For cops, anything goes — DAs, cronyism, law shield abuse
Tennessee state Rep. Gerald McCormick sponsored a bill to give more legal favor to citizens on patrol (cop) by making an assault on an officer a “blue lives matter” felony. (Photo Twitter Gerald McCormick) “There is one criminal justice system for citizens — especially black and brown ones — and another for police in the United States.” […]
Humiliating TVA traffic stops show poverty of TN government
A TVA police officer, Scott E. Stone, gives me this business card after stopping a woman for having a motor vehicle tag that didn’t match her car. (Photo David Tulis) The TVA traffic enforcement story is raising alarm because it suggests how far down the state has sunk and, with it, its people. By David […]
TVA cops use TN statute to harass Highway 153, other travelers
TVA claims law enforcement jurisdiction as against the people in seven states, the authority to chase people down in traffic stops under the Tennessee code annotated even though expired or mismatched car tags do not endanger the public safety nor the operation of coal-fired electricity plants. (Photo Wikipedia) Tennessee law appears to allow for TVA […]
Gladden, Coonrod traffic stop typifies commercial enforcement
Anthony Gladden speaks to an officer from behind the wheel of a car. (Photo Times Free Press / Chattanooga police department) A traffic stop June 24 involving a car owned by city councilwoman Demetrus Coonrod is a picture of commercial government and its enforcement by police. The encounter on M.L. King Boulevard that night, city […]
Abusing Gaddys, Land wrecks good name; Greer for mayor
Jennifer Lockhart Greer teaches history and civics at the high school. The personal liberties secured under constitutional government are the fruit of simple promises. In Dunlap, Tenn., an elderly couple hiding from authorities are simple enough to believe these promises and to stand firmly upon them. By David Tulis / Tennesseestar.com The city’s civil prosecution […]
Trump no help; police state tactics worsen against Americans
Chattanooga city police officers often enforce statute within the city limits in full military gear, as displayed by SWAT members along the Chattanooga riverfront. (Photo Chattanooga police department) “Policing is broken… It has evolved as a paramilitary, bureaucratic, organizational arrangement that distances police officers from the communities they’ve been sworn to protect and serve. When […]
No violent outbursts by Bell in cooked-up arrest, witness says
Tarah Melvin, mother of three, sought to help Antonio Bell when she was he was beleaguered by police outside the Hixson Wal-Mart market. (Photo David Tulis) The arrest of Antonio Bell on Feb. 11 in Chattanooga is tinged with false report by police, abuse of authority, and appears to be a combination to put a […]
Your shantytown is my housing free trade zone
Scrap lumber like this on a construction project on Main Street of Chattanooga would be recycled by homeless people for their own “free trade zone” dwellings. (Photo David Tulis) A worksite dumpster could become the “home depot” of homeless people if they could build their own dwellings in an unregulated housing free trade zone in […]
Billy’s bad day; best way teen can deal with bully officials, cops
Commercial government most frequently attaches itself to the working and traveling citizenry on the public right of way, prompting encounters that remind us of our servitude to the enterprise state. This truck is on private property — a store parking lot. (Photo David Tulis) The best way to tell boys about how men defend constitutional […]
How to maintain your rights at traffic stops, help free city
Officer Mark Niethammer, suspended in December 2015 for drag racing his police cruiser, gives a tyke a push on his self-propelled car during a presumably friendly neighborhood visit. (Photo Chattanooga Police Department) My most recent encounter with police was the night I returned to Chattanooga from a visit to the Gnome of Strawberry Plains. The […]