|
|
|
|
|||||
|
||||||
From: Norm of Bandersnatch (no email)
Date: Sun Aug 13 2006 - 14:00:45 EDT
i wish to thank everyone for the overwhelming support i received during my
recent incident with the st augustine policeman officer etheridge.
everyone understood the situation perfectly and many of you encouraged me
to go further but i am going to let the matter drop, for several reasons.
i am reluctant to take this issue any further with the officials of st
augustine partly out of fear of retaliation. cops can be very subtle in
this. they know the laws and the workings of the 'justice' system. some
have been known to carry 'throw away' weapons to place on their victims
bodies after they kill them. they are not reluctant to lie and present
false evidence. a good example is the commonly used excuse to stop a car
for a fishing expedition using the 'intermittent brake light' ploy. it has
happened to friends, family and myself.
jan and i were driving home on a dark country road several years ago when
we were stopped by a st john's county cop. he said our right hand brake
light was intermittent. in fact the entire light fixture was brand new
having been installed three days before by a body shop repairing damage to
jan's mercedes caused by a neighbor sideswiping her car while it was
parked. we could not reproduce the problem. the cop could have written
the 'violation' up as a fix-and-have-it-signed-off-by-a-cop no-fine ticket
but choose instead to write it up as a $65 fine. this cop not only
committed perjury, but also the sin of 'bearing false witness against thy
neighbor'. after a lifetime of such experiences it is hard for me to
imagine a 'good cop' but i am sure there must be some out there.
cops can and do literally get away with murder. i don't want to be another
of their victims.
i also do not want the vile emotions dealing with cops and courts bring
into my life. the old saying 'lie down with dogs, wake up with fleas'
applies here. the less i have to do with cops and courts the happier i am.
i do understand that it is the responsibility of good citizens to stand up
for what is right because nobody else will. but it was enough for me to
prevail in this case, perhaps that in itself will encourage officer
etheridge to be a more moral cop. i have no desire to punish him, only to
set things right.
i thought the cases in the court i went to were handled justly.
most of the defendants did not show up and the judge ruled against them
plus court costs.
some were obviously good charges, going 19 mph on the 10 mph st augustine
beach for example. this is almost twice the legal limit. on the beach
there is a mix of people strolling and lying on the sand with many children
playing along with moving motor vehicles. 10 mph strictly enforced is a
good thing. two young women were killed last year while lying on the sand.
another case involved a car on the beach driving on the wrong side of some
traffic cones, which i presume were there to provide a no-vehicle area for
beach goers, and going the wrong direction [all traffic is one-way to
reduce the vehicle footprint]. the whole issue of cars on the beach is
like driving cars through a playground. it is a potentially extremely
dangerous situation but the people of st augustine really want it so it has
to be policed very strictly to keep the carnage down.
one interesting case involved a young man who was new to the area with a
drink on St Augustine beach where it is illegal. he claimed there was no
sign entering the beach and the beaches he was familiar with allowed
drinks. at the time of the citation the cop checked and there was no sign.
turned out the beach management people had removed it for some
modifications. the case was dismissed. why the cop just didn't cancel the
citation i don't know. maybe he couldn't once it was written up.
one old widow lady had been stuck in soft sand when a bunch of people got
her out and urged her to 'keep going, keep going...'. that's when the cop
jumped her and fined her for 25 mph. he said repeatedly that he didn't
like her 'attitude'. the woman was very vocal and emotional on the stand.
the judge said she would take the case under advisement and make a judgment
later.
'respect' seems to be the greatest of cop desires. they will attack you
fiercely if you don't have a submissive attitude, just like the cop that
stopped me in the dinghy wanted me to be grateful he didn't write me up for
not having a fire extinguisher and when i wasn't he sought to punish me.
enforcing the law is their bread and butter and in many cases reasonable
and proper, but they really try to get 'respect' by punishing you if you
are not submissive. what they really get is a contrived show generated by
fear and loathing. i don't think they have a clue about real respect,
probably don't even know what that is, settling instead for that fake
veneer of false 'respect' people use in response to threats of violence and
injury.
i have publicized this incident for the purpose of showing other people who
are following in my wake what they may have to deal with. forewarned is
forearmed.
i have found the best way to deal with water cops is to have your vessel
absolutely properly equipped and properly operated [i did buy a fire
extinguisher for the dingy - never know, may be able to help someone with
it some day], be polite, taciturn, and reserved with cops [colin powell
once said that postponement of emotions was an essential skill he had
learned], have a witness on your side, and record all the facts, including
the cop's name, as quickly as practical.
Norm
S/V Bandersnatch
Lying 30 07.7N 081 39.6W
Julington Creek Estuary FL
p.s - i noticed several respondants included my entire outgoing message in
their replies. i would like to remind folks that it is a good thing to
include only enough of the original message to remind folks of what the
thread is about. as the great proffesor strunk once said, 'omit useless
words'.
___________________________________________________________________________
|| The Live-Aboard List : send a "subscribe" or "unsubscribe" request ||
|| in body of message to: ||
|