Posted on 05/20/2008 8:42:58 PM PDT by traviskicks
When Dennis Rader was first arrested as the suspect in the BTK murders, the media heard complaints about Raders role as the compliance officer in Park City. But none perhaps has been so shocking as the story told by a former Park City resident. The woman says she lived in fear.
Park City was a nice place for Misty King and her two children to live until something simple happened. She and her husband divorced and then she says something strange happened. Dennis Rader came knocking at her door.
He said, I read in the paper that your divorce was granted, and I was like, OK, says King, a former Park City resident. He asked me if I was going to move or if Greg was going to move and I said, No, I was going to stay in the house and the kids were going to stay and Greg was moving.
She would be by herself.
Rader told her since she didnt have a man in the house, hed keep an eye on things and he did drive by frequently.
No big deal, King says. We waived. He seemed fairly nice.
That was until a male friend moved into her home. Then King says everything appeared to change.
He came to the door and asked me if I had another man living in the house and then I [wondered] what is wrong with him? King says. I said, Well, I have a person staying at my house, and he said, Another man? and I said, Well, yeah. Its a guy, and he just left.
Rader was outside the next day, measuring the edge of her grass. It was too tall. She trimmed it. Then it was the woodpile out back. She got rid of that. Then it was the car that needed a tarp. She complied. Then, the color of her garden hose was too bright. King was getting the feeling there was no complying with Rader or Park City.
And then, he started sitting outside the house, King says. Day after day and then Id call the police and theyd say hes in the neighborhood doing a job.
Jack Whitson is the director of compliance for Park City. He was Raders boss.
I dont know why I was never notified of the situation, says Whitson. I was never notified of the situation, because had I been notified I would have taken it very seriously.
King, who has worked for the same doctor for 10 years, says she started taking things very seriously when she says she caught Rader window peeping. Again, she called police.
And, they said, Mamm, there is a difference between looking in windows and walking by windows, says King. Im like, Well, I think you know when someone steps in front of your windows.
King was then issued citation after citation, all for issues surrounding an inoperable vehicle in her driveway.
Id always ask him, Why are you doing this? What did I do that was so wrong? says King. And he just said, Get rid of that boyfriend and everything will go back to the way it was.
Raders explanation was he felt the boyfriend was working on these inoperable vehicles in the car and felt like if the boyfriend would leave, that so would her problems and complaints the city would have against her, Whitson says.
Whitson says the Park City council got complaints about Kings property and asked Rader to investigate. But, King says there are other incidents that had nothing to do with vehicle violations.
And then I came home from work one day and Dennis was outside and he said, I just want you to know your side door must be broken, because its open and I said, What do you mean? and he said, It doesnt shut, King says.
To this day, King says she doesnt know how the door got open. Soon after, King didnt open the front door when Rader came knocking with a citation.
Thats when hed walk around the house and bang on the windows, King says. I know you are there, I need to talk to you.
As far as the citys concerned, Whitson says its not procedure. He says he wouldve talked to Rader had he known about it.
King says the last straw came when Rader picked up her 8-year-old daughters dog, Jasmine. Three days later, when King went to pick up the dog, Jasmine had been put to sleep. That day, King packed up her kids and her belongings and left Park City for good.
I didnt know what he was going to do, King says. I figured hed already killed my dog, so I just left.
She says she never wants to go back.
Its upsetting that King felt like she had to leave Park City, Whitson says. If some of Kings allegations are true and other complaints that have surfaced since Raders arrest, he wishes he wouldve known about them earlier.
Im angry because they allowed it to happen, King says. They believed if you work for the city, you can do no wrong.
Excellent quote from Atlas Shrugged. It captures the attitude of politicians, judges, bureaucrats, and activists of special interest groups today. It’s why our society is so screwed up.
If this isn’t argument against Homeowner’s Associations, I don’t know what is.
I heard or read somewhere (I can’t give a source) that the average American breaks 12 laws a day. I know I violate traffic laws every day, including speeding, failure to signal, not always turning into the right lane, etc.
Where I live, we had a traffic cop who would ticket anyone going even 1 mile over the speed limit. His attitude was the law’s the law.
Code enforcement and zoning laws are the worst. They can measure the height of your grass, and ticket you if it’s a tenth of an inch too high, They can force you to plant a lawn even if you don’t want to. The best solution is to live in an unincorporated area, but then you can be annexed and lose your freedom.
Yes, the Atlas Shrugged quote is great. This kind of thing is what Rand said that no one else wuld nad it’s her contribution to the casue of liberty.
Here is another piece that describes very well the same liberal and government mindset:
http://www.vex.net/~smarry/oldbbs/bread.html
The Incredible Bread Machine
By R.W. Grant
This is the story of a man whose name
Was a household word: a man whose fame
Burst on the world like an atom bomb;
Smith was his last name; first name Tom.
Now, Smith, an inventor, had specialized
In toys, so people were surprized,
When they found that he instead
Of making toys, was BAKING BREAD!
The way to make bread he’d conceived
Cost less than people could believe!
And not just make it! This device,
Could in addition, wrap and slice!
The price per loaf, one loaf or many,
The miniscule sum of under a penny!
Can you imagine what this meant?
Can you comprehend the consequent?
The first time yet the world well fed,
And all because of Tom Smith’s bread.
A citation from the President,
For Smith’s amazing bread,
This and other honours too,
Were heaped upon his head!
But isn’t it a wonderous thing,
How quickly fame is flown?
Smith, the hero of today,
Tommorow, scarcely known!
Yes, the fickle years passed by,
Smith was a millionaire,
But Smith himself was now forgot,
Though bread was everywhere...
People, asked from where it came,
Would very seldom know.
They would simple eat and ask,
“Was not it always so?”
However, Smith cared not a bit,
For millions ate his bread...
And everything is fine, thought he,
I am rich, and they are fed!
Everything was fine, he thought,
He reckoned not with fate.
Note the sequence of events,
Starting on the date,
On which the business tax went up.
Then, to a slight extent,
The price on every loaf rose too:
Up to one full cent!
“What’s going on!” the public cried,
“He’s guilty of pure plunder!
He has no right to get so rich
on other peoples hunger!”
(A Prize cartoon depicted Smith,
With fat and drooping jowls,
Snatching bread from hungry babes,
indiferrent to their howls!)
Well, since the public does come first,
It could not be denied
That in matters such as this,
The Public must decide!
So Anti-Trust now took a hand,
Of course, it was appalled
At what it found was going on.
The “Bread Trust” it was called.
Now this was getting serious,
So Smith felt that he must
Have a friendly interview
With the men in Anti-Trust.
So hat in hand, he went to them.
They’d surely been misled;
No Rule of Law had he defied.
But then their lawyer said:
“The Rule of Law, in complex times,
Has proved itself deficient.
We much prefer the Rule of Men,
It’s vastly more efficient!
Now let me state the present rules,”
The lawyer then went on,
“These very simple guidelines,
You can rely upon:
You’re gouging on your prices if
You charge more than the rest.
But it’s unfair competition if
You think you can charge less!
“A second point that we would make
To help avoid confusion...
Don’t try to charge the same amount,
That would be Collusion!
You must compete. But not too much,
For if you do you see,
Then the market would be yours -
And that’s Monopoly!
Price too high?
Or Price too low?
Now, which charge did they make?
Well, they weren’t loath to charging both,
With Public Good at stake!
In fact, they went one better!
They charged “Monopoly!”
No muss, no fuss, oh, woe is us!
Egad, they charged ALL THREE!
“Five Years in jail,” The Judge then said
“You’re lucky it’s not worse!
Robber Barrons must be taught,
Society comes first!”
Now bread is baked by government.
And as might be expected,
Everything is well controlled.
The Public well protected.
True, loaves cost a dollar each,
But our leaders do their best!
The selling price is half a cent..
Taxes pay the rest.
Wow. We haven’t mowed our lawn in about 8 months. It is a foot high. We live in a homeowner’s association. No one, absolutely no one has said a thing to us.
A minor point but this is an example of why the writing in newspapers is so careless
That’s the first quote on my profile page.
The other quote that works here:
In a mature society, “civil servant” is semantically equal to “civil master.”
— R. A. Heinlein
Our society has become far too mature.
Great poem! Thanks for posting that.
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