Friday, May 29, 2009
Whatever Happened to "none of your business"?
Americans forget their rights
What would say if the county asked you these questions about a private gathering of 15 or so people in your own home?
‘Do you have a regular meeting in your home?’
‘Do you say amen?’
‘Do you pray?’
‘Do you say praise the Lord?’
Every Tuesday night about 15 people drive to [pastor David Jones]’s Bonita home to eat dinner and discuss the Bible. They usually park on Jones’ property, he said, but sometimes that parking spills out into the cul-de-sac.
Last month, someone filed a complaint about the number of cars.
That code enforcement officer asked the questions above, to which the pastor’s wife answered “yes.” First mistake.
In April, Jones received a written warning for “unlawful use of land” and was ordered to stop hosting his “religious assemblies."
They’re trying to make the Jonses’ get a permit for a ‘church’—which won’t happen in a residential neighborhood. But what if they were holding a weekly ACORN meeting? or discussing string theory - in Mandarin?
"We want to make sure—whether they’re on a public road or a private road—that they’re parking safely; that we can get fire trucks in; that we can get police vehicles in,” [Chandra Wallar of the county’s land use and environment group] said.
Well, that’s fine. That’s their job. If there’s a complaint, go give out some tickets. Suggest car pooling. But the content of their discussions is strictly none of the county’s business.
Jones said a visitor to a neighbor’s house called the County after a Bible study member hit the visitor’s car while leaving. Shortly after, a county code enforcement officer gave him a citation that said he needed a permit to host the weekly Bible study meetings, he said.
Revenge by zoning board—not uncommon. ...for Statists.
But it brings to light one of the biggest hazard areas of the Shadow Government of regulators, bureaucracies and agencies which pass regulations that carry the force of law with hardly any oversight by elected officials and damn near none by citizens who have to live with ‘em. That’s our mistake—not taking time to keep an eye on these regulators or supporting the people/organizations who do.
I was under the impression that one is only legally required to answer questions posed by an actual police officer when he is investigating an actual crime. And he must demonstrate to you, the citizen, that those questions are relative to the crime under investigation. No fishing expeditions. [this is where ya’ll jump in and correct my naive assumptions][please]
Without that restriction, a “zoning enforcement officer” can—and often does—become a petty tyrant.
I look forward to Pacific Justice Institute being all over this one.
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