Citizen
Reporter
Rated
FFF (Faith, Family, Freedom)
July
2003
E-mail mainecr@mainmediaresouces.com
Citizen
Reporter, ©2003David Deschesne, All Rights Reserved
c/o
P.O. Box 1310 Presque Isle, Maine [04769]
- Does the City of
Presque Isle Obey Maine State Law?
- Pennsylvania Town
Bans Horses for the Amish
- How to Preven a
Mosquito Bite
- Supreme Court
Rules Tomatoes are a Vegetable, Not a Fruit
- Barber Gets
"Clipped" While on Smoke Break
- Police Officer's
Gun Goes off During High School Drill
Does the City of
Presque Isle Obey Maine State Law?
City Manager, Tom
Stevens, says, "...I don't understand the question."
By: David
Deschesne
Many
believe that the law applies equally to everyone - including the government. To
test this theory I wrote to Presque Isle City Manger, Tom Stevens and asked him
if the City of Presque Isle abided by Title 11 of the Maine Revised Statutes -
the Uniform Commercial Code - in all of its commercial transactions. He replied,
"The question you pose is very broad, for Title 11 encompasses two complete
law books and covers 10 different articles of the Code. Thus, I am unable to
answer your question. If you can be more specific, I will attempt to answer any
questions you might have about City practices." After about a year of
study, I re-stated my question to Mr. Stevens. I asked him if the city of
Presque Isle obeys Maine State Law as codified in Title 11, Chapter 3-a, Section
1603 as it relates to the City’s commercial transactions? I believed that was
the specificity he required in order to answer. He again responded, "I do
not understand the questions posed in your letter. If you could be more
specific, I will attempt to answer."
The Uniform Commercial Code
is the law which governs all commercial and financial transactions. All
corporations which do business in Maine are bound to obey the laws contained in
Title 11 when they contract or trade with commercial paper. Since the City of
Presque Isle (as with virtually every other municipality in the state) is
incorporated, and provides a product or service which taxpayers are required to
pay for (police, fire, school, etc.) they must also follow this law.
The particular section about
which I queried Mr. Stevens is very interesting. Paraphrased, it basically says
that if a payment is attempted on a debt, and the payment is refused, the debt
is discharged and not owed anymore. With the passage of House Joint Resolution
192, June 9, 1933, the United States’ public policy abolished the use of gold
or silver as legal tender and substituted notes - as described in the UCC. Since
banks trade promissory notes as money on a daily basis, I was curious if we, the
taxpayers, could discharge our debts with promissory notes (to be paid in the
future with more promissory notes) since that is exactly what the government
does every single day.
If the City of Presque Isle
were to acknowledge obedience to 11MRS Ch. 3-a, §1603 then when a Certified
Promissory note is tendered for payment of the debt (tax payment) and refused by
the city, the debt should be discharged. The same way if a restaurant refuses to
accept your $100 bill because they can’t make change, the debt is discharged -
you owe them nothing.
A follow-up E-mail to State
Representative Jeremy Fischer helped to shed a little more light on the topic.
When I presented the above situation to him, he responded more intelligently by
stating, "I contacted the Maine Municipal Association’s legal department
in regards to your question about the UCC and municipalities (this is what Tom
should have done for you...) After two days research, they concluded that the
UCC would govern some transactions where the city could be considered as
transacting business. The answer is probably a lot more complex than this, but
on the surface of the UCC, there is no exemption for municipalities."
The Maine Criminal Code also
appears to clarify the City’s standing as it pertains to obeying State Law. In
Title 17-A, Chapter 3, Sec. 60, it states,
1. An organization is guilty
of a crime when:
A. It omits to discharge a
specific duty of affirmative performance imposed on it by law, and the omission
is prohibited by this code or by a statute defining a criminal offense outside
this code.
Section 2 of the Criminal
Code defines an organization as: "a corporation, partnership or
unincorporated association." The City of Presque Isle certainly is a
corporation so they, therefore appear to be held to the same standards in law as
the rest of Maine’s inhabitants.
Pennsylvania Town Bans Horses for the
Amish
By: Tom Gibb,
Post-Gazette Staff Writer
ZION, PA. -- Twenty-five
minutes after Daniel and Katie Ann King drove their horse-drawn buggy through
the rain to the Walker Township Municipal Building last night, the husband and
wife were back in the rain, driving home.
It took five minutes for the
township supervisors to close their case: no speeches, no debate, just a
unanimous vote affirming a zoning code that dictates that the Amish -- and
anybody else in this Centre County township’s more populated areas -- can’t
keep a horse on their lot. "That’s it," township Solicitor David
Consiglo said after the vote. Or maybe not.
James Bryant, local attorney
for the Amish who labeled last night’s decision "bigotry and
stupidity," said the issue isn’t about zoning, it’s about religious
choice.
Bryant promised last night
to take his clients to the county Common Pleas Court for starters, and maybe on
to federal court. "We’re not supposed to go to sue anybody," said
Daniel King, a 26-year-old carpenter who touched off the dispute last year when
he moved onto his 0.8-acre lot, parked his plain black buggy and put up his
horse in a backyard shed. "We’re not supposed to go to court unless we
have to." "All I can say is I need a horse," said Katie Ann King,
for whom the buggy is a common form of transit. "I can’t do without a
buggy."
Keep the horse without the
blessings of township code, though, and the fine will be $100 a day, District
Justice Daniel Hoffman, of nearby Bellefonte, ruled last week.
Facing that, Daniel King
said, he’ll probably sell his land and find another Amish enclave.
This started as a zoning
dispute -- the Kings and Amish neighbor Daniel Beiler keeping a horse apiece on
their lots in tiny Nittany, a Walker Township village 30 miles northeast of
State College. The area is zoned multifamily residential, a designation that
bars horses and did when Beiler and the Kings moved in.
"You know how much
manure a horse produces a day? Forty-five pounds," Supervisor James Heckman
said after the vote. "In 365 days, that’s over 8 tons."
As an alternative to a ban,
Bryant suggested the adoption of a township-wide rule that would let anyone with
fewer than two acres of land keep a horse, provided the stable was set back from
neighbors’ property and that manure removal was done routinely.
Experts say the
horse-and-buggy is central to what the Amish see as a biblically-based mandate
to keep the mainstream world at arm’s length. The horse ban, though, bars the
Amish from 73 percent of the parcels of land in Walker Township, while many of
the remaining parcels are too big and expensive for the austere-living Amish,
Bryant said.
"They’re effectively
running them out of town," he said. "Boarding their horse elsewhere
would mean a mile walk to fetch it every time he wanted to use it," Daniel
King said.
"And I haven’t even
talked to the fellow who owns that property about whether he’d let me,"
he said.
How to Prevent a Mosquito Bite
From: www.mercola.com
While there are many ways to
deter mosquitoes from biting you, some are more toxic than others. The following
suggestions give you easy ways to repel these pests: Use Bounce Fabric Softener
Sheets--just wipe on and go. This is great for babies. Supplement with one
vitamin B-1 tablet a day from April through October. Add 100 mg of B-1 to a
B-100 Complex daily during the mosquito season. Don't eat bananas during
mosquito season--mosquitoes love bananas! There is something about how your body
processes the banana oil that attracts these female sugar-loving insects. One of
the best natural insect repellents is Vick's Vaporub®. Planting marigolds
around your yard works great as a bug repellent because the flowers give off a
fragrance bugs do not like. Campers agree that the very best mosquito repellent
is Avon Skin-So-Soft® bath oil mixed half and half with rubbing alcohol. One of
the best natural insect repellents we use in Texas is made from the clear liquid
vanilla that is sold in Mexico. It is reported to work great for mosquitoes and
ticks, and spreading a little vanilla mixed with olive oil on your skin smells
great.
Citronella soap is a product
that started in the Bahamas and Belize. The soaps are made with olive oil for
moisture and great lather, Aloe Vera to soothe the skin, and citronella oil to
repel mosquitoes. For high intensity protection you can burn citronella incense.
Mosquitoes avoid citronella and they hate the smoke. Citronella essential oil
(Java Citronella) is considered to be the highest quality citronella on the
market. The best quality is steam distilled from the grass giving it a fresh,
sweet woody aroma. It blends well with geranium, cedar wood and other citrus
oils. It is 100 percent pure essential oil--no additives, no dilutants, no
adulteration, just safe mosquito repellent. Electronic repellents utilize one to
two sound frequencies to simulate dragonflies and other male mosquitoes,
creating a competitive environment for the blood-sucking female. These devices
come with Velcro bands for wearing on your wrist or ankle, or on your pocket or
belt. This makes for a versatile, compact unit that you can take anywhere. Some
units even have a built-in red flashlight for nighttime use. Traditional
repellents are the concentrated chemical solutions such as DEET®, Cutter® or
Backwoods OFF®. Each application lasts four to six hours. If chemical
repellents are necessary, protect your eyes and nose from absorbing ambient
spray, protect small children, and bathe as soon as possible to remove toxic
residues. When all else fails--get a frog!
Twenty years ago McDonalds
would cook the burgers, line them up in a warming rack and wait for the
customers to come in and buy them.
Today, they line the
customers up and make them wait for the burgers. And we’ve been taught to call
that "customer service!"
from: www.internationalANSWER.org
The true intention of the US
government is to recolonize Iraq. Prior to the 1960s, US corporations made 50
percent of their foreign profits from investments in oil from this region. The
Bush administration wants Iraq to denationalize its oil wealth - 10% of the
world’s supply. This war is an attempt to reconquer Iraq and all of its
natural resources. The Bush administration wants to reshuffle the deck in the
Middle East and undo all of the achievements of the national liberation
movements from the last 60 years.
Iraq was never a threat to
the US According to UN weapons inspectors, after the Gulf War of 1991, 80% of
Iraq’s weaponry and 90% of its military capabilities were destroyed. Due to
economic sanctions, Iraq never had the opportunity to rebuild.
A war nobody wants is
costing taxpayers in the US $50 billion per year.
Supreme Court Rules Tomatoes Are a
Vegetable, Not a Fruit
Justices turn scientific
fact on its head!
"Botanically speaking,
tomatoes are the fruit of a vine, just as are cucumbers, squashes, beans and
peas. But in the common language of the people, whether sellers or consumers of
provisions, all these are vegetables, which are grown in kitchen gardens, and
which, whether eaten cooked or raw, are, like potatoes, carrots, parsnips,
turnips, beets, cauliflower, cabbage, celery and lettuce, usually served at
dinner in, with, or after the soup, fish or meats which constitute the principal
part of the repast, and not, like fruits generally, as desert." Nix v.
Hedden (149 U.S. 305)
This case arose from a taxation suit where
under the 1883 tariff act, fruits could be imported duty free. As in most cases
which will benefit the federal government financially, the Supreme Court did its
duty, ignored facts, and ruled in favor of the entity which pays their salary.
Kerry "made his
Bones" in secret club - like Bush
www2.bostonherald.com
By Andrew Miga Thursday,
May 15, 2003
WASHINGTON - Sen. John F. Kerry expounds on many issues in his presidential
campaign, but he's completely silent on one topic: his membership in Skull and
Bones, Yale's infamous secret society. ``John Kerry has absolutely nothing to
say on that subject. Sorry,'' said Kerry spokeswoman Kelley Benander. Kerry is a
respected senator and a decorated Vietnam War combat veteran, but 36 years after
he was initiated into what has been called the ``ultimate old boy network,''
he's wary of breaking the ultra-exclusive club's strict secrecy code. There's
also another high-profile member of the club: President Bush. Bonesmen already
are buzzing over the prospect of the first Bones vs. Bones presidential race
should Kerry win his party's nomination and face Bush in 2004. ``Bones don't
care who wins,'' said author Alexandra Robbins, whose book ``Secrets of the
Tomb'' pierced the secrecy shrouding the 171-year-old society. ``If Kerry wins,
it's still a Bones presidency.'' Robbins calls the group ``probably the most
secretive and successful club in America,'' and adds, ``It's also pretty
bizarre.'' Every year, 15 Yale juniors are tapped for the club, which holds
meetings twice a week in a crypt-like building known as the ``Tomb.'' Robbins
described the interior, replete with skulls and skeletons, as a cross between
the ``Addams Family'' and a slightly shabby English men's club. There are
bizarre initiation rites, including a ceremony where new members must spend an
evening before a roaring fire in the Tomb recounting details of their sexual
history to fellow members. Kerry was tapped for the club in 1968, two years
after Bush, whose father and grandfather were also Bonesmen. Kerry's
brother-in-law from his first marriage, David Thorne, was Bones. So was the late
husband of Kerry's current wife, Teresa Heinz Kerry. The Bones alumni roster is
flush with CIA officials, business moguls, congressmen and Supreme Court
justices. The club owns a secluded 40-acre island retreat on the St. Lawrence
River.
Military uses unscrambled
commercial satellite for spy plane transmissions
By: Duncan Campbell
For more than six months
live pictures from manned spy aircraft and drones have been broadcast through a
satellite over Brazil. The satellite, Telstar 11, is a commercial TV relay. the
US spyplane broadcasts were not encrypted, meaning than anyone in North or South
America with a normal, C-band (older style, 10 foot dish) satellite TV receiver
can watch surveillance operations as they happened.
The satellite feeds have
also been connected to the Internet, potentially allowing the missions to be
watched from around the globe.
Viewers who tuned in to the
unintended attraction in June, 2002 could watch a sudden security alert around
the US Army’s Kosovan headquarters, Camp Bondsteel in Urosevac. The camp was
visited last summer by President Bush and his defense secretary, Donald Rumsfeld.
A week earlier, the spyplane
had provided airborne cover for a heavily protected patrol of the Macedonian-Kosovan
border, near Skopje.
A group of apparently
high-ranking visitors were accompanied by six armored personnel carriers and a
helicopter gunship.
NATO officials, whose forces
in former Yugoslavia depend on the US missions for intelligence, at first
expressed disbelief at the reports. After inquiring, a NATO spokesman confirmed:
"We’re aware that this imagery is put on a communications satellite. The
distribution of this material is handled by the United States and we’re
content that they’re following appropriate levels of security."
This lapse in US security
was discovered last year by a British engineer and satellite enthusiast, John
Locker, who specializes in tracking commercial satellite services. "I
thought the US had made a deadly error," he said, "My first thought
was that they were sending their spyplane pictures through the wrong satellite
by mistake, and broadcasting secret information across Europe."
The flights, conducted by US
Army and Navy units and AirScan, Inc., a Florida-based private military company,
are used to monitor terrorists and smugglers trying to cross borders, to track
down arms caches, and to keep watch on suspect premises. The aircraft are
equipped to watch at night, using infrared.
"We seem to be
transmitting this information potentially straight to our enemies," said
one US intelligence official, "This could let people see where our forces
are and what they’re doing. That’s putting our boys at risk."
"Increase in the amount
of bonds, mortgages, notes, or bank bills cannot increase the wealth of the
community that includes as well those who promise to pay as those who are
entitled to receive. The enslavement of a part of their number could not
increase the wealth of a people, for what the enslavers gained the enslaved
would lose. Increase in land values does not represent increase in the common
wealth, for what land owners gain by higher prices, the tenants or purchasers
who must pay them will lose. And all this relative wealth, which in common
thought and speech, in legislation and law, is undistinguished from actual
wealth, could, without the destruction or consumption of anything more than a
few drops of ink and a piece of paper, be utterly annihilated. By enactment of
the sovereign political power debts might be canceled, slaves emancipated, and
land resumed as the common property of the whole people, without the aggregate
wealth being diminished by the value of a pinch of snuff, for what some would
lose others would gain. There would be no more destruction of wealth than there
was creation of wealth when Elizabeth Tudor enriched her favorite courtiers by
the grant of monopolies, or when Boris Godoonof made Russian peasants
merchantable property."- Progress
and Poverty, Henry George, © 1882, p.35
from: www.drugawareness.org
Great Britain and
Ireland have taken steps to ban all new prescriptions of the anti-depressant
Paxil to anyone under the age of 18. Massive depression and suicide are among
some of the known side-effects that prompted the decision to ban the product,
which is similar to Prozac and Zoloft, until further notice.
One of the problems with the
anti-depressants is that some people lack the necessary liver enzymes to
properly metabolize the drug and are subjected to a higher initial dose than is
tolerable. Most doctors and physicians’ assistants do not perform the
necessary liver enzyme tests before prescribing anti-depressants.
It is unclear at this point
in the study what detrimental side effects are taking place in those over 18
years of age, or what steps may be taken for those minors currently using that
drug in the UK.
Some of the more common side
effects of Paxil are: dizziness, drowsiness, nervousness, sleeplessness, and
tremor. some of the less common side effects are: agitation, blurred
vision, drugged feeling, pounding heartbeat, urinary disorders, and vomiting.
(-from Physician’s Desk Reference; Pocket Guide to Prescription Drugs.)
Those who are currently
taking Paxil and similar drugs and desire to stop using them are cautioned to
always consult a physician and come off slowly, by shaving a little bit
off of the pill each day, complete cessation of the drug should be obtained over
a period of about a year.
Barber Gets "Clipped" While on
Smoke Break
By FERNANDA SANTOS
Originally published on June
10, 2003
Kim Phann and a buddy had
stepped out of Sha's BigTime on Friday night to smoke a butt when a cop slapped
them with a pair of summonses. The charge: "loitering in front of
business."
But Phann and Bruce Rosaro,
27, weren't just hanging outside the Bronx barbershop. They work there.
"We can't smoke inside
because it's against the law," Phann, 23, told the Daily News. "What
are we supposed to do? Go home to have a cigarette?"
It was 7 p.m., and Phann,
who has been a barber at Sha's for two months, still had one more haircut to go
before calling it a night.
But before he was able to
get back to work, a police wagon turned the corner and slowed to a stop outside
Sha's, at 935 N. Morris Park Ave., near Fowler Ave. "Let me see some
IDs," a cop told Phann and Rosaro, who said they quickly whipped out their
driver's licenses. Next thing he knew, Phann had the pink summons slip in his
hand.
"Blame it on
Bloomberg," they said the cop told them before driving away. When asked
about the summons, police spokesman Deputy Chief Michael Collins issued the same
statement he has made regarding other tickets.
"As the Daily News is
fully aware, or should be aware, there are administrative processes available to
those who may have been issued summonses in error for those who may have a
legitimate reason for violating these regulations," he said. "Those
procedures are clearly described on the summonses issued to violators."
Phann said he plans to appeal the summons, which does not specify a fine for his
offense.
Police Officer's Gun Goes Off During
High School Drill
BRADENTON, FL - Training
drills are nothing new for Bradenton police officers, but a live bullet fired by
a SWAT team member inside a high school is certainly not procedure.
Debra Greene thought it was
a car backfiring. "I was inside cleaning and I heard a loud noise,"
said Greene. "Pretty scary."
As it turns out, that noise
was a gunshot. During a routine drill on Tuesday, a Bradenton police officer's
gun accidentally went off inside a Manatee High School classroom.
According to the school
board’s critical incident response report, the bullet went into a classroom
wall. No one was hurt, but the incident left some wondering how this could have
happened.
Manatee High’s principal
says police told her the officer accidentally left a bullet in the chamber of
his gun. An internal investigation is underway at the Bradenton Police
Department.
Blanton was coaching a
sports camp during the incident.
Manatee High football coach
Bruce Blanton was coaching a sports camp during the incident. He says he didn't
hear the gunshot, but believes this will probably make officers more cautious in
the future.