Arkansas Town Expands Curfew, With Assault Rifles
One of the issues guaranteed to get the America Civil Liberties Union (I’m trying to remind the ACLU what the A stands for) up on their moral high horses is people actually owning guns. Another is “excessive police force.” A third would be curfews.
Here they get all three
HELENA-WEST HELENA, Ark. — Officers armed with military rifles have been stopping and questioning passers-by in a neighborhood plagued by violence that’s been under a 24-hour curfew for a week.
On Tuesday, the Helena-West Helena City Council voted 9-0 to allow police to expand that program into any area of the city, despite a warning from a lawyer with the American Civil Liberties Union of Arkansas that the police stops were unconstitutional.
Police Chief Fred Fielder said the patrols have netted 32 arrests since they began last week in a 10-block neighborhood in this small town on the banks of the Mississippi River long troubled by poverty. The council said those living in the city want the random shootings and drug-fueled violence to stop, no matter what the cost.
“Now if somebody wants to sue us, they have an option to sue, but I’m fairly certain that a judge will see it the way the citizens see it here,” Mayor James Valley said. “The citizens deserve peace, that some infringement on constitutional rights is OK and we have not violated anything as far as the Constitution.”
You know PC Fielder is speaking to the ACLU and weak kneed liberals, right? The people would sooner protect criminals from having to stop acting criminally instead of the law abiding citizens.
However, such stops likely violate residents’ constitutional rights to freely assemble and protections against unreasonable police searches, said Holly Dickson, a lawyer for the ACLU of Arkansas who addressed the council at its packed Tuesday meeting. Because of that, Dickson said any convictions coming from the arrests likely would be overturned.
Right on time! Free assembly goes with, according to the 1st Amendment, the word peaceably, which is something criminals tend not to do. And, no, I am not talking about Code Pink. Also, the point of the phrase was to allow people to assemble to protest the government, not hang on a street corner selling crack to 14 year olds and doing drive by’s.
And, in terms of the arrests, what Dickson means is that the ACLU will fight to overturn any arrests of stone cold criminals
“The residents of these high-crime areas are already victims,” she said. “They’re victims of what are happening in the neighborhoods, they’re victims of fear. But for them to be subject to unlawful stops and questioning … that is not going to ultimately going to help this situation.”
No, Holly, they are not victims of fear. They are victims of crime. Real, honest to goodness crime. Why don’t you have their back, Holly?
BTW, the town told the ACLU to take a short stroll off a short pier, even going so far as to ask Holly Dickson if she lived in that neighborhood, which must have caused serious liberal sputtering and indignation, followed by a totally unrelated “morality” speech.
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Posted by William Teach on August 13, 2008 4:43 pm
» Filed Under 1st Amendment, 2nd Amendment, ACLU, News
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3 Responses to “Arkansas Town Expands Curfew, With Assault Rifles”
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Syndicate Me
Not for nothing, but given the power that the police have (right up to the right to pull a weapon and kill you) I’m pretty comfortable with keeping a close hold on the reigns to their power.
It’s not as if there’s never been examples of policemen breaking the law, is it?
Since those ACLU meetings were described as “packed” I must imagine the residents of the crime-ridden neighborhood were nonetheless unhappy with the police patrols and searchs.
My solution?
That’s just it….to tricky problems there never is any one easy, simple solution. It’s never as easy as black-and-white, good-vs-evil (or dare I say, Democrat vs Republican).
A combination of good police in cooindation with the citizens of Helena-West Helena is less dramatic than pointing M-16s at cars, but might be more effective.
I am 100% behind the City Council, the Mayor, and the Police Chief. Public safety comes first. —-
Let us never forget that the ACLU is the legal defense fund for the Klu Klux Klan.
In my opinion Holly is a waste of skin.