Special to TLE
(Send your congratulations on Officer Kingsbury's JBT award to his
boss (City of Mitchell, South Dakota, Public Safety Chief Doug
Feltman) at [email protected].)
Officer Gary Kingsbury, while on vacation and sixty miles outside of
his normal jurisdiction, went above and beyond the call of Thuggish
duty to evict and arrest an official candidate for Governor of South
Dakota from a purportedly open debate with the candidates. As an added
bonus, Kingsbury is Samizdat's first JBT winner known to have
personally drawn blood from his victim in the course of earning his
award.
Merely arresting Libertarian gubernatorial candidate Nathan Barton
probably would have earned Kingsbury a place on Samizdat's Jackbooted
Thug rolls, but that wasn't enough for this over-zealous enforcer of
the will of the entrenched powers-that-be.
- Kingsbury personally listed himself as the official complainant and
arresting officer, completely bypassing the attending local Huron law
enforcement officer (who for some odd reason, within his own
jurisdiction, did not bother to arrest Mr. Barton for the heinous act
of speaking out at a public debate at a public event on public
property).
- He explained his actions with the statement: "I don't like you and I
don't like what you are saying."(1) Officer Kingsbury isn't going to
let little things like Constitutional law (he knows it's dead) and
ethics get in his way of enforcing his brand of coercive peace.
- The officer further justified the arrest by claiming: "I'm just a
little cog in a big wheel and am taking my orders from the big
guys."(2) The claim that 'I vass only followink orderz' is in the very
best NAZI war criminal tradition, as demonstrated at the Nuremberg
Trials, and earns Officer Kingsbury extra JBT Brownie Points.
- Cuffing Mr. Barton for daring to commit a nonviolent crime like
public speaking wasn't going to get the State-approved point across by
itself, so Kingsbury pressed the point by further damaging an existing
injury; no doubt Mr. Barton will remember his lesson every time he
tries to use his hand.(3)
- And as a probable unintended side benefit, Mr. Barton's doctor is
likely to remember the same lesson, which he found ground into the
candidate's wrists via improperly applied handcuffs.(4)
- And lest you think this was an isolated demonstration of uniformed
bravery in the face of individual rights, rest assured that Kingsbury
has made a habit of such behavior: Libertarian candidate for South
Dakota Attorney General Bob Newland
reports that Kingsbury
has threatened him with arrest for having the audacity to pass out
political literature at the State Fair. In that case though,
Kingsbury's unwavering courage ... umm, wavered when Mr. Newland
expressed his intent to publicize the attempted intimidation.(5) Or
maybe that time he remembered that such an arrest would itself violate
the law . Or laws
. Or even other laws
. I suppose even the
biggest schoolyard bully of a JBT has to show his cowardly colors
sometimes.
- When it comes to exceeding his authority, Kingsbury isn't going to
allow trite slogans like 'for the children' sway him either. With the
courage of his lack of convictions (else why blame his own actions on
the "big guys"?), he happily abandoned Mr. Barton's two minor children
at the Fair, unattended, while he hauled off their dad.(6)
The South Dakota State Fair (and hosting city Huron, SD) and the City
of Mitchell must be proud to have such a man working for them; a man
who will stop at nothing - no moral, no law, no ethics - in order to
enforce the arbitrary edicts of the approved powers. They can rest
easy knowing that Officer Kingsbury is hard at work stomping out free
speech and other individual rights, ensuring that criticisms will go
unheard and that the entrenched sorta-semi-Two Party (Dems and Reps,
naturally; keep those nasty Libs and indies out of it) system will
rule the days. And the serfs, of course.
Naturally, fear of this sort of arbitrary and Constitutionally (Hee,
hee! It's dead in SD!) illegal harassment, arrest, and brutality will
draw plenty of tourists to the State Fair and Mitchell's own unique -
and sole tourist attraction - Corn Palace. Certainly no one would even
think of boycotting those State-approved moneymakers out of fear for
their civil rights and hides.
Hmm. Makes one wonder what would happen to some oblivious tourist
silly enough to ridicule that Corn Palace within the hearing of one of
Mitchell's finest. Such free speech clearly isn't high on their list
of favorite things.
NOTES:
1 - Reported by Nathan Barton. Witnessed by Gareth Barton and other law enforcement officers.
2 - Ditto.
3 - Nathan Barton.
4 - Ditto.
5 - Bob Newland
6 - SDLP Press Release
* * *
Copyright � 2002 by Carl Bussjaeger. All rights reserved. Permission
to redistribute this article for noncommercial purposes is herewith
granted by the author, provided that it is reproduced unedited, in its
entirety, appropriate credit given, and that the author is informed
and his home URL
http://members.surfbest.net/[email protected]/
is included. Contact the author at [email protected]
regarding commercial use.
