This WAS the news coverage of
the first arrest. I had NEVER in my life been arrested for ANYTHING.
I don't even litter - not even cigarette buts.
New page posted
5/17/13 Grandma ARRESTED in Kingwood, WV (Preston County) for 'Christmas's
lights on mini-van Channel 13 CBS News, Charleston, WV
There was a minute and a half of news coverage the day after my first
arrest in Kingwood, WV (Preston County) for 'Christmas's lights on mini-van, it
was on Channel 13 CBS News, Charleston, WV, on 5/16/13.
Unfortunately,
they seem to have taken it down from their website, it is no longer
available. The reporter did a GREAT job.
Here is what I got this original ticket for, Valentine 2013
So, I am updating this on 9/23/13,
to add the story of my FIRST arrest in Kingwood. The news story had told
it very well. I went to
court on May 15, 2013 for the
ticket for pink
'Christmas' type lights I had on Freedom Van, when I had it done up for
Valentine's Day.
It was the arraignment, where I
plead 'not guilty', and where they had before let me
go on my own recognizance
(prior ticket for
green
lights the year before). I had
at this point in time a history of MORE THAN A YEAR
of showing
up EVERY single time for
EVERY court
date, and ON TIME, even though I
live almost 500 miles from there. But, this time, Magistrate
Jenkins expected
me to STATE that
I would
GIVE UP MY FREEDOM
OF SPEECH, and NOT drive with lights on my award winning ART car at
night. I did NOT so state, next
thing I knew, the officer (Mitter, who gave me the ticket for the pink
lights, and had threatened to arrest me at that time) had his
hands
on me, and hustled me out of the courtroom, and across
the way to the
jail. He had me sit, and take my boot off, so he could shackle my leg
to a sort of cot or bench. My
attorney had followed us, and witnessed this. I had to call my bank and
check my balance there, so I could
write a check for $2,500 for
bail. They would not allow me to use my cell phone, I had to use their
jail phone, which the officer was listening
in on, when I talked to my
bank. Fortunately, my attorney was able and willing to go cash my check
for me, as I understood they were
going to
keep me there (and
transport me to the REGIONAL jail - wherever THAT is!) until I had CASH, or
until my NEXT HEARING DATE,
June 18, MORE THAN A MONTH
AWAY. I have
had this in my folder
for a few months now, not
sure why I forgot to post this last time, here
is the JAIL COMMITMENT ORDER, signed
by Magistrate Jenkins, and officer Mitter,
I sat there for probably
an hour,
in the shackle,
while my attorney went
and cashed my check. This was my FIRST EVER
experience
of this sort, and I was in a bit of
a state of shock. But, also, I
was amazed to find, my heart and mind were quiet - I could almost physically
feel Jesus' arms around me
there. The instant the shackle had touched me, I'd automatically begun reciting The Lord's Prayer
(in my mind),
and had kept that going except while
working on
getting a check
written. It did not
matter what they did to me. My spirit was NOT touched
by that metal thing on my leg!
Will also say, I am a dog breeder, and I have NEVER chained a dog in such a
manner. Interesting, I found I did
not want or need a smoke.
Jesus took care of that too. Finally, the officer came back, and my
attorney; he had posted my bond. They took
me back to the courtroom, and this
time, I still did not say I would not drive with lights, said I'd try to get out
of WV before dark, so they let
me go.
It was early enough for me to get
out of the state by dark, even though it was over 200 miles to the state
line. I had to take I-68 out to I-79,
then my favorite run down 79 from
Morgantown to Charleston, then I-64 to KY. But, it was quite a warm
afternoon, and about 1/2 way down
I-79, I got very sleepy, so had to
pull off in a rest area for a nap. By the time I awoke, it was early
evening. By the time I was coming into
Charleston, it was near dark, so I
pulled off at the exit to the Statehouse, and pulled into a convenience store
and gas station about a block
from the Statehouse. I sat
there for awhile, thinking about whether or not I should put my lights on.
I had still NEVER been harassed
ANYWHERE else in the entire state of
WV EXCEPT Preston County, and I was a good 140 miles from there.
but, given my so recent experience, I could actually still FEEL that shackle, and not
sure if I got stopped I would get arrested again for
violating my bond 'conditions', I did
give it some serious thought. I thought about HOW MUCH my LIBERTY is worth to me. I realized that
whatever the price for my FREEDOM OF SPEECH, I am willing to pay it! And, those vans are my ART - my heart and soul is in them.
While I was thinking, I was handing
out flyers, and chatting with folks
who stopped to admire the van, take pics, and ask questions. My vans are
like little rock stars, they almost
always get attention. I was
telling some about being arrested that morning for a ticket for pink lights; you
should have seen the jaws dropping,
the eyebrows going UP, and a few
just cracking up LAUGHING - not at me, but with me <G>. One nice
looking young man said he worked at
CH 13, so I gave him my card.
Then I turned on EVERY light I had (the 17 solar lights I had on the roof at
that time had all come on by themselves,
anyway),
and went over to the
Statehouse and took a few pics. BTW, I've been wondering ever since what
in the name of dog WV does to
actual
CRIMINALS???
I cruised Charleston a bit, then
headed toward KY, and parked overnight at the Walmart in Hurricane, WV. In
the morning, I got a call from the news guy, they wanted to do a
story!
He told me where in Charleston to
come, and I headed back there. A lovely lady named Alana did the
story. She LOVED the van, I could tell by the way her eyes lit up.
She
wanted to go for a ride in it, so I
cleared out the front seat for her, and we went cruising downtown Charleston,
and over to the Statehouse while she did the story. It's a
shame
the link to it no longer works, she
did a really great job. It came out to a minute and 37 seconds, and was on
the 6:00 PM Channel 13 news.
POSTED 5/21/13, I am on my
way back to Kingwood, WV: CLICK HERE - LATEST FROM THE COURT , and
Click here for MY RESPONSE . I have
put some more of my thoughts about all this on my Facebook page over the past
few days as well. If you don't hear from me for awhile, you will know why.
May 27, 2013 Well, folks, I am unexpectedly home again for
only a day. Got in at about 1:30 am, and tomorrow AM I will be able to attend my
youngest son, Michael's, induction into the Marines. He's leaving
for boot camp. They DID arrest me again in Kingwood, Thurs. eve (May 23),
but did not get to keep me as
long as I thought they might. I have been writing about that one in longhand, in
bits as I traveled home, and if ...
I can finish it
tonight, will try to at least scan the handwritten version and post it at
www.liberty van .com
before I leave tomorrow, as the whole
experience
was very interesting. Here is why I was pretty
sure they would arrest me, and why I decided to accept that if necessary, in
case
you didn't go
to libertyvan.com to these links, here is what I
posted there BEFORE I left for Kingwood this time,
Wed afternoon,
5/22, I went to court for a bond hearing in Kingwood, where my atty did succeed
in getting my bond reduced from $2,500 to $500.
Mind, this is
for a traffic ticket for having PINK lights on Freedom Van. I REFUSE to allow
them to shut me down, so cruised there with lights on
both Wed AND
Thurs night. Thurs afternoon, had a conversation with several 9 and 10 year old
kids. They were asking questions, so I explained
a bit of it to them (why I was there in Kingwood). I am not
meaning to disparage any handicapped people here, I am quoting a TEN year old
girl
- but her comment has been bringing a big smile to my face
ever since, even had me chuckling out loud about 10 hours later, while sitting
in a
regional jail (about 80 miles from Kingwood), in my sock feet
(they took away my boots), and in handcuffs, and wondering if the strip search
and
orange pajamas were next. She said to me, 'that's retarded!'. The
nine year old boy said, 'it's stupid!'. God bless them, out of the mouths of
babes.
THEY 'get it'! Shortly after I was laughing about this girl, they
brought my boots, told me to put them on. I asked where I was going, she said,
home.
Seems the regional jail people had sense enough to check and find
out I had not actually committed ANY kind of jailable offense. Seems that they
actually DO NOT have the right to arrest people for minor traffic
infractions, where there is only a FINE, and not any jail as a possible penalty.
So,
rode 80 miles back to Kingwood, where the officer dumped me in
front of Wal-Mart with nothing but my purse, at 4:30 am, in a freezing drizzle.
Freedom Van was still in the impound, and I was still almost 500
miles from home, I had to survive there for several hours till my atty got my
van out
(and I had to pay $95 for it). Now, atty and I are working on
figuring out exactly WHO to sue, and for how much. From the stories I've heard
in Kingwood
over past year, the officer who arrested me the first time is
already being sued by several - I will have to get in line. And, coincidence -
found out the
lady officer who arrested me the 2nd time is his
WIFE.
Really appreciate all the prayers. Below, I am going to
just put scans of my handwritten notes. I have to leave again
this evening (5/28) for court in
someone somewhere may need this (I have no idea who), also for
those who may have wondered just what is going on in a head & heart like
mine,
I have poured it out. Have carried this notebook around
with me for several days now, the Lord will not let me pay attention to anything
else. Somehow,
this has turned out to be one of the most
spiritually liberating experiences I've had. Sorry,
spelling is not my forte, maybe some kind
person who has
time might put it into a decent email or
Word file, clean it up, and when I get home again
I'll find time to replace this. I for some reason have a strong
burden to put it out there anyway. I
am leaving in just a bit for PA, and Carlisle. I do not
have an attorney there to assist me, and will be more than
800 miles from home.
There are also a couple of pics from this trip, plus a couple of
me and my son, now a Marine.
Cost me $95 to get Freedom Van out of
the impound, but at least it didn't look like they did anything to
it.
JOY to be on the road again, DID stick
around another day or so, and NEVER turning off lights in Preston County, WV
again,
DAY OR night. Not sure how that
will go, as I still have more court dates there.
Did some wonderful Memorial weekend
cruising on the way home, in Columbus, OH, on Sat. evening, and Louisville on
Sun.
And I'm ON THE ROAD AGAIN
DISCLAIMERS: 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 God Given Rights to be
trampled.
NO one is paying me anything to do
anything. I'm a 'ticked off' grandma from Kentucky.
It doesn't get ANY more 'grassroots' than
that. All my projects are 100% PRIVATELY funded.
They are also about 99.9% PERSONALLY
funded. Since I am not actually 'rich', I may end
up a bag lady. I am doing what I
am CALLED to do, and using EVERY inspiration,
talent, and resource God has blessed me with. It all belongs to Him,
anyway.
Liberty Van and Freedom Van are my Hosanna
Afghan Hounds dog show mobiles.
The dogs are not a 'business', but a very
expensive HOBBY. We have finished,
or produced (so far) 22 AKC Champions, and
a Grand Champion.
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,
2013.
"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.
Devotion - title song performed by The Newsboys,
from the Devotion CD
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