If you would like more information about what's happening in Oregon, please FReepmail me.
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Posted on 04/27/2017 2:34:41 PM PDT by artichokegrower
An Oregon man has been fined $500 by the state government for suggesting that yellow traffic lights should last slightly longer.
The Oregon State Board of Examiners for Engineering and Land Surveying hit Mats Järlström with a fine for unlawfully engaging in the “practice of engineering” by studying the state’s traffic flow systems.
The law is too strict here because an alternative definition is plausible and even supportable by tradition.
This is palpably government covering its own ass.
I am a professional engineer with X years of experience in this field, though I am not licensed to practice in Oregon and I am not intending this correspondence to be construed as a professional opinion under Oregon's statutes and regulations governing the practice of engineering.
I do this occasionally when the need arises. The purpose of doing this is two-fold:
1. To avoid any potential liability or actions from a licensing board as this guy is facing.
2. To make the recipient of the correspondence aware that I know a heck of a lot more about the subject matter than your average layperson, even if I'm not intending my correspondence to be construed as a "professional opinion" by any legal standard.
If you would like more information about what's happening in Oregon, please FReepmail me.
Please send me your name by FReepmail if you want to be on this list.
Such gymnastics shouldn’t be required in a context of exercising a constitutional right. Benefit of doubt should be granted when no intent to deceive is present... Yes! Free speech.
I’m guessing that in his letter he said that he was an engineer. That’s probably what got him in trouble - not the actual studying of the lights.
I got a degree that has “Engineering” at the end of the description. But I’m not an engineer, and don’t claim to be one.
On an interesting note, this distinction between the state government and the state licensing board may help the guy successfully fight the $500 fine. I have seen cases in some states where courts have determined that a state licensing board can only levy a monetary fine as a penalty related to the actions against a licensee. For example, if I am disciplined by my professional licensing board I may be assessed a fine as a condition of getting my license restored ... but if I have no interest in practicing as a professional anymore in my state then the board may not be able to compel me to pay the fine. It's possible that the worst they can do is permanently revoke my license.
This all hinges on Oregon's laws and the prior case law for matters like this.
How do you know there was no intent to deceive?
Putting a commonly understood term in a cage like that is dangerous. If all states agreed that an Engineer had to pass a professional screening like a Medical Doctor does there would be no source of confusion. But not all do. The term Professional Engineer ought to be reserved for protection.
A person should be free to contradict the state where tradition supports it.
What if a pair of gay marrieds both found the Lord and agreed they were not married. Are they committing a crime by calling themselves single without a state divorce?
Intruding on tradition has hazards.
Because there is a robust tradition of what an engineer is. Free speech.
Besides the state should have to prove there was.
If they were legally married in the state under the laws of that state, and they attest in a legal matter that they are not married, then I can see them having a potential legal problem.
The way I see it, this situation in Oregon isn't very different than a chiropractor calling himself a medical doctor.
I don’t know why “tradition” should have any role in state licensing practices. Any influence of tradition should be addressed when the statutes and regulations are drafted in the first place, no?
WTF?
That’s not even punky.
Oppressive givernment...
Ed
Yeah well, these are the same A-holes who claim Glowbull warming is settled science.
He is an undocumented engineer...
WOW, I did that in Kokomo, Indiana years ago on U.S.31...comparing the speed limit with the yellow light times and beat the stoplight violation charge....I contacted the newspaper and later, the times on the lights were adjusted....
All roads should be toll. Why should I pay for the roads that I don’t use? Ultimate in socialism. Pay if you use. Don’t use the gubmint deadly force to extort money out of the taxpayers.
“Do philosophers report to state licensing boards?”
They did with the khmer rouge, once.
How mentally ill do you have to be to want the gubbermint to put it’s imprimatur on what it is to be a doctor, lawyer, engineer, moron in your case, etc...
You’re on the wrong forum.
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