United States News
See other United States News Articles
Title: Welcome To Amerika: Family Fined, Threatened With Jail for Building a Sand Castle
Source:
Free Thought Project
URL Source: http://thefreethoughtproject.com/we ... il-for-building-a-sand-castle/
Published: Apr 1, 2017
Author: Matt Agorist
Post Date: 2017-04-01 14:32:49 by Deckard
Keywords: None
Views: 21692
Comments: 146
Panama City Beach, FL — In the ostensible land of the Free, cops claim the legal authority to extort money from you, or even kidnap you for a slew of activities which have no victim. Window Tint, smoking a plant in you own home, not wearing your seatbelt, walking across the street, sagging your pants, and even juggling — can and will get you extorted, kidnapped, caged, or even killed. Now, as a recent case in Florida illustrates, we can add building a sand castle to that long list of victimless “crimes.” Bryant Rylee and his family were at the beach last week building an awesome sand castle when they were confronted by police. The officer, who was ‘protecting society’ by patrolling the beach for illegal sand castles, told the Rylees that their sand castle was in violation of the law. At first, Rylee thought the officer was joking. After all, he and his son were harming no one while building their most epic castle. In a Facebook post, Rylee explains that it is ‘illegal’ to build a sand castle with a hole deeper than two feet. However, he explained that their hole was only one foot deep, so there was no way it was in violation. It wasn’t the hole from which the cop was protecting society, though — it was Rylee’s son’s equipment that was criminal. According to their obscure ordinance, only plastic tools are allowed on the beach, and they had some metal ones. It is important to note that the officer explained to Rylee that she would let him off with a warning if he simply filled in the hole. But Rylee wasn’t buying it. He wanted to know what ordinance he was violating. It was Rylee’s questioning of authority which led to police escalating the call. When her authority was put into question, the officer brought in backup. Before the officer could tell Rylee which ordinance he was violating, the family was surrounded by police. In fact, four patrol units would show up and sit there for 20 minutes before any of them could produce the law which said metal beach toys were illegal. According to FEE: While Rylee, a devout Christian, says he supports law enforcement and prays “daily for their protection,” he also said on his social media account that, “I do believe that ‘we the people’ have a right to ask what ordinance number or to see the ordinance.” Rylee is absolutely correct. In the American legal system, there is a pillar of jurisprudence known as Mens rae, which is latin for “guilty mind.” The principle itself comes from the latin phrase actus reus non facit reum nisi mens sit rea, which translates to, “the act is not culpable unless the mind is guilty.” This is a standard test of criminal liability that asks the state to consider whether or not a person has broken a law knowingly before guilt can even be assessed. After it was all over, as Rylee explains, the construction of a sand castle cost him $25 and could’ve cost him $500 and up to 60 days in jail. When building a sand castle becomes a criminal act, it is high time we question where this ostensible Land of the Free is headed. Bryant Rylee added 5 new photos. This is the sand castle that cost me a $25 fine & could have cost me up to $500 & no more than 60 days in jail. Incase you didn't know, at Panama City Beach you can't dig deeper than 2ft & not exceeding 2ft long on the beach & you can't use any metal tools. I've been going to PCB for spring break for over 13 yrs, we've always built things digging with metal tools. So be sure you study your ordinances before you make a trip. My big mistake was asking the ordinance number & asking to see the ordinance. Apparently the beach patrol lady didn't like that so she called for back up... That's when three other units arrived on the scene. One officer said, if I'd just cover the castle, I wouldn't get a ticket but if I must inquire or see the ordinance, I will receive a ticket. It took them 20 minutes to find the ordinance & it's not exactly the way they quoted. It said "2ft deep" but it didn't say "not more than 2ft long" & since I had dug only about 1ft deep, I was only ticketed for my metal tools. I do support law enforcement & pray daily for their protection. And I do believe that "we the people" have a right to ask what ordinance number or to see the ordinance. So... How many cops does it take to shut down a sand castle bandit & his son? The answer is 4! Be careful out there!
Post Comment Private Reply Ignore Thread
Top • Page Up • Full Thread • Page Down • Bottom/Latest
Comments (1-12) not displayed.
.
.
.
#13. To: Deckard (#0)
Where is the notice posted on that public beach that says metal shovels are prohibited there?
From the article: "It is important to note that the officer explained to Rylee that she would let him off with a warning if he simply filled in the hole." But the asshole refused. So, who was acting nice and who was acting like a jerk?
Really? Then where could the water have possibly come from?
Ignorance of the law is no excuse.
Legal principles can be complicated, but in most courts, until eight months ago, there was a pretty simple one: Ignorance of the law is no excuse. Then came Heien v. North Carolina, decided by the U.S. Supreme Court in December. Now the principle is: Ignorance of the law is no excuse — unless you’re the cop enforcing the law, in which case it is, or at least can be, depending upon whether your ignorance is reasonable or not, to be determined upon later review. 8 Ways We Regularly Commit Felonies Without Realizing It You might even commit a felony or two today, who knows? The fact is that we live in an overcriminalized society where vague federal laws are dangerous for everyone, lawyers, judges and police officers included. This ambiguity invites varying interpretations and could stamp a permanent criminal record on the otherwise squeaky clean slate of an unknowing, harmless individual. That would mean you are a dumb ass and messed up my kids sandcastle. That means you get your ass kicked. That is what happens to assholes. They get their asses kicked.
As far as I am concerned you are a police state asslicker. You really need your ass kicked. I'm going to cry because I tripped in a hole because I am a stupid geezer to stupid to see there is a sandcastle. Your mom must have raised you as a little pussy who got bullied in school. Then you ran to your mommy and the principal. Now you run to the police man because some kid built a sandcastle. Pathetic. The pig needs to have his ass kicked too. Oink Oink.
No he means just slam your head with a shovel until you shut the fuck up.
No you are responsible. The cops should beat you up for it.
I'd fill in the hole. After I went to the store and got some concrete and stuck her head in it.
That is why the police should just shoot you. I'm sure you broke some law.
Because the cop offered to let the family enjoying a day at the beach off with a "warning"? A good cop, seeing a potential problem, if indeed there was a real reason why the hole was a real problem, would have approached the family in a friendly way, complimented them on the well above average work of the sand castle, and then informed them that the only problem with it was the hole, that in fact, it was a violation of ordinance to have one that deep, and that it's a good ordinance because [fill in the blank] and then ask them to please fill it in because she's got a job to do and she sees they are having a good time, and thank you! If they ask about the exact ordinance, then take the time to look it up and show them, and if they disagree, provide them some information about how they could do their civil part to change the ordinance, and in fact, encourage them to try because it's always good when more people get involved in voicing their say in government big and small. But no, it seems she didn't do that. Instead she employed the ransom method of diplomacy, demanding they comply in exchange for a reduced punishment. The guy is going to get written up either way. There will be file created with his name on it at the police station, so they'll know who he is the NEXT time they see him making a f**king sand castle, dammit. So, in answer to your question of who was acting like a jerk, given the story as reported, which granted is slanted, I'd answer that the the cop was a jerk.
Stores are private property employed as commercial zones open to the public. As such, store owners are responsible for maintaining them so they are safe for public use. The beach in question is not privately owned and is not a place of business, so there is no owner that has a commercial level of responsibility for it's safe maintenance. So your analogy falls apart on those grounds (no pun intended). Beaches are shared public property for personal use, and making sand castles and, yes, digging holes in the sand for purposes of beach fun is normal and acceptable in the USA. Now perhaps you want to take the liberal stance that would mandate restrictions in beach use that would help ensure that stupid people don't get hurt. If so, that's your right.
As is the city in maintaining the beaches for public safety. They also prohibit glass containers on the beach. Do you object to that also? Are individuals who cut themselves on broken glass responsible because they're either "too stupid or blind" to see it?
How do you know she didn't do that? I'm saying she could have written a ticket costing him $500 and up to 60 days in jail. She chose instead to give him a warning -- if he filled in the hole. 99.99% of good citizens, realizing they were given a break, would fill in the hole and be done with it. This jagoff refused to do so. At that point, I would have written the ticket for the full amount and let him plead his case with the judge. I'm not going to stand there and argue with some asshole after I was nice enough to offer him a way out.
If I did, it wasn't because I was so stupid as to argue with a cop who was trying to cut me some slack.
Yeah! That'll teach her to enforce the law! Damn rogue cop. Now, after you did that, I assume you would then organize an effort to repeal all these stupid beach ordinances and allow metal rakes and shovels, holes 10 feet deep, glass bottles, alcohol and animals on the beach. No, you probablly wouldn't. Changing the law is just too much work. Besides, I'm guessing the vast majority of the people asked for these laws to begin with. You're in the minority. So sad. Perhaps you can find a beach more suitable to your anarchistic philosophy. Here ya go. Use your rake to clear a spot:
If the law is immoral I ignore it. If the law is immoral you follow it to a T. If you lived in Germany in the 30's you would say it was the law the Jew were gassed. They should have lobbied and changed the law. If you were alive during the revolutionary war. You would have said revolution is illegal and someone might get hurt. You're such a wuss.
I don't have a plastic rake, paulsen, you statist.
There is nothing immoral about prohibiting deep holes, metal shovels, glass, alcohol or animals on a public beach. Other people have rights, too. Or do you you think the U.S. Constitution was written only for you? You are one selfish individual, thinking that the world revolves around you and you can do anything you want. Society's rules are for other people, right? I would suggest that you pack up your belongings and move above the tree lne where you're on your own and can do anything you want. You obviously don't fit in any organized society.
On that beach you can have any kind of rake your little heart desires. You have FREEDOM there, just like you want. Watch your step!
Like I said you would be a good loyal little non thinking nazi. Very loyal. There is nothing immoral about building a sandcastle with a metal shovel. Assholes who enforce stupid laws are the problem. I'll do whatever I want and no one has ever stopped me and no one ever will. Because my moral code God gave me is far superior to what is required by law. You champion so called law over common sense and good morals.
Isn't violating a valid, constitutional law immoral? Isn't it immoral to teach your children to violate a valid, constitutional law? Isn't it immoral to violate the rights of others? You don't even live there and you're going to tell the citizens of Panama City Beach what's moral and immoral and how they should live their life? Who are you to do that? "Assholes who enforce stupid laws are the problem." Why? Because it's easier to strike back at law enforcement than it is to change the stupid law? Change the law, idiot!
Fugitive slave laws were constitutional. Slavery was constitutional. Back in the day you would have been shooting and maybe owning slaves. You are not a leader you are a follower who just does what he is told. No thinking about if it is right or wrong involved. The exact kind of person God created us not to be.
You teach your kids to obey the law. You also teach them common sense and morals. If the law says to do something immoral you are free to ignore it. There may be a cost but doing what is right. When you do what is right and disobey an immoral law you are doing the right thing. You're probably having a typical liberal reaction in your mind. You are thinking but who says what is moral or immoral. That is a distraction. There is a true right and a true wrong and it is in our conscience. People who say things are moral that are not are just liars.
Yes it is. For example some asshole coming down the beach and harassing people for playing in the sand.
Yes I am going to comment on this article and say what I believe to be moral.
No it is best to let them issue their puny citation. Then you fight them in court. You do it by burdening them with motions and not taking plea deals. Dragging it out and spending their money. So even when they win they still lose because you took up their time and they couldn't harass other people that they would have had the time to harass. Do this on a mass scale and they will only have time to prosecute the real crimes and not harass someone playing in the sand. Sand that in a few hours time nature would turn the sand castle and the hole into a smooth sand surface.
Aren't you also free to ignore moral laws? How about this? If the law says to do something you consider immoral you are free to change it. Assuming, of course, you can find enough people with your sense of morality. Isn't that the way we so things around here?
Right. So collectively we get together and vote on an issue based on our conscience. Those who believe the law is moral and just vote in favor. Those who believe the law is stupid and immoral vote against it. The we count the votes. Majority wins. No? Not a good system? Then what do you propose, Mein Fuhrer?
Of course you are. But you would be acting immorally. So it is your duty to obey moral laws. Not that any of us always do what is our "moral duty" I'm talking theoretically. If you read what I said there are consequences for breaking immoral laws. There obviously are also consequences for breaking immoral laws.
That should read: A law enforcement officer coming down the beach and enforcing city ordinances. You don't think city ordinances should be enforced?
You use the word consider. That makes me think you don't believe in absolute morals. I do. I know them. I don't always follow them but I know them. I know what your problem is with my thinking. There are to many stupid immoral people in the world who wouldn't lie and say they were following what is right. Well i'm not talking about them. I'm talking about me. I know right and wrong.
There you go again "sense". There is moral and immoral. Not a sense of moral and a sense of immoral.
Unless I think they're immoral. I think I should be able to play my music as loud as I want, even if it keeps you awake all night.
No. That is not the way it works. It is more random and inconsistent. I might be pissed one day because someone said something that made me. Or I might think someone is an asshole. They don't get treated the same as someone that I like. That's just the way it is. Truth.
Not think, know.
Well you're a liar too then. Because you don't really think that. You really believe the opposite. So do I. So I wouldn't do it. Neither would you. You had to lie to try to make your point and all you did is help prove mine. Misterwhite- "I think I should be able to play my music as loud as I want, even if it keeps you awake all night." is a flat out lie. That is not moral it is immoral.
No….no….no….misterwhite! Wait, you simply don’t understand what went on here. Please….let me try to help you understand and carefully consider the facts. First of all, Bryant Rylee is from Moundville, Alabama. Yep, Moundville really is the name of the town. And in Moundville, it is Bryant Rylee’s duty to serve as a … … wait for it … … wait for it just a bit longer for it … Because in one article, it was explicatively pointed out that Bryant is … Maybe you can find it in your heart to somehow cut him a little slack….just a a tiny bit, maybe. For, you see … Ole Bryant was just “youth ministering” on this particular Sunday morning…. like a good old youth minister from Moundville, Alabama, should be doing. There you go …
Well now, it appears that Bryant Rylee believes in "do as I say, not as I do". Can I get an "Amen"?
You're right. I do. But if I lived next to you, I would play my music at maximum just to show you what it's like to live under your own philosophy. I make my own rules. I play my music loud at 3:00 AM. I think it's "moral" to do so, and I don't care what YOU think.
Comments (54 - 146) not displayed.
Top • Page Up • Full Thread • Page Down • Bottom/Latest
#14. To: Pinguinite (#11)
"This may come as a shock to you, but it's actually in the best interests of the police to maintain a good relationship with the general public, and taking a kind rather than militant approach to people having fun on a public beach who don't know that they *might* be violating an ordinance can go a long way to promoting those good relations."
#15. To: Pinguinite (#12)
"Last time I checked, Walmart did not have any stores located on any beaches."
#16. To: goldilucky (#13)
"Where is the notice posted on that public beach that says metal shovels are prohibited there?"
#17. To: misterwhite, goldilucky, Pinguinite (#16)
(Edited)
Ignorance of the law is no excuse.
“Truth is treason in the empire of lies.” - Ron Paul
Those who most loudly denounce Fake News are typically those most aggressively disseminating it.
#18. To: misterwhite (#1)
So if I run along the public beach, fall in his hole, and injure myself on a metal tool, who do I sue -- him or the city?
#19. To: misterwhite (#2)
Well, here we go again. As far as I'm concerned, anything that happened after he refused a reasonable offer is on him. Asshole.
#20. To: misterwhite (#9)
You mean set up a mini-courtroom on the beach to present evidence and call witnesses?
#21. To: misterwhite (#10)
And the people who are too stupid or blind to see water on the floor at Walmart and slip and fall -- they alone are responsible, too?
#22. To: misterwhite (#14)
"It is important to note that the officer explained to Rylee that she would let him off with a warning if he simply filled in the hole."
#23. To: misterwhite (#16)
Ignorance of the law is no excuse.
#24. To: misterwhite, Deckard (#14)
So, who was acting nice and who was acting like a jerk?
#25. To: misterwhite (#15)
Really? Then where could the water have possibly come from?
#26. To: Pinguinite (#25)
"As such, store owners are responsible for maintaining them so they are safe for public use."
#27. To: Pinguinite (#24)
"A good cop, seeing a potential problem, if indeed there was a real reason why the hole was a real problem, would have approached the family in a friendly way, complimented them on the well above average work of the sand castle, and then informed them that the only problem with it was the hole, that in fact, it was a violation of ordinance to have one that deep, and that it's a good ordinance because [fill in the blank] and then ask them to please fill it in because she's got a job to do and she sees they are having a good time, and thank you!"
#28. To: A K A Stone (#23)
"I'm sure you broke some law."
#29. To: A K A Stone (#22)
(Edited)
"I'd fill in the hole. After I went to the store and got some concrete and stuck her head in it."
#30. To: misterwhite (#29)
#31. To: misterwhite (#29)
Here ya go. Use your rake to clear a spot:
#32. To: A K A Stone (#30)
"If the law is immoral I ignore it."
#33. To: Fred Mertz (#31)
"I don't have a plastic rake, paulsen, you statist."
#34. To: misterwhite (#32)
#35. To: A K A Stone (#34)
"There is nothing immoral about building a sandcastle with a metal shovel."
#36. To: misterwhite (#35)
Isn't violating a valid, constitutional law immoral?
#37. To: misterwhite (#35)
Isn't it immoral to teach your children to violate a valid, constitutional law?
#38. To: misterwhite (#35)
Isn't it immoral to violate the rights of others?
#39. To: misterwhite (#35)
You don't even live there and you're going to tell the citizens of Panama City Beach what's moral and immoral and how they should live their life?
#40. To: misterwhite (#35)
Why? Because it's easier to strike back at law enforcement than it is to change the stupid law? Change the law, idiot!
#41. To: A K A Stone (#37)
"If the law says to do something immoral you are free to ignore it."
#42. To: A K A Stone (#37)
"There is a true right and a true wrong and it is in our conscience."
#43. To: misterwhite (#41)
Aren't you also free to ignore moral laws?
#44. To: A K A Stone (#38)
"For example some asshole coming down the beach and harassing people for playing in the sand."
#45. To: misterwhite (#41)
How about this? If the law says to do something you consider immoral you are free to change it.
#46. To: misterwhite (#41)
Assuming, of course, you can find enough people with your sense of morality.
#47. To: A K A Stone (#43)
"So it is your duty to obey moral laws."
#48. To: misterwhite, tooconservative (#41)
Isn't that the way we so things around here?
#49. To: misterwhite (#47)
"So it is your duty to obey moral laws." Unless I think they're immoral.
#50. To: misterwhite (#47)
(Edited)
I think I should be able to play my music as loud as I want, even if it keeps you awake all night.
#51. To: misterwhite (#44)
You don't think city ordinances should be enforced?
It is Bryant Rylee’s most responsible duty to:
Now, misterwhite, you gotta try hard to understand that ole Bryant obviously works hard at his job….being a youth minister for children.
”serve as a youth minister for the children of Moundville.” … a devout Christian, [who] says he supports law enforcement and prays “daily for their protection.”
God bless ole Bryant, misterwhite, you just gotta love him….that he actually prays “daily for the protection of all law enforcement.” This was the weekend spring break at Panama City Beach and what else should youth minister from Moundville be doing on a Sunday morning…except ministering to the children and teaching them by his shining example as a “devout Christian who prays daily for the protection of all law enforcement officers” the correct way to interact properly and safely with law enforcement.
Of course….that’s all that was happening here.
#52. To: Gatlin (#51)
#53. To: A K A Stone (#50)
"Because you don't really think that. You really believe the opposite."
.
.
.
[Home] [Headlines] [Latest Articles] [Latest Comments] [Post] [Mail] [Sign-in] [Setup] [Help] [Register]