Posted on 08/14/2013 11:23:23 AM PDT by Responsibility2nd
Several residents at the “Garden of Eden” sustainability garden in Arlington, Texas, claim that local police raided their farm because they thought tomato plants were marijuana plants.
The police reportedly damaged the garden's property and the crops during the Aug. 2 raid, which included a SWAT team (video below).
“They came here under the guise that we were doing a drug trafficking, marijuana-growing operation. They destroyed everything,” said garden owner Shellie Smith to WFAA-TV.
Apparently, an undercover officer and a helicopter surveillance crew believed there was probable cause that the wrong kind of plant was being grown in the garden and an armed raid was planned.
“They can’t even tell the difference between tomato plants and a marijuana drug cartel," said farm resident Quinn Eaker to NBC Dallas-Fort Worth. "That’s just really bad intel.”
According to the Garden of Eden's website, the raid lasted for an estimated 10 hours.
However, the City of Arlington stated: “No cultivated marijuana plants were located on the premises. Narcotics detectives and members of the tactical unit cleared the scene within 45 minutes.”
According to reports, police officers removed legally cultivated plants such as blackberries and okra. Police also removed pallets, tires and cardboard that were used for sustainability projects.
Instead of the damage done to the farm, police spokesman Christopher Cook seemed more concerned about the reaction on Facebook against the police.
“That’s what concerns me about their social media allegations," Cook told the Dallas Morning News. "Yes, they were initially handcuffed, however once it was determined it was secure they were taken out of handcuffs. Typically we wouldn’t do that, but they were compliant."
Sources: Dallas Morning News, WFAA-TV, NBC Dallas-Fort Worth, IntoTheGardenofEden.com
For sure...
But they were directed to do so; it didn’t “just happen”.
“...they run rough shod over the very people they are supposed to protect and serve....”
And when the population at large feels like they’re caught BETWEEN the criminals and cops, that won’t end well.
You should care. You should always care about the Rule Of Law and the Rights of Free Citizens. You should always care when abusive government actions are inflicted upon law abiding citizens, even citizens who you may not particularly agree with or like. You should care about no knock raids, raids without warrants, people; women and children who are held at gun point by overzealous LOE’s over what basically started out as a simple zoning / code violations dispute.
You should care when 13 heavily armed LEO’s (nine DNR agents and four deputy sheriffs) conducted an unannounced SWAT raid on a no-kill animal shelter all because of a rescued baby fawn, held the workers at gun point, took away the cell phone and destroy the pictures of a worker who dared to document what was happening and then killed “Giggles” the baby fawn because of a perceived threat that Giggles posed, Giggles having been scheduled to be moved to a game preserve the very next day.
Armed agents raid animal shelter for baby deer
You should care when a group of college girls are accosted and terrorized by plain clothes and heavily armed Virginia Alcoholic Beverage Control agents because they “thought” that the case of bottled water (and cookie dough ice cream) the sorority girls purchased “might” have been beer.
ABC Official Admits Agents Used Poor Judgement in Wrongful Arrest of UVA Student Buying Water
You should care when the police tasered and then shot and killed a 95 year old nursing home resident.
Common sense tells me that cops don't need a Taser or a shotgun to subdue a 95-year-old man.
You should care when the government can seize property and threaten to take children away under the guise of the War On Drugs even if the people are completely innocent, possessed no illegal drugs and no charges are ever filed.
You should care when our own government spies on and keeps a database on all our electronic communications under the guise of “Homeland Security”. You should care when the White House uses the IRS to suppress political speech (and BTW, I would be just as outraged and opposed if it was a Republican POTUS doing this to liberal groups)
I am reminded of :
First they came for the communists,
and I didn't speak out because I wasn't a communist.
Then they came for the socialists,
and I didn't speak out because I wasn't a socialist.
Then they came for the trade unionists,
and I didn't speak out because I wasn't a trade unionist.
Then they came for the Jews,
and I didn't speak out because I wasn't a Jew.
Then they came for the Catholics,
and I didn't speak out because I wasn't a Catholic.
Then they came for me,
and there was no one left to speak for me.
I have never seen such a disrespect for the law Federal, State or Local in my lifetime.
There was a time when LOE’s had respect for the Rule of Law too and therefore our respect back when they lived by the motto “To Protect and Serve”. Some still do but they are a dying breed. We are increasingly becoming a police state my FRriend.
The embarrassment of this article makes the “Law” look like fools.
And it this case the “Law” needs to be correctly identified and called out as more than just “fools”.
Perhaps the people who run the Garden of Eden are a bunch of “damn dirty Gia worshipping hippies” but I can’t disagree with this from their website – they actually sound like my kind of people.
The Fight for Our Rights- An Overview of the Situation and Issues at Hand
What is the Law?
Natural law, Common Law, Gods Law and or Constitutional Law which is the SUPREME Law of the land, is one of the main interests and focal points of the Garden of Eden, as an intentional community dedicated to Freedom, Sustainability and Responsibility. Under the Constitution, a man is free to live and do as he will on his own land, so long as he is damaging nothing and no one. Damage to another person or their property is essentially the only true crime under Constitutional law that can be committed by a living man/woman, aside from treason and perjury.
It has come to be the popular practice and belief that it is the government that has all the rights and all the authority, and issues privileges to the people. However that is not how our nations power was intended to be distributed nor is it outlined that way in the US Constitution, the Supreme Law of the Land, which no other law, statute or code can supersede or override. The majority of statutes and codes in effect in the United States are intended to govern corporate entities and government employees, not natural men and women who are endowed by their creator with inalienable rights.
The free men and women of our country have been for generations and are being tricked into believing that they do not have power or freedoms unless granted by the government. However, under law, it is the other way around. The government and its employees are the servants of the people and have no power except that which it is given by the people. The supreme law of this land was created by the people FOR the people. The pyramid of power starts with the creator/source of life then is the people, then the government then the government officials.
Government officials MUST swear under oath to serve and protect the people and the constitution. This is called an oath of office. Any official who does NOT honor their oaths of office is guilty of treason, perjury at a minimum as well as any other violations in such actions. This was done very purposefully so as to keep the government/officials in check and to preserve our freedoms.
The Constitution of the United States of America does not GIVE or GRANT rights but upholds and protects our inalienable rights. The way the common man and woman have been tricked into slavery and rule is through private contracts. Contract law is very powerful and can supersede rights. If a free man or woman consciously chooses to sign a contract with terms and conditions that wave these rights then it is a contract that stands in court and supersedes whatever these inalienable rights are that are specifically waived. This is what happens when a living breathing man or woman becomes a government official. They MUST sign and swear to under oath their Oath of Office. This enacts MANY rules, regulations, statutes, codes etc that govern their limited delegated authority. While in their official capacity they MUST adhere to the terms conditions rules etc that are part of that contract. If they do not then they are unfit for their official capacity. They do not have to swear an oath as a free man they choose to swear the oath and it is the free will choice oath that binds them to the many rules. These rules are essential when acting in official capacity with limited delegated authority especially when carrying fire power. If at any point in time this individual no longer chooses to honor the oath they can step down, however when in official capacity there is no choice to honor or not to honor. To not honor is perjury treason at the least. These are the rules of the game and it is up to the individual to honorably serve in their capacity, step down or be held accountable for their dishonor.
In fact I would say that our country’s Founders and Patriots, many of them also “sustainable farmers” made many of the very same points back in 1776.
“...Affirmative Action forever altered ...”
It altered a LOT of things. Lowering the qualifications to create an artificially-equalized environment does only one thing: create an artificially-equalized environment with aggrieved, aggressive minorities demanding payback for imagined slights.
This is a battle for Texas. I am unable to pick up the cross for every evil done in the world. I am in Colorado and there is more than enough for me to battle here when I do get manic enough to do something. I do not support sustainability here in Colorado. Here it is Soros and UN agenda 21 taking my rights. I ma not really able to fight my own battles let alone every one that comes along.
So in other words, you really don’t care what happens to other law abiding citizens in this country as long as they are not in Colorado, and even then you don’t really care if it happens to your neighbor (when and if you can be bothered to care) just as long as it doesn’t happen to you? Is this your position?
This group BTW has nothing to do with “Soros and UN agenda 21” in fact they are living a life and hold to a philosophy that is as far as I can tell, is diametrically opposed to such and you are just fixating on the word “sustainability”, thinking that word alone has some sort of evil intent. There is a very big difference between wanting to farm, live completely off the land and the fruits of one’s own labor, living as one chooses to live and without unconstitutional government interference and forcing others to live the same way. I don’t see this group pushing their way of living on anyone else.
Did you even bother to read what this group (The Garden of Eden) has to say about property ownership, Natural Rights and the Constitution?
FWIW, I live in work in central PA in Amish country. The Amish have been practicing “sustainable” farming and a “sustainable” lifestyle ever since they came to PA and were granted land by William Penn in order to practice their religion without persecution and have been allowed to live their lives and use their land as they choose with little or at least too much government interference. I wish we could all do the same.
No, it isn't. It is a battle for all freedom loving, small government desiring citizens of this nation.
I do not support sustainability here in Colorado.
Why not? Just because the left have hijacked a perfectly viable word and is using it for something to which you do not approve? Sorry, things don't work that way, but go ahead and oppose true sustainability, but please, do not come crying to the rest of us who do not have a problem with the concept to feed your family when you are unable to so.
OK so how do I talk about the government “sustainability” here without any implication of “sustainability” for you? They close roads in National forests and take my road taxes and make bike trails while I have to maintain my own road. Here they call it sustainability. I have no idea how to communicate with such stubborn people.
Neither do I, as you have been given numerous examples of what sustainability is and can do, but adamantly insist the word is only used for government over reach.
How about public education?
“OK so how do I talk about the government “sustainability” here without any implication of “sustainability” for you? They close roads in National forests and take my road taxes and make bike trails while I have to maintain my own road. Here they call it sustainability. I have no idea how to communicate with such stubborn people.”
Refuse to call it sustainability because it is not. Call it unsustainability and government overreach. Use the correct terms frequently. When those who misuse the terms (either on purpose or due to mindless indoctrination) question you, explain to them why they are wrong and you are correct. They might learn something, or they might not, but the important thing is that you didn’t bend to newspeak.
Sustainability is my use of collected rain water, homemade compost, and saved heirloom seeds to create my garden. Sustainability is the three canner loads of tomatoes I just put up. Sustainability is not taking land and using taxpayer money to fund free tourism to others. That is a very unsustainable practice. Again, liberals are taking a term and defining it the opposite of what it really is. It’s just like “choice” when it comes to infanticide (I use that term instead of abortion for example). There is no choice for the person who will suffer from infanticide, so how can they call it choice? It’s newspeak, and it’s time we conservatives stand up to it.
Sustainability was my ancestors lifestyle. They made their own soap with wood ashes and lard and meat scraps. Lots of things they did are called survival techniques. Backwoods Home magazine has lots of good articles as well as many sources.
Well put.
I don’t have enough tomatoes yet to fire up the canner, so I’m cooking down and freezing what I’ve got and then will defrost it and can it all at the same time!
That’s what I’ve just started doing because the temps here dropped the past week and the tomatoes aren’t ripening as fast. We’re normally in the high 80s at this point, with maybe a few low 90 days scattered here or there. We will be lucky to hit 70 today.
I believe EXACTLY the same way those people do based on that document.
Maybe it's because I'm an old hippie too. Who likes to garden. /s
Corrected it for you.
You just described the people in Texas who were harrassed by the government for doing what you just described. That's who you're giving up on.
I’m loving the unseasonably “cool” temps we have right now. The thermometer is reading 80, but it’s overcast and doesn’t feel that. But it won’t last long, so I’m enjoying it while I can!
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