Posted on 12/05/2010 11:20:34 AM PST by Second Amendment First
Ronald Lee Foster, 66, of Beaver Falls, tried to apply for a gun permit about two years ago, he was shocked when he was denied because he was a felon.
The retired shift supervisor at Armstrong World Industries had no idea why they would say he had a felony conviction, but then he started thinking about what had seemed like a small offense from almost 50 years ago.
In 1963, then-18-year-old Mr. Foster and 16 of his fellow Marines were stationed at Camp Lejeune, N.C., and only making $82 a month. They wanted a way to come up with some spare change, so they started cutting off the outer lips of pennies and using them as dimes in the vending machines.
Their luck ran out when a Secret Service agent was put in the barracks, Mr. Foster said, probably because the vending company had caught on.
After rounding up everyone involved, they took the Marines before a judge.
“They marched us into the judge and he gave us a one year probation and $20 fine. None of us knew we had a felony at the time,” he said.
It was a small punishment with much bigger consequences. The judge charged the men with mutilating coins, which is considered a felony, not a misdemeanor, a fact Mr. Foster discovered 45 years later.
He found a lawyer right away to see if he could get it expunged.
“I didn’t feel like having a felony hanging over my head,” he said.
But felonies cannot be expunged, so the lawyer came up with the idea to try for a presidential pardon.
“He filled out the paperwork, and then it was just a waiting game after that,” he said.
He got the call on Friday that he was one of nine individuals who received pardons from President Barack Obama.
“It was a little bit of a surprise since it’s a year and a half since I started the procedure,” said Mr. Foster.
The White House announced the pardons Friday as Mr. Obama was on the way home from a surprise visit to Afghanistan.
“The president was moved by the strength of the applicants’ post-conviction efforts at atonement, as well as their superior citizenship and individual achievements in the years since their convictions,” said White House spokesman Reid Cherlin.
Presidential pardons often come around the holidays, but they can sometimes be controversial, such as when Bill Clinton pardoned fugitive financier Marc Rich at the end of his presidency.
President George W. Bush drew heat for commuting the sentence of I. Lewis “Scooter” Libby, Vice President Dick Cheney’s former chief of staff, in the case of the 2003 leak of CIA operative Valerie Plame’s identity. But Mr. Bush rejected Mr. Cheney’s vigorous urging that he later pardon Mr. Libby as well.
Mr. Obama has received 551 pardon petitions in the course of his presidency, of which he’s denied 131, according to the Justice Department.
Another 265 petitions were closed without presidential action.
Mr. Foster said he feels pretty good about it finally happening, and even a little surprised, but to him, it was the right thing to do.
“You read all the paperwork and the story behind and it just didn’t make sense to have a felony for that offense,” he said.
It will take about two or three weeks before the felony is out of the system, but Mr. Foster already has plans.
“[Getting a permit] will be the first thing I will do,” he said.
Hey—did obammy do the right thing—for once? If so, I’m truly shocked!
Grudgingly, first thing dumbo has done I agree with.
A case of the stopped clock being correct.
I can’t believe it’s a felony. As a kid we used to put pennies on the train tracks.
Yep! I’m probably a felon too. We wedged them in the bark of trees and used them for target practice. We had little regard for our smallest unit of currency even that far back.
Do pennies on rail road tracks count?
Yo! Gotta give O his props.
I have a penny from a machine at Casa Bonita where you put in a penny and turn the crank and it presses the coin into a smooth oblong with an impression of the establishment. Wonder if they still do this?
I suspect that if President Obama had know that the first thing the to be done was to get a gun permit, he might not have given the pardon.
HEY?
What are you guys on about? This wasn’t deforming coins, this was out & out theft, fraud.
This guy stole stuff. Intentionally paid less than the asking price. He deserves his charge.
One of those bitter clingers!
Obama is tossing feel-goods to conservatives. Pardoning an old military man so he can get a gun permit. Puh-lease. How many conservative buttons can he push without actually changing anything?
I did something similar when I was a starving student. I was too proud to ask my parents for money, and I was hungry, but I was never caught. It is not something that I am proud of. Stealing, even in a clever way for small amounts from a large institution, is still theft. Most of us are young and stupid at some point.
I quickly found honest ways to purchase food.
Hmm, isn’t it the GCA that strips [ex-]felons of the right to keep and bear firearms?
Wasn’t that passed in 1968?
How then can it be applied to those convicted in 1963 w/o being a violation of the Constitution’s prohibition against Ex Post Facto law? Or the prohibition against Bills of Attainder (as Those who have committed a felony) are a readily identifiable group? {Or the 5th Amendment’s prohibition against the deprivation of liberty w/o due process?}
Yes it was petty larceny, hardly a felony though, which is what he was charged with. Yes it was about deforming coins period.
Are you related to the poster who always responds with his text in a box, who wants to put everyone in debtors prison?
The govt can do what it wants against the little people. This SS agent had a hard on to get these guys, just like the ones who busted the moonshiners for the sawed off shotgun back in ‘32.
Sometimes purchase is unnecessary, have you ever seen people leave large portions of their food in a fast-food joint?
Perfectly good and paid-for food right there; and if someone gives you a hard time about eating it claim the right of salvage. ;)
Sad but true...
Take a look at this thread for further confirmation: http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/2635498/
Uh, no. When the Secret Service is involved it's not about theft but simply the destruction of U.S. currency.
Besides do you really think he should be denied his ability to own a gun because he committed petty theft?
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