Hmmm. Maybe I'd better re-think that field expedient for sign-grabbers.
Posted on 10/29/2008 9:40:29 AM PDT by NormsRevenge
OCTOBER 28--Angered that two neighborhood teenagers knocked over a John McCain sign on his lawn, an Ohio man allegedly grabbed a rifle and fired three times at the duo as they sought to drive away from his Warren Township home.
Kenneth Rowles, 50, was charged with felonious assault in connection with the Saturday afternoon incident, which resulted in one boy suffering a minor bullet wound.
According to a Warren Township Police Department report, Patrick Wise, 16, yelled, "This is for Obama" as he knocked over the McCain sign.
Wise's cousin, Kyree Flowers, 17, was waiting in the passenger seat of the SUV, which was struck by three bullets fired by Rowles. One bullet hit Flowers in the arm, while another shattered the passenger's and driver's side windows.
Rowles, pictured in the above mug shot, claimed in a police interview that he "shot three times attempting to scare the subjects."
Shortly after the October 25 confrontation, Rowles called police to complain about two instances in which his McCain signs had been vandalized, but never bothered to mention that he had, minutes earlier, fired at a vehicle carrying Wise and Flowers.
As Officer Daniel Peterson was getting into his squad car to leave, Rowles stopped him to ask about a new Ohio law allowing homeowners to protect their property.
"I told him that it would be stupid for someone to get shot or injured over an election sign and he agreed," Peterson wrote in his report, which you'll find below.
Police seized 11 long guns and four pistols from Rowles's home, and recovered two spent .22-caliber shell casings from his driveway.
If convicted of the assault charge, Rowles faces up to eight years in prison.
“Git offa my property! (BOOM!)”
.. Patrick Wise, 16, yelled, “This is for Obama” as he knocked over the McCain sign.
Arresting a man for protecting his property. How absolutely Communist of them.
BTTT
Some one balled up and bent my Palin-MCain sign yesterday. I brought it the house, straightened it up and coated it with motor and peanut oil.
Next I found a dead bat in my yard, I may have a use for it.
If you can find some poison oak and rub it on the sign.....
If his actions had been to protect his car or house instead of his sign (first amendment, speech), I wonder if he’d be charged with the toughest charge possible. I also wonder if he faces a jury of his peers, gun owners will all be scrubbed from the jury.
No, I’m not saying that shooting at children for walking on your lawn is ever proper action. However, downplaying the actions of these young people to be no more than a tiny prank misses the bigger picture.
A bit over the top on both sides.
I wouldn’t try to shoot a couple of kids if they were vandalizing a sign. It’s trespassing, but it’s not a deadly home invasion, since they evidently were leaving on their own.
On the other hand, this is a case of trespass, harrassment, and vandalism. The kids should not be let off without some kind of talking to, at the very least. It looks like yet another case of biased law enforcement.
I like it.
Poor guy needs more range time.
I agree , blanks would have been in order, but one never knows the ‘threats’ one may face on a moment’s notice.. no time to reload and all.
In the old days, he could have used a shotgun and shells with rock salt as the load. It would have dinged the car paint job pretty good .. and stung a bit.
I wonder if the parents will see how their little precious ones wouldn’t have been shot at if they hadn’t been goons playing ‘community activist for Obama’ in the first place.
...by that I meant he should have been able to disable the car without hurting the yutes, of course...
If you shoot at someone without the intent to seriously cause harm or kill, you probably shouldn't have access to fire arms.
The perps weren’t on his property when he shot at them. Furthermore, it’s just plain stupid to shoot someone over an outdoor political sign. A video cam of these perps would have resulted in charges against the perps instead of charges against the homeowner and he wouldn’t be facing 8 years in the graybar hotel. After the criminal conviction the perps can sue him in civil court and be the new homeowners.
This guy should be given a parade.
Sorry, you just don’t shoot people who are running away, especially when they’re not taking anything with them. A video camera would have been a much more effective weapon.
Overkill? Yeahh ,and had he been a better shot, he could be looking at life in the pokey.
Somehow, the legal system has managed to turn perps into victims and legal law-biding citizens are taking it from all sides when they feel it necessary to defend themselves and their properties..
Those who seek to flirt with pushing the edge of the envelope had best be prepared for the ensuing paper cuts that may occur due to their flirtation..
Add this to the growing list of campaign related events..
Obamination
—
posted this a bit earlier
CA: Hate crime charge in Prop. 8 sign attack (Here it comes.. )
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2118619/posts
My sign is hooked directly to a Kryton tube. The Kryton is hooked to my W-88.
Messing with my sign will cause this:
Don't mess with my sign.
Agreed. It's easy for me to be Wednesday morning quarterback.
I wonder if the parents will see how their little precious ones wouldn’t have been shot at if they hadn’t been goons playing ‘community activist for Obama’ in the first place.
Good question, and I doubt they will see.
Ayyy! Claymor.. that’ll leave a dent.
I been keeping a vigil on a MCCain Palin sign next door. I was gonna offer to sling some concertina around it , but fortunatly, we seem to live in a neighborhood that has not embraced signs for Obama...
My Sis called last week and said someone put an Obama sign in her yard after dark. She was all kinds of ticked off.
As soon as she woke up and saw it she ripped it out of her yard and threw it in the trash.
Then she had second thoughts and got it back out. She took some red tape and made a circle with a line through it and stuck it back in her yard.
That night it disappeared.
She thinks it's a deadbeat neighbor who's been on disability for a bad back for years, but he can climb ladders, cut grass, shovel snow, etc. He and his wife also try to sue anyone who looks at them funny. They use lawsuits as a career choice.
I don't know if he's the sign man, but I'd be beyond shocked if he's not an Obie supporter.
Don’t worry, I would never have thought of messing with your sign!
I hear ya.
The triggering event captured on film would have been a slam dunk , one would think.
We’ll see what a jury of his peers now decides as to appropriate punishment and live with the consequences.
Don't mess with my sign.
(Pushes you towards my sign)
You're messing with my sign. Don't mess with my sign.
(Forces you right next to my sign)
YOU'RE MESSING WITH MY SIGN!!!!!
I’m telling you, paint ball guns are the answer for this crap! It’s non-toxic, makes a mess, stains clothing, and at close range can leave a booger of a bruise!
We used to have a neighbor who would let his Rottweilers out at night to “run”, and they would always come over to my farm to run my horses. A couple of “incidents” with the paint ball gun, when the owner had to give them baths everytime he let them in, and he learned to keep them confined at home.
what about airsoft guns?
I was thinking YouTube.
Ah yes, “Culture of Life” and all.
I have Mc/Palin signs in my yard, vandals should feel free to c’mon in and get them if they want. I have 2 very large dogs who would appreciate the exercise.
“Kyree Flowers”....sounds Amish.
I have a McCain sign in my front yard (fenced on 3 sides) and some nice neighbor of mine allowed their canine to poop there.
Every night my wife and I lay in the yard and watch the stars and moon with my 2-year old son. When my wife got up, there was dog excrement on the back of her jeans.
We have many, many Liberal neighbors as we live in Oakland and the self-flagellating whites seem to raise eyebrows when me and a few others put up McCain signs.
Why are Liberals so hateful and spiteful? They cheat on votes, use public access to destroy opponents, lie...all on supporting programs that steal from the working.
If my kids came home and said that someone had hit them with rock salt ... I'd send my kids over in the morning to apologize, repair whatever damage they'd done, and pay for the shell and the salt they forced a neighbor to use.
We had a similar problem when we lived in Colorado Springs.
What we did was take all the dog doo and piled it along the sidewalk, and there was a lot of it, if formed a very long line of dog doo. We left it for a week.
That pretty much put a stop to it. I think that all the dog owners had no idea how much our lawn was used, and moved on to other lawns. It takes otherwise polite people for this to work.
The property owner's actions are in no way reasonable, and he's going to have to pay the price for his actions, but those kids should pay the price for their actions as well.
Some types of vandalism and petty theft are misdemeanors. But this sounds to me like a conspiracy of people to commit these crimes. This could well be a felony. In which case the homeowner may have been justified in putting a stop to it.
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