Comments on: Libertarian Road Show Crew Arrested (Updates)

By: MHD Lawyer, Tom Schornhorst, on our “very interesting day” in Jones County Court | Liberty On The Rocks Denver

Mon, 14 Sep 2009 06:59:54 +0000

[...] Department. Professor Schornhorst first heard about us on Radley Balko’s site, the Agitator, and has generously donated his time to defend us. He [...]

By: MHD Lawyer, Tom Schornhorst, on our “very interesting day” in Jones County Court | the Motorhome Diaries

Mon, 14 Sep 2009 06:12:18 +0000

[...] Department. Professor Schornhorst first heard about us on Radley Balko’s site, the Agitator, and has generously donated his time to defend us. He writes: I was in the Jones County Justice [...]

By: something in Latin

something in Latin — Fri, 15 May 2009 21:27:17 +0000

There’s all kinds of things that can get you pulled over and harassed. I frequently catch shit when driving through small towns, because, a few months out of the year, I have a certain decal that raises the ire of local cops. The decal? Indicates my employment as a fishing guide.

They think I’m scouting.

Small town cops don’t worry about pulling over people from out-of-town (which, if you’re not from a small town, is easy to tell on even in-state plates – because every license plate registered in the county shares a prefix). Good luck fighting a ticket. I’ve received speeding tickets twice where the cop informed me that I could ‘pay it now’. Oddly, I never received any paperwork in the mail.

The only defense? Get your iPod off that live Phish album, for fuck’s sake, and put on something classic rock or talk radio. If you have a drawl you can use, all the better.

By: haven

haven — Fri, 15 May 2009 20:52:47 +0000

“Two black cops in rural Mississippi violate the civil rights of three white guys.”

You jump pretty quickly to this conclusion with no real proof as far as I can tell. Not that this won’t be proven to be true, but you seem pretty quick to dismiss due process when it is convient for you.

By: Windy

Windy — Fri, 15 May 2009 18:43:55 +0000

Perhaps everyone who reads about these kinds of incidents, in ANY state, should write to that state’s tourist bureau and let them know what kind of damage such incidents are causing to tourism to their state. My husband reently retired and we had plans to visit everey state in the union, now we’ve taken a few off that list, and MS is the latest. I, for one, WILL be writing to MS tourism bureau and letting them now this and why. I’ve already written to TX after hearing about the theft by cops happening there to travelers.

By: Dana Gower

Dana Gower — Fri, 15 May 2009 18:23:20 +0000

This is probably more information than anyone wants, but the exemption for transporting beer through a dry county applies only to licensed distributors in marked trucks. There is also a possible exemption by getting written permission in advance for something like “unique and extraordinary” cases. Saying that you’re just passing through won’t help you.

By: Butch

Butch — Fri, 15 May 2009 17:12:17 +0000

I live in MS, about 20 miles from Jones County. I’m also very involved with a grassroots movement to reform some of our more absurd alcohol laws such as the 5% limit on permissible alcohol in beer (www.raiseyourpints.com). A couple of points:

1. Dry counties are dry. It is illegal to posses anything defined as a “alcoholic beverage” in the county, period. Technically, they could arrest your having a single beer in your fridge.

2. There is a special exception to this law that allows you to posses alcohol in your vehicle if you purchased it in a wet county and are on your way to another wet county. They had to allow this in order for the beer distributors to use the interstates.

By: chris

chris — Fri, 15 May 2009 15:16:43 +0000

I live in Arkansas, which is bad enough, but I know to stay out of Mississippi.

By: Henry Bowman

Henry Bowman — Fri, 15 May 2009 14:39:29 +0000

I wonder what firearms charge is being brought against them. In Mississippi, it is legal to carry a loaded firearm in a vehicle either concealed or open. I assume all these guys are 21 or older, but perhaps that’s not correct.

Truly, though, you can get stopped in Mississippi (or most other states, for that matter) just ‘because’. The cops can always make up some story, and will quickly do so if needed.

By: SJE

SJE — Fri, 15 May 2009 14:21:08 +0000

Were they on an interstate? If so, can they really be arrested for possession of alcohol. The are limitations on local rules as applied to people on interstate highways.

By: ManM

ManM — Fri, 15 May 2009 13:44:30 +0000

What I don’t get is this:

Mississippi seceded once.

Why the hell did we take them back?

By: Mike T

Mike T — Fri, 15 May 2009 13:01:09 +0000

MORE III: Just noticed from the photo Jason Talley snapped during the first arrest that both the cops are black. Weird. Two black cops in rural Mississippi violate the civil rights of three white guys. There’s some perverse, post-racial symbolism there, no? You’d sure as hell have never seen a photo like that in the 1950s.

We've now reach true racial equality.

By: Our Morning Roundup: ‘If you’re on the wrong side of the badge, your rights don’t matter’ - City Desk - Washington City Paper

Fri, 15 May 2009 12:40:31 +0000

[...] with Jason Talley and Adam Mueller, after two cops decided that filming a traffic stop was illegal. The Agitator’s Radley Balko has more: “Passenger Adam Mueller attempted to videotape the traffic stop, and was arrested for doing [...]

By: Dave Krueger

Dave Krueger — Fri, 15 May 2009 12:18:09 +0000

Mississippi is kind of like the bad side of town on a national scale.

By: Tokin42

Tokin42 — Fri, 15 May 2009 10:49:42 +0000

Seems they’ve been released:

http://twitter.com/allisonzayne

I’m still wondering why they were pulled over and why the search of their vehicle.

By: kyle

kyle — Fri, 15 May 2009 06:11:05 +0000

Hmm, had multiple issues in cobb and chatham county georgia just passing through, and its nothing “no sir” and “yes sir” didn’t get me out of. Rebel flag sticker on their bumper and my yankee MN plates on my vehicle was a bad combination. Never had the urge to smart off about wishing sherman had made it all the way to the atlantic. But i had learned in time not to push people that call me “Boy.” Something about beating the rap but not beating the ride. And on top of that i had better things to do with my time. But that was long before one could say blog/tweating/RVing was a respectable profession (as in middle 1990s). Not to mock potential trust fund babies, but :) i am. Hope they have the resources to make a long term change in the socioeconomic system, with the help of modern communication tools. But they need a good catchphrase.

By: Tim C

Tim C — Fri, 15 May 2009 04:15:48 +0000

22 DNA – yep, good points.

23/24 Seamus/Ben – Heh (not), Robin Williams on getting pulled over south of the “Manson-Nixon Line” – “BMW – you Jewish?”

By: Cappy

Cappy — Fri, 15 May 2009 02:52:14 +0000

Years ago when I was in the Army we went to visit my wife’s grandmother in Lousyanna. On the return trip we went through Alabama and was promptly pulled over by a trooper (I-10 if memory serves me correctly). Now 10 miles back I had observed a canine doing a search on a vehicle. Trooper told us that we were going 80 in a 65 or 70 (been 15 years folks) and with the wife driving and her lead foot that was highly probable. After showing him our military ID, told him wear we had come from and showing him our leave papers, he issued a warning then he went into the spiel about how this interstate is known for drug trafficking and he wanted to have our permission to search the vehicle. Told him this, “Sir, now I know about 10 miles back there is a dog that was searching a vehicle. Now, I don’t want you going through our personal possessions, but if you want to bring that dog up to do a search, by all means.” He let us go.

By: David

David — Fri, 15 May 2009 02:44:39 +0000

It seems that nobody has figured out yet what they were actually pulled over for initially.

Anyway, I hope the MHD guys get out soon. Good luck!

By: LibertyTiger

LibertyTiger — Fri, 15 May 2009 02:34:37 +0000

Radley, the arrested videographer you mentioned in your morning links blogs at the http://freekeene.com website you’re linking to. They’re all members of the Free State Project and have moved to Keene, NH.