Posted on 05/29/2014 1:52:47 PM PDT by FredDardick
I guess you can put this in the “Now Only in Chicago, But Soon To Be in Your Backyard As Well” file. Writing for Breitbart, Warner Todd Huston discovered government officials in Will County, located just outside of Chicago, had issued a fine based on nothing more than a private individual’s Facebook post, no due process necessary:
"The police department of a Chicago area forest preserve district used a local woman’s social media post as a basis to send her a citation in the mail after she made a Facebook post about a county park."
Due to a number of “kennel cough” cases connected to Whalon Dog Park, Will County forest preserve police had been monitoring a local Facebook page maintained by concerned dog owners on which the accused woman had written “I was feeling bad that I haven’t bought a pass and been bringing Ginger there but I’m pretty glad I haven’t.”
The police, believing the woman had utilized the park without a license, wrote her a ticket stating “It has been brought to our attention that on May 18, 2014 at 8:58 pm, you posted on a social media site that you knowingly entered the dog park without a valid 2014 dog park permit” and stuck it in the mail. They didn’t even bother to contact her before issuing the fine.
No surprise to anyone it turns out the police got it all wrong. Not only had the woman not brought her dog to the park, she was trying to say that she was glad that she had avoided the area when she visited the Facebook page, but the words didn’t come out right. “That’s dead wrong. I haven’t gone there since 2013!” she wrote.
When informed of the error the Will County police, in their best impression of typical liberal tolerance, responded “After reading the original Facebook comment and follow-up comments, our police department decided to investigate and issue the ticket. The woman who posted the original statement will have a chance to appeal this ticket in court, and she will not have to pay the fine until her appeal is heard.”
I may not have gone to law school, but I don’t see how reading someone’s Facebook post can be defined as an “investigation” in anyone’s book. And forcing a bullied woman to appear in court in order to prove her innocence, rather than the police admitting their rather obvious and moronic mistake, just makes it worse.
The problem is when the image was taken. I am in a home I bought 5 years ago and the image is still from before I made changes....
I’m a product of the 50’s and 60’s, in s’far as skoolin’ goes. On my first read, I interpreted her words as did you. The problem seems to be poor literacy within the ranks of Facebook reading police.
My daughter had to read 1984. I was trying to get her to do her video project on it showing her on Facebook, Twitter, etc. and writing stupid things, with subtitles of quotes from the book about how the “thought police” are watching everything.
” Also yard sized pictures of pools for those who don’t have them. “
I was thinking more along the lines of yard sized pictures of the bare arse crack of a bent over large man.
Boo chit misdemeanor charge anyway.
Right to confront accusers, who did not see her commit an unlawful act.
Summarily dismissed. ...
Thanks for posting; I attempted to post this story twice today but for some reason it was taken off the forum.
Who knew that using poor grammar on a social network could land you a citation from the gov’t?
“Hmmm. Now, I’m a product of the 70s/80s with respect to my schoolin’, but my first read of her post gave me the impression that she was glad she hadn’t been to the park, regardless of the pass issue. But then, I’m not a revenuer.”
Trust me, cops are determined to see everything anyone says or does in the worst possible light. Except for other cops, however, who ALWAYS get the benefit of the doubt.
The Won deflowering a goat.
Another reason I will never, ever go there.
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