Montana n: A state of the northwest United States bordering on Canada. Admitted as the 41st state in 1889. The fourth largest state in the union, it includes vast prairies and numerous majestic mountain ranges.
Syn: Treasure State, Big Sky Country, Last Best Place.
Jones n: slang. An addiction or very deep craving.
Monday, February 12, 2007
Antiques
Who would like to join me in some good old fashioned outrage? Check out this story about an antiques dealer in Whitefish:
http://www.dailyinterlake.com/articles/2007/02/09/news/news01.txt
http://whitefishpilot.com/articles/2007/02/08/news/news01.txt
The gist of it is that an antiques dealer was raided for having antique gambling equipment. I guess that the Montana Department of Justice's Gambling Investigation Division doesn't have anything better to do or any more pressing crimes to solve. So this is what passes for law enforcement and protecting the citizens; confiscating old furniture that no longer has use as a gaming device, harassing a small business owner, interfering in the livelihoods of the citizenry. I would like the Gambling Investigation Division to do some explaining and justify their existence in some way.
Noteworthy from the Interlake story was this particular bit.
Ron Turner phoned his son-in-law, Clint Walker, for advice. Walker called the Whitefish police to ask that officers check up on the state agents to make sure they were genuine and not con artists.
Two Whitefish officers showed up at the Cowboy Cabin, asking the agents to verify their identities.
One agent got mad and yelled at the police officers, who remained calm, Turner said. Whitefish Assistant police Chief Mike Ferda verified that one state agent was rude and "went a little over the top to our officers."
After checking the state agents' identities, the Whitefish officers backed off.
It strikes me that asking the state agents to confirm they are who they say they are is reasonable. And correct me if I am wrong, but isn't a law enforcement officer required to produce identification as such any time it is requested in the course of his duties? For these agents to get belligerent to the local police is about as unprofessional an act as misidentifying antiques as gambling devices.
Labels: antique, asinine, crime, Department of Justice, gambling, harrasment, law enforcement, links, news, small business
There is more Jones in the archives: February 2005 March 2005 April 2005 May 2005 June 2005 July 2005 August 2005 September 2005 October 2005 November 2005 December 2005 January 2006 February 2006 March 2006 April 2006 May 2006 June 2006 July 2006 August 2006 September 2006 October 2006 November 2006 December 2006 January 2007 February 2007 March 2007 April 2007 May 2007 June 2007 July 2007 August 2007 September 2007 October 2007 November 2007 December 2007 January 2008 February 2008 March 2008 April 2008 May 2008 June 2008 July 2008 August 2008 September 2008 October 2008 November 2008 December 2008 January 2009 February 2009 March 2009 April 2009 May 2009 June 2009 December 2009 January 2010 May 2014
