Haymarket Shenanigans

Article from the website: Black Velvet Bruce Li

Haymarket Shenanigans
(Click above link to read full article.)

Haymarket seems to be a place where the police have unusual latitude to harass law-abiding citizens when it suits their purposes. When an officer failed to follow proper procedures and was called on it, his response was apparently to swear out a warrant for the citizen's arrest (on a misdemeanor, no less!) for making a snippy comment.

Sounds vaguely familiar...

The Virginia Citizens Defense League has taken up the cause and is putting the pressure on the town council. The mayor, Pam E. Stutz, may have directed councilmembers not to respond to citizens complaints on this and is referring all citizen communications to the town attorney, John Bennett. That's the first time I've ever heard of citizen complaints to their elected representatives being handled in this way.

Ms, Stutz recently was re-elected with a significant majority in May, despite some significant controversy. She apparently wants to put all the controversy of the election behind her, but this is only adding fuel to the smouldering fires.

Here's a tip for the Mayor and town council: when your police officers start to engage in what appears to be personal vendettas against citizens using their official authority, it's time to start talking constructively with the citizens about your plans to prevent future occurrences.