce coast guard
> regulations, especially in areas where there is no Coast Guard presence.
I have violated no laws, rules, or regulations, have no equipment
deficiencies, yet am continuously subject to unwarranted cop attacks at any
time and place. At any moment armed military and paramilitary troops can
kick in my front door on fishing expeditions whose primary purpose seems to
be to justify their paycheck.
> I have had to pull bodies from water as a result of small boat accidents
and
> don't consider any USCG requirement or local requirements of a freon horn
or
> bailing device insignificant or silly, as you obviously do.
Again, your mind has created a self-serving falsehood. Exactly what I said
was: "But again, the best defense is to simply have no visible violations.
Watch your dinghy too, as most of the people we meet on the water could not
pass a dinghy "boarding". Beside the USCG requirements, locals sometimes
require a freon horn and bailing device."
I simply cannot find anything "insignificant or silly" in my pointing out
safety requirements required by local (city, county or state) regulations.
Astonishing.
> And as for your name calling of Coast Guard personnel, I take offense. The
> language used is immature and inappropriate for this list.
That's too damn bad! I take great offense in having my home invaded by cops
at whim with no warrant nor any indication of wrongdoing. I take great
offense in being ordered out of a harbor into a raging Northeaster. I take
great offense in being accosted by the Coast Guard while in my dinghy and
tied up to their vessel with the exhaust of an operating diesel engine
directly in my face. Were they simply stupid, or was there something evil in
that act? I take great offense in waking up to find the Provincetown MA
harbormaster and his bodyguard looming over me in my bed demanding that I
flush red dye through my toilet! The fact that the boarding was not on their
official activity log shows clearly they knew they were doing something wrong.
> Besides that, I
> am fervent supporter of the United State Coast Guard, and the comprehensive
> list of goals and accomplishments of that organization, as well as the men
> and women who risk their lives every day to make our nation and my boating
> safer.
If you love it so much why don't you spell it correctly?
> You have a right to your opinion, this right also being defended by
> the USCG
Not so. If I were to express my opinion to a Coast Guard boarding officer it
would be very likely precipitate a punitive reaction. While I have never been
so suicidal as to do so, it was a point strongly driven home in the book
"Boarded!" (A Guide To Understanding The Coast Guard Boarding) by Joe Meek, a
retired Coast Guard officer who for many years was a boarding officer.
> but I believe that most people would welcome the efforts of the
> USCG and law enforcement to keep our waterways safe,
I also welcome efforts to keep our waterways safe, but not at the expense of
becoming a police state, which you seem to prefer. They could start by
moving the entrance buoys to St. Augustine so incoming boats encounter a
least depth of 11 feet instead of 7.
Then they could attack the bad navigation lights problem. Twice I and
friends noted passing vessels in two busy harbors for an evening. In St.
Augustine 32 percent of the boats had illegal lights (mostly obscured or
missing all-around white lights) and in Gloucester, over 50 percent (includes
cop boats too). The all-around white light is not only required by law, it
is very important because it is the clearest marker of a vessel at night.
When I was a teenager and "messed about in boats", when the Coast Guard was
seen the feeling on board was: "Here comes the Calvary to the rescue!" But
nowadays, it is more likely to be: "It's the damn cops!"
However, the most serious self-indictment in your letter was the several
times that you made false statements about me.
1. You attributed a statement about donuts and donut shops to me. I made no
mention of donuts. I enclosed a quote from someone else that spoke of donuts
and donut shops.
2. You implied that I do not wish to follow rules and regulations, when in
fact I wrote strongly encouraging fellow voyagers to inspect their vessels
for complete compliance using the Coast Guard's own checklist to go by.
3. You stated that I "obviously" found a freon horn and a bailing device
"insignificant or silly" when in fact I was pointing out that these devices
are required equipment in some waters.
Lt. Webb, you sent your message containing these false statements about me to
hundreds of people on the live aboard list.
Do you know it is illegal to publish false statements about someone? Have
you ever heard of Slander?
I am confident that the people on the list know me well enough to realize
your statements are inane, but what really terrifies me is the probability
that you have been doing this all your life in the course of your career as
police officer. I wonder how many lives you have destroyed, and continue to
destroy, by your compulsion to ignore reality and believe your own bullshit.
Norm
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