Freedom Van ~ Valentine Cruising 2013
+ MORE Harassment
Yes, this 'dangerous'
CONVICTED granny with Christmas lights on her van
was BUSTED AGAIN & THREATENED
WITH ARREST because of PINK
heart shaped lights!
Headed out with Freedom Van on 2/6 for the dog
shows at the State Fairgrounds in Indianapolis, IN. I brought my 17 month
old boy, Champion
Hosanna Perfect Will (we call him Eli), to
compete in the Best of Breed classes. He finished his Championship at only
11 months old, and has
been home ever since. He's a lot of
fun, though - loves everyone, and enjoys himself. I had not been to these
shows in a couple of years. I have
gone to many dog shows, all over the USA with
Liberty Van and Freedom Van, and this is the ONLY dog show in
America where I've been
harassed because of my vans. It was so bad a couple of
years ago, my handler has refused to come back to these shows at all. She
had not
only about 6 of my dogs
entered, but also other client's dogs entered, at a cost
of about $25/dog/day - about 16 dogs/day entered for FOUR days
- do THAT
math! The IN Fairgrounds lost her motor home camping fees, and the dog
clubs have lost all her entry fees, every year since. I decided
to go this time as Indiana only last July 1 seceded from the United States of America, and
became the newest People's Republic of America
(with a statewide smoking ban).
I wanted to get new pictures of Freedom Van in front of
their statehouse, also wondered if they would still pick
on Freedom Van. They did, and I had a fun time with them. It's a bit like pulling the beards on
old goats : ).
I had put my IN Fairgrounds CAMPING PERMIT in
the front window when I arrived Thursday night.
I put my little pink cones right next to my
van. Cones are pretty much standard dog show equipment. MANY folks
use them.
Note, I was NOT 'saving' a space (which is
against the rules there). I was curtained up, and
IN my van, enjoying my AM
coffee and cigs, and satellite radio. I
was (actually not all that <G>) surprised to find
when I got OUT of my van, my cones
had DISAPPEARED.
I suspected (due to previous experience
here), so I asked one of the parking attendants, and sure enough - he saw
an IN Fairgrounds person steal my cones
--- WHILE I WAS IN the van. One
would think it should not be much trouble to tap on the window, and politely
inform me if I was breaking a rule? Or maybe
even pick them up and set them on the
windshield??? Too much trouble, I guess, easier to just steal
them???
It was time to go groom and show my dog, but
when I was done with that, I had an excuse to go park Freedom Van in
front of the Fairgrounds office.
I had to go get my cones, didn't I ??? I
figured from last time (their complaint has been that I am 'advertising' - even
though I am not selling ANYTHING
- it's an ART CAR) that their office must be
chock FULL of tack boxes, chairs, towels, cones, and who knows what all folks
leave sitting next to their
vehicles, or in the show building that
have PEDIGREE, PURINA, or whatever other logos on them? Most of
them have their kennel names
on their stuff, many have grooming, training,
and other BUSINESSES - and their logos on their stuff. What a surprise
(NOT) to find a huge EMPTY office,
with a huge BLANK
counter - adorned with NOTHING except a neat stack of my pretty pink
cones??? Sorry, no pic of that, did not want to further
antagonize these folks
by bringing my camera in there with me <G>.
Eli and I had just won his first Grand
Champion points, so it was time to celebrate by going cruising at the Indiana
Statehouse.
Next morning, I 'customized' my cones, then
lined them up again next to the van like the day before. I was working on replacing some
of the lettering on the front window,
so I was there to watch. I almost always
have contact paper and markers with me for 'quick and dirty' stuff like
this.
Pretty quick, a great big guy in one of their
little golf carts came along and told me, 'you can't have anything on the
ground'. Without a word (those who really
know me will find that hard to believe
<G>), I stacked them up, and set them on the windshield, then kept right
on working. Not ten minutes later, TWO CARS
full of about 6 or 7 GUYS pulled up.
Their leader (I did write the name, but can't find my notes at the moment)
threatened to call the sheriff on me, if I put a cone
(or anything else) on the ground again.
It had not dawned on me before, that perhaps some find a granny with pink
flowers on her van to be a bit scary???
I did attempt later that day to politely (and
in the spirit of being helpful) bring my concern about the behavior of the
Indiana Fairgrounds parking gestapo to one
of the clubs giving the show. I have
talked to MANY other folks who have had their own less
than positive experiences with them, and also others who have
quit coming to these shows due to it.
The only reason there are any shows is because the dog
CLUBS put them on. They are mostly charitable organizations,
that must at least cover expenses.
This economy has not been good for dog showing in
general. One of the first things people don't need when they are losing
a job or a house is a fancy dog.
One of the easiest things to cut back on for those
of us who can't print up our own money (as the Fed. does) is to cut
back on
RECREATION, which includes dog shows. Dog clubs HAVE been going
bankrupt. The fairgrounds is likely
supported by Indiana taxpayers - and I assume if
people don't come to these dog shows, they are
also not paying for parking or camping permits. The person I spoke to from
Central Indiana Kennel Club got
very huffy with me, told me 'You are not a
customer' (sorry, wonder why I paid so much money to park a mini-van???), and
told me 'we don't care about your entry
fees'. So, the answer to the
question is the attitude problem is with BOTH the Indiana Fairgrounds employees
(SOME of them anyway), AND at least one person
from Central Indiana Kennel Club.
Sorry to carry on so long about this, but it is
an EXCELLENT demonstration on WHY things are so much worse when left to
government. In private enterprise, the
CUSTOMER IS ALWAYS RIGHT. Private
companies (until they buy control of, and corrupt government) can not FORCE
people to do business with them.
Customers VOLUNTARILY VOTE WITH THEIR DOLLARS,
so businesses must cater to our wishes, else we can CHOOSE to spend OUR money
somewhere ELSE.
But, with government, we are NOT
customers. We get to pay and pay and pay due to the police power of
government, but we get almost NO control of what we
will get.
On Saturday, I was off to Kingwood, WV
for court (the next Monday), to appeal the $5.00 fine I got, when I drove
through there last year
with my GREEN shamrock lights on
Freedom Van. I was on my way home from the shin-dig we had at the Supreme Court about obamacare, in
Washington DC.
I would probably NEVER in my life have found
Kingwood, WV if I had not gotten the ticket for green lights in 2012. It
is about 20 miles off I-68
in NE West Virginia, in the big mountains, and
almost all the way to Maryland. It usually takes me nearly an hour to
drive that 20 miles in
my art vans, with 15 mph hairpin turns, and a
lot of pavement that is in worse shape than the dirt farm road I live on.
I love Kingwood. It reminds
me a lot of Edmonton, KY - a lot like Mayberry
<G>. Here's the page I made when I took my first trip to court
there,
a lovely Walmart (I park overnight), and I've
handed out a lot of anti-smoking ban t-shirts there, also flags (in summer), and
roses (Valentine's).
Since they have a nice little restaurant where
I can eat (in the bar), it's one of the few places in WV I'm willing to shop.
For at least the past
25 years, I have stopped overnight within about
a 1/2 hour of there, as it's about 1/2 way between me and the grandkids in VT,
also on my
way to and from Washington DC, and other north
eastern destinations. Now, I have Facebook Friends from KINGWOOD : )
It also irks me
that every time I go there, and talk to folks,
I hear more stories. Someone(s) among local law enforcement does PREY on
these people.
ANYONE who puts a little battery lighted wreath
on the grill of their car (or some such) is ALSO merely excercising a
Constitutional Right.
Unconstitutional laws are NOT laws, they are
examples of goernments become lawless, and they should NOT be enforced - at
least not
in such a way as to violate God given rights of
people. It is SHAMEFUL that some law enforcement uses this sort of thing
to plunder the people.
Sunday night, 2/10, about 5 miles out of
Kingwood, in the BLACK dark middle of nowhere, got pulled over, and busted for
my PINK valentine's
day lights. The officer threatened to
arrest me if I would not turn them off. I have in the past been willing to
agree to turn off whatever color
some state may not like just to 'go along to
get along' IF they don't give me a ticket. But, my 1st Amendment rights
ARE PRICELESS to me,
and I don't feel I should HAVE to give
them up. And, since I was already convicted in WV, they have already been
attempting to violate my rights,
and punishing me for exercising them, I would
have in a NY minute let him take me to jail! It would have been the first
time EVER. BUT I had
my Champion Afghan Hound with me, and though I
racked my brain, 400 miles from home I had no one to call to come get him.
Was NOT going
to let authorities get their hands on him, so I
unplugged the pink lights only, and for the FIRST time WV had successfully
violated my 1st amendment
rights : (((((.
This is ART, you know, and they are telling me
what COLORS I can have, with absolutely NO evidence that ANYONE ANYWHERE
has
EVER been hurt by anyone (let alone a granny)
with some Christmas type lights on their vehicle. The stoopid thing about
WV's law is that the lights
ARE ALLOWED - the ENTIRE ISSUE there is what
COLOR they are. Believe it or not, the law is worded so that no light of a
color other than white
or amber can be visible from 'directly in front
of the center of the vehicle'. Don't you think YELLOW would look just
LOVELY with PINK and RED roses,
for Valentine's??? And, in a country
where the US 'Supreme' Court has ruled that BURNING THE AMERICAN FLAG is
'protected Constitutional
freedom of speech', you are NOT going to tell
me I can't have my green shamrock lights for St. Patrick's. One of my
grandmas was a Finerty.
So, I'm going to court in Kingwood on that one
May 15th. In the entire time I've been driving all over the US with BOTH
art vans (Liberty Van always
had red, white, and blue lights all over it in
summer, and for past three years has them YEAR round), the green lights ticket
was the FIRST AND ONLY
time I'd ever been harassed in WV. It is
my favorite state to drive in, just love those mountains. I am avoiding
bringing any dogs with me near Kingwood,
and I am NOT TURNING OFF MY LIGHTS.
I am also flying my yellow don't tread on me flag when I come in and out of
there now. If they want to arrest
me for Christmas lights, ok by me.
My very REAL concern is, what is this officer going to do when he's
given an order to violate someone's
SECOND amendment rights??? If he can't ignore a clear (and TOTALLY
HARMLESS) exercise of the First Amendment, is he going to
be the one who starts a bloody civil war??? This is why I am a life
time Associate Member of Oathkeeper, www.oathkeeper.org
As a responsible citizen, I am totally
committed to being supportive, and COOPERATIVE with ALL Constitutionally proper
law
enforcement.
I also do my best NOT to allow
my rights to be trampled. Because I travel so much, and in too
many states the 2nd amendment is
gone already (what part of 'shall not be
infringed' is so hard to understand), I voluntarily forgo those rights when
traveling. I will be danged if I'll give
them
my 1st amendment
too.
Here are pics I took of my pretty pink
lights on 3/11 (next day) on my way home to KY. The appeal on green lights
got postponed (again).
Paid my respects at the nOhio Statehouse on my way home,
On February 16, I ran Freedom Van up to OUR
State Capitol, in Frankfort, KY for a little 2nd Amendment
exercise.
On Feb. 21, I took Freedom Van for a run down
to Hattiesburg, Mississippi, and back. My handler was at the dog shows
there. I brought her
two more of my dogs, and picked up three to
bring home, two of them Champions, and one our Grand Champion. You can see
all my dogs
Since there is only me, and I'm on the road
so much, my older pages may be out of date,
and may not work well with newer
hardware/software/browsers. Most of the older stuff
was done with IE. I do not have the
resources to test everything with everything, so
to serve the priority of getting info up, I
am shifting to much more simple methods,
which SHOULD work with just about
anything. It may not be as 'pretty' as I could do
it,
but given my time constraints, it's the
best I can do.
Being on the road as much as I have been
would probably be impossible, but 27 years
ago God blessed me with the most wonderful
husband, John Farley. He's a 'home body',
hates to go anywhere, but he agrees with me
about EVERY WORD I put on those vans,
and he supports my every effort. He
fixes my lights on the vans, and helps me with
technical support at home. We met
when we shared an office at IBM - he's an engineer
(retired). He holds the fort down
here, caring for kids, grandkids, and of course the dogs.
Some of the kids help me from time to time
with the vans, mostly with deconstruction,
when changing them from one season to
another. I pay them for their work, they are
not slave labor. My 6 kids range
in age from 43-18, and they are ALL AWESOME.
Only Michael, the youngest, is still at
home, and he will be starting boot camp to
become a Marine in
May.
"Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be
able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we wrestle not
against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers,
against the rulers of the darkness of
this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. Wherefore
take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the
evil day,
and having done all, to stand." Ephesians 6:11-13
I have pledged my life, my treasure, and my
sacred honor to the service of God and my country.
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