"I do not want to arrest you or your wife"

Over a basketball hoop. Swear to God. Some days I almost hate this country.

Link via this.

Comments

[ntnu]

"Some days I almost hate this country."

You're starting to sound like an easily riled up liberal now. Sharpen up.

PS. Also, since I for once have managed to hijack the top comment, can someone tell me how this system works? I mean, I see people out there do incredible things like hotlinking and quoting (that is, not like I do it but a way to make the quoted text appear in a special format) in the comments, how do I do this?

PPS. And since we are on the topic of comments, would you please consider getting a comment system that doesn't suck? Like one that can collapse all the replies to a comment, nothing is like pressing page down thrice and realize you're still reading the replies to a comment about Obama, only it has derailed into a discussion of banana pies.

PPPS Since we are on the topic of complaining, could you consider getting some commenters that doesn't suck?

PPPPS lol j/k.

[Restoras]

I'm not sure what you have against banana pies but I can assure you that derogatory remarks concerning such will be unwelcome.

[Warty]

Learn HTML.

Actually, no. Don't.

[ntnu]

Why shouldn't I?

[Spencer]

because you would use your power for evil.

[Pro Libertate]

I am not aware of any discussions ever about banana pies. Though one is about to start.

Hyperlinks: <A>link text</A>

Block quotes: <blockquote>Text to be block quoted</blockquote>

[sage]

I don't really like bananas. I do like pies. I'm torn.

[Spencer]

I think blueberry pie and apple pies are much better pies to discuss on these boards.

[Pro Libertate]

Man, isn't the blueberry pie one of the great things on Earth? Even cheap frozen blueberry pies are good. It's like the perfect food.

In the summer, we go pick blueberries by the gallon just north of Tampa. Fresh awesomeness. And hardly any radioactivity!

[Spencer]

I've never...NEVER... had a bad blueberry pie.

[wylie]

What about blueberry cobbler?

[Pro Libertate]

Sure, why not! Blueberry strudel, too!

[Spencer]

muffins, jam, etc. All great.

[Restoras]

Fuck yeah! Peach cobbler too!

[Pro Libertate]

There's a narrow window where peaches can be obtained in the correct state, but that's a glorious window. Provided, of course, that the peaches come from Georgia or South Carolina.

[Spencer]

Texas peaches can be mighty fine eating.

[Fist of Etiquette]

Banana pie is awesome.

That is all.

[Spencer]

I call bullshit.

[Pro Libertate]

I posted the Emeril's recipe with a picture of the pie at Urkobold. It's soooo good.

[IceTrey]

The best thing I've ever eaten in my life was a peach from Rustin Louisiana. It was like ambrosia.

[R C Dean]

My ex used to make a blueberry pie that included gin as part of the filling. Most excellent.

And peach season must be taken full advantage of. Texas peaches, needless to say, are the best. At least, if you live in Texas.

[Pro Libertate]

That's peach heresy.

[heller]

Peach cobbler a la mode.

[Mensan]

ProLib, where do you go to pick blueberries around here?

[Pro Libertate]

There's a farm outside of Brooksville. I don't know the name of it, but there are a number around the area.

[Pro Libertate]

Okay, I think I found it. The JG Ranch. It's not far from the Suncoast Expressway.

[Mensan]

Thanks! That's only like 10 minutes from my house; I'm definitely going there as soon as the blueberries are ready.

[Sudden]

Why do you hate banana pies and freedom?

[J sub D]

I loved cheap Banana Cream pies from the frozen food section when I was a wee lad with an indulgent Mom and absolutely no taste.

Now that I is all growed up, I recognize that as an ingredient bananas belong in bread and ice cream sundaes only.

For you lushes, banana daiquiris suck. In fact, all daiquiris suck.

[Pro Libertate]

It was all fake banana flavor when I was a kid, but not so much today.

Try the banana cream pie at Emeril's, or make it yourself. Good food.

[Spencer]

Scotchy scotch scotch...mmmm

[Warty]

The best thing to do with bananas is to throw them away, buy plantains, and fry them. Fuck bananas.

[Pro Libertate]

Bananas are radioactive goodness, and I'll hear no attacks on them.

Also, I've had a spectacular banana cream pie at Emeril's in Orlando. I believe this is the recipe.

[Warty]

Bananas are radioactive goodness, and I'll hear no attacks on them.

I was delighted to learn of the Banana Equivalent Dose.

[Pro Libertate]

I measure all of my radiation needs in banana units.

Speaking of radiation, just re-watched Repo Man for the first time in twenty years. A fine film indeed.

[JW]

"A repo man spends his life getting into tense situations. "

[Pro Libertate]

Ever been to Utah? Ra-di-a-tion. Yes, indeed. You hear the most outrageous lies about it. Half-baked goggle-box do-gooders telling everybody it's bad for you. Pernicious nonsense. Everybody could stand a hundred chest X-rays a year. They ought to have them, too. When they canceled the project it almost did me in. One day my mind was full to bursting. The next day - nothing. Swept away. But I'll show them. I had a lobotomy in the end.

[Warty]

Remember when Emilio was the leading Estevez?

[Fatty Bolger]

Now he's just the sane one.

[Pro Libertate]

He'll always be Otto to me.

[Otto]

He'll always be Otto to me.

Fuckin' A. And you should be ashamed for not watching that movie at least every two years or so.

[Pro Libertate]

I am.

[kilroy]

Great soundtrack.

[fresno dan]

I had a girlfriend who told me a good night of banana hiding was 7 BED

[sailshonan]

Have you made this recipe? I was wondering if you could use cheese cloth instead of a fine mesh strainer...

[Pro Libertate]

No, I've only eaten the end product.

[Jim]

The best thing to do with bananas is to throw them away, buy plantains, and fry them. Fuck bananas.

Plantains are for guys w/ little penises to feel good about themselves.

[Warty]

I haven't tried cutting my wang into chips and frying them. Is it good?

[Jim]

You'd be amazed. I got the recipe from Andrew Zimmern.

[Warty]

Never buy cracklins from a mohel.

[Spencer]

You make a good banana pie for someone with such a small penis.

[Restoras]

I do like banana cream pies, but only if the bananas were flambed first.

Cherry pie is my favorite. Can we make this a cherry pie sub-thread instead?

[Pro Libertate]

Cherry pie is great, but as noted above, blueberry pie is awesome.

[Restoras]

You know, I have to agree. Blueberry pie is awesome.

[sailshonan]

The problem with pies is pie crust. I want to make my own, but it never turns out right. until then, i use Pillsbury refrigerated. I also make a lot of either graham cracker, gingersnap, or chocolate cookie (Oreo crust). Want a doozy of a sweet candy pie? Try the candy pie recipe in Joy of Cooking or the chocolate peanut butter pie...

[sailshonan]

The Warrant song?

[ntnu]

I am not aware of any discussions ever about banana pies. Though one is about to start.

Hyperlinks: link text

Block quotes:

Magic. Pure magic.

But, I realize that computer nerdy types are overrepresented among libertarians, but were there a way for us non-computer types to find out this? Like a "formatting" button (like on reddit) or a "help" button or whatever... I mean, we *could* try to be breaking up some stereotypes, non?

[deja vu]

I eagerly await your witty comments about living in basements and the autism spectrum. Those will be so original.

[Spencer]

ooh,

and links to shitty blogs. yes, I can't wait for those.

[Pro Libertate]

I'm a lawyer with an undergraduate Finance degree. Married to a hot half-Colombian woman who may or may not be Lobster Girl. Yet I can manage to learn some HTML.

[fresno dan]

pictures....for documentation purposes.

[Suki]

Lobster Girl

[lurker]

Fucking cunt got me to link to her/his shitty blog.

[Otto]

Yes. It's called a "Google search." Go to this website called Google. It's a search engine, which means it can look up stuff for you. Type in "HTML" and click on the "Google search" button. Make sure you're actually typing in the field before you hit submit, though. You sound like the kind of person who could have problems with that level of computer hacking.

[Sudden]

Teh Googlez

[ntnu]

Right, so what would I have to type in to get the instructions on how to get quotes and shit on the reason.com comment system?

I'm pretty good at google fu if I have to say so myself, but if your idea of a good comment system includes people having to google external sources to know how to use it, your idea of a good comment system sucks balls.

[heller]

Wow you fail. Go back to homeroom, little one.

[ntnu]

Such an eloquent reply. I can't help but marvel at the wit.

[heller]

Yes, I know you can't. You have much to learn little one.

[rather]

ntnu, don't let them drag you into the jerk circle-you'll never eat pie again

[ntnu]

From all the butthurt in this thread I see that this hit home.

People, I have nothing against computer nerds, my father works as one after all. But you must realize that 95% of the blogs out there does not require you to learn anything to comment, which puts us at a comparative disadvantage. If we want to get that "95%" demographic I think we just have to conform.

Also, my appeal for a comment system with collapsible threads still stands.

[Pro Libertate]

You can comment effectively without using HTML, after all.

See, I just did it!

[ntnu]

Right, but it is still nice to have the opportunity to use those functions...

[Marshall Gill]

Opportunity? No one has denied you the opportunity they have simply not given you something. It is a Libertarian website, after all, one could be expected to be a tad self sufficient.

[Ska]

Jimmy Darmity: All I want is an opportunity.

Nucky Thompson: Well this is America ain't it? What the fuck's stopping you?

[ntnu]

True. And what is your point? Generally internet sites - and particularly those internet sites that are dedicated to spreading a certain point of view - wish to make commenting and browsing them as easy as possible, and they want the users to be comfortable. My suggestions are based on the assumption that this is what h'n'r wants. Do you disagree with this logic, y/n?

[heller]

Boo-fuckin-hoo!

You think no one has brought these issues up before? Wow you're an observant one aren't you!

[rather]

Generally internet sites - and particularly those internet sites that are dedicated to spreading a certain point of view - wish to make commenting and browsing them as easy as possible, and they want the users to be comfortable.

Not here honey.

[heller]

Fuck off bitch. I know it breaks your heart that I can't read your dumb comments.

[The score]

did my bitch helle say something?

[johnl]

This writeup should be enough. And feel free to use plain text for links. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Html#Markup

[Spencer]

but everyone else is doing it!

[mr simple]

But you must realize that 95% of the blogs out there does not require you to learn anything to comment, which puts us at a comparative disadvantage. If we want to get that "95%" demographic I think we just have to conform.

This is a joke, right? Libertarians conforming to appeal to the masses? Do you know anything about us? We here at H'n'R value quality over quantity. If you can't figure out how to post on your own, then your probably not smart enough to post here.

[capitol l]

Can that magical 95% demographic recite Repo Man quotes ad nauseum?

Bet not.

[Pro Libertate]

Most of them would simply slug you if you said, "John Wayne was a fag."

[heller]

Get a clue newfag.

[rather]

I realize that computer nerdy types are overrepresented among libertarians, but were there a way for us non-computer types to find out this? Like a "formatting" button (like on reddit) or a "help" button or whatever... I mean, we *could* try to be breaking up some stereotypes, non?

You need to donate your brain to science. I've never seen a non-autism spectrum disorder male who was a libertarian. This might be Resident Evil Reason Afterlife

[ntnu]

I'm a unique snowflake.

[Stupid Girl]

this is like the worse chatroom ever lol

[blogimi Dei]

You are not a beautiful and unique snowflake. You are the same decaying organic matter as everyone else, and we are all part of the same compost pile. ~Chuck Palahniuk

[kilroy]

Using postscripts in electronic communications is asinine. If you need to alter your content you can change it inline without needing to re-write or re-type all the original content.

I have the power!

HTML, it's what's for dinner.

[capitol l]

Can you make 'em blink though?

[kilroy]

Not any longer, but I did get my <IMG> tag in on that glorious day of yore!

[Pro Libertate]

The Day of the Commenters. Starring George C. Scott.

[kilroy]

See also: with Lobster Girl

[sloopyinca]

Will August 18 be declared a holiday in Libertopia?

[Vermont Gun Owner]

Hmm, we really should add the "Reason should be covering this" to the drinking game. With a double penalty if they already are.

Pro Lib would have gotten us all blackout just on the SpaceX launch,

[capitol l]

I second.

[Pro Libertate]

It's a fair cop.

[heller]

Seriously people, download this shit so that we may all experience IMG utopia once again.

[oncogenesis]

Is there a Firefox version?

[rather]

don't be helle's bitch

[heller]

Nope, get Chrome.

[sloopyinca]

Fucking gravatars. How do they work?

[Amakudari]

Is there a Firefox version?

People are welcome to port it, but I'm not going to.

[Aresen]

You can have your banana pie.

Blueberry pie with ice cream is the all-Canadian dessert!

[capitol l]

If you could figure a way to make a pie out of timbits...

[Spencer]

Finally! Something to like about Canada.

[Sudden]

Why do you hate banana pies and freedom?

[Pro Libertate]

It's quite simple. Bananas are radioactive. Canada hates radiation. Therefore, banana pies are illegal in Canada, like nuclear weapons.

[Pro Libertate]

As I've said twice in this thread now, blueberry pie is great food.

However, the Emeril's banana cream pie I mentioned upthread is pretty damned good.

[Aresen]

Banana cream pies are OK, but I rank them lower than a fresh-baked apple pie made with apples picked that morning and a slab of cheddar cheese on the side.

But blueberry pie (again, made with fresh berries, not glorp from a can) and ice cream is the Market!

[Pro Libertate]

I am willing to test your proposition by consuming some of each referenced pie.

My older daughter doesn't like pie. Pie! Like, doesn't! How?

[R C Dean]

Time for a little genetic testing, wouldn't you say?

[Pro Libertate]

I don't know what you're suggesting, but my wife loves pie, too.

[ClubMedSux]

Strawberry rhubarb is the money pie.

And also, fucking HTML, how does it work?

[sailshonan]

Key lime Pie. I grew up with Key Lime trees in my yard...

[Pro Libertate]

Also a good pie, provided that it's not tarted-up lime pie.

[sailshonan]

Squeezed from home grown key limes... Also, we had avocado trees in our yard, so we had fresh avocados with key lime juice sprinkled on top. And then there was the guacamole. Never make guacamole with lemon, only lime, preferably key limes aka Mexican limes or true limes. The big green ones you see in the supermarkets are Persian limes.

[Rhayader]

If only there were like some sort of "engine" that let you "search" for information on things like, say, how to use HTML in online discussion threads. Someday.

[Pro Libertate]

Yet there's no search engine dedicated to pies. Why is that?

[Nephilium]

But Google has stepped up and provided a recipe search, which can provide many pie variants.

[Pro Libertate]

Well, it's a step forward, anyway.

[ntnu]

Well to be honest I did not know HTML was what you used in these comments. I have never encountered such a system before.

[Vermont Gun Owner]

You've never run into HTML before? Was your first time on the internet 2010?

[Pip]

Why do you hate banana pies, asshole?

[Sudden]

Why do you hate banana pies and freedom?

[J sub D]

This is a banana ?

[Ska]

So, how about discussions on bananas foster?

[Pro Libertate]

Also good.

[sailshonan]

Okay, I've been avoiding this, but I can't help but mention it...Did anyone's mom make that banana pudding/trifle with meringue on top with Nilla wafers; ya know, the recipe was (and still is) on the side on the Nilla wafer box? 'Cause my mom is from Japan and that was the first American dessert recipe she ever learned...

[Pro Libertate]

I grew up eating that.

[Colonel_Angus]

BRING BACK ENTENMANN'S BANANA CAKE.
I mean the original kind with the banana frosting topped with chocolate fudge extrusions. The stupid crunchy replacement is bullshit.

[Irresponsible Hater]

Weeeeeeeeellllllccccccchhhhh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Tman]

I like the part where the bitch from State lies to their faces about being able to keep the pole.

Mmmm, that's some tasty statism right there.

[LarryA]

The police have the legal right to lie to you to get you to do what they want.

[NeonCat]

She looks so professional in her hoodie.

[NeonCat]

She looks so professional in her hoodie.

[NeonCat]

Stupid accidental double post.

[MWG]

It was worth repeating.

[CatoTheElder]

Well, it wasn't as Orwellian as the FBI's famous "This is not an assault" announcement as they were pumping tear gas and firing tear gas cannisters into the Branch Davidian abode.

[Ted S.]

Stop resisting!

[Vermont Gun Owner]

I must repeat myself: that cop is one sick pervert.

[Tulpa]

Technically, the guy was denying DOT access to their right of way. So the promise was not legally binding as it was made under duress.

[Tman]

Tulpa,

Did you swallow some Tony pills or something?

[capitol l]

EWWWW!

NTTIAWWT

[Sudden]

Why do you hate contractions so?

[Tulpa]

Have those been FDA approved?

[Tman]

They have been FDA approved but when you take them you will get a case of violent diarrhea. When you call the FDA they will say that they never told anyone that they were approved.

[sailshonan]

And better not "duress" a cop in the least bit. No, sir. 'Cause those fuckin pussies fear for their lives right quick, and will have to shoot you. Because... they...are...pussies.

[Fist of Etiquette]

There are few things more beautiful than the sight of a bureaucrat exercising her power.

[BoscoH]

Well, I wouldn't hit that with your dick. Totalitarianism is a turn off.

[mr simple]

Nothing like a good hate-fuck.

[Drax the Destroyer]

You, sir, just named my self-published debut country album.

[?]

Some days I almost hate this country.

Somebody needs a Xanax.

[Episiarch]

I can't WTFV at work. What's the deal?

[JW]

Dickhead apparatchiks, confiscating basketball poles in front of people's houses for god knows what reason and lying to the guy's face about him keeping the pole. Money shot: "You can't taunt these people."

[Solanum]

Felony wiretapping charges are pending.

[Solanum]

Felony wiretapping charges are pending.

[Tulpa]

Busybody neighbor complains about basketball hoops too close to the street boundary

DOT workers come in the morning and remove 8 basketball hoops in neighborhood that are "in the DOT right of way"

Guy's wife climbs up to top of pole to keep workers from removing it.

After wife comes off pole, workers come back with DOT wench and state troopers, who threaten to arrest him and his wife for disorderly conduct if they don't move car from in front of pole.

DOT wench says they will put basketball hoop in his driveway after removing it from right of way.

Guy moves his van.

Workers remove basketball hoop, wench tells guy, "You may not taunt them," again threatening a disorderly conduct arrest.

Workers load hoop into giant truck full of other hoops, guy asks why they didn't put it in his driveway, wench says she never said they would (an obvious lie). State trooper gets between him and wench.

Wench tells guy and his wife to get in the house or she will have them arrested.

The End.

[JW]

Busybody neighbor complains about basketball hoops too close to the street boundary

If that were my neighbor, I hope they would get used to having broad-spectrum herbicide accidentally being sprayed on their lawn regularly.

And a good hard, shunning too.

[Dello]

Really? That's it? Burn the fuckers out...

[Tara]

The thing is, everybody is in violation of SOME minor city ordinance or another most of the time, and I would get together with those other 8 neighbors and make damn sure the police are informed every single time the guy mows his lawn two minutes before the noise regulations allow it, or the next time he has a family gathering resulting in five dogs being in his yard when the block covenant clearly states the limit is four... You get the idea. After a year of that treatment, we would all suddenly stop for a month. Then put up permanent hoops again. Give him a chance to not complain before the torture resumes. I'm a forgiving sort of soul that way. 🙂

[Apogee]

You don't get it. It's not like these 'authorities' are equal opportunity oppressors. After the shit storm of Neg PR that this will cause, the lone-asshole complainant will rest assured that any further response to neighborhood calls will be quite muted.

I asked down thread how much this little operation cost the city, and am not entirely sure that the complainant isn't part of the city machinery. If that's the case, you can bet counter-complaints will be ignored.

[Tulpa]

It wasn't the city anyway, it was Delaware DOT.

[Busybody Neighbor, huh]

Obviously an Obama voter.

[Fake Name]

Thats what I thought. In that case I can understand the uprooting of the poles. Also the poles are too close to where the cars are parked. A basketball can easily damage them. On the other hand, the stealing of the poles and the police officer threatening to arrest the couple for being outside the house was unconscionable.

[Vermont Gun Owner]

The man also says that the hoops has been there for sixty years (which seems like a bit much). If true I would think there would have to be some sort of grandfather clause.

[sailshonan]

When the law was passed recently, lawmakers promised that they wouldn't touch already existing poles unless there was a complaint. That's why the homeowner said that only his street was affected--because otherwise it would have been a violation. Enter douchbag neighborhood Nazi...

[Wind Rider]

Douchnozzle busybody neighbor is gonna become a regular fixture at the tire store buying replacements, I'm guessing.

[A. Freeman]

All obey the Almighty State as it knows best what is good for you. That includes your yearly looting and pillaging of your income.

And politicians and bureaucrats (public sector workers) wonder why the public is no longer sympathetic to them.

[Warty]

Some days I almost hate this country.

Libertarians hate everything about this country except for what it's supposed to be.

[Pro Libertate]

That, and blueberry pie. We apparently all love blueberry pie.

[Warty]

Don't forget about strawberry rhubarb pie, dude. Fucking don't.

[jk]

straight up rhubard dude, none of that grocery store strawberry rhubard crud. if you have to put strawberries in your rhubarb to eat it, forget it, just eat chocolate cake or a derby pie or something. and then move to france or something.

[D.D. Driver]

I'm a rhubarb custard guy. Pie, in general, is awesome. Except for pumpkin pie, which kind of sucks but too few people have caught on yet.

[Pro Libertate]

My mom makes a strawberry pie. We have strawberries here like crazy, so you can eat lots of strawberry pie. It's good, too.

[sailshonan]

Plant City. Winter Strawberry capital. I even have a strawberry cookbook. Biscuit or Cake?

[Otto]

Right up I-4, we're getting those 3 lbs. for $5. I'm too lazy to cook, though...

[sailshonan]

No cooking necessary...Just melt chocolate chips in the microwave, then dip the berries into them and then place on wax paper. Delicious and the bonus is one big strawberry dipped in choccie is about 50 calories, so you can have two or three fairly guilt free.

[Pro Libertate]

We have a big flat in the garage fridge right now.

[Kristen]

Biscuit. Is there even a question?? And I'm not a native southerner, neither.

[generic Brand]

Hahaha fuckin' Plant City, Winter Strawberry capital of the world.

Slightly off-topic, but I went to PCHS for 9th grade, which happened to be the year the WTC were attacked. The teachers funneled all of us out to the football field bleachers, and I just kept thinking to myself, "Yes, the terrorists' next target is the Winter Strawberry Capital of the World. Because we all know terrorists hate only two things: freedom, and cheap strawberries in the winter."

[jk]

fine, whatever strawberry or rhubarb, just dont mix them. its like putting pineapple on a pizza, or deep-frying a snickers, its just not intelligent

[heller]

I don't care much for blueberry pie, and I can't stand the taste of bananas. Peach cobbler and cherry pie are superior.

[Vermont Gun Owner]

Blueberries are the devil.

[Pro Libertate]

You and heller are insane. I mean clinically. Please report to the nearest asylum.

[Wind Rider]

I can't believe you guys stayed up all freakin night over what pie is best. If you found yourself in bed with a hot blonde, a hot redhead, and a hot brunette, would you really limit yourself to one choice? Would ya?

[jk]

Dude,
If you ever find yourself in the company of three women that are ready to go, call me, and I will trade you for some pie. K?

[Barely Suppressed Rage]

Libertarians hate everything about this country except for what it's supposed to be.

Warty FTW. I like that.

[NathanExplosion]

Police are investigating:

http://www.delawareonline.com/.....p-incident

[kilroy]

State officials said Friday that basketball hoops, located on the edge of private property but facing the street, violate the state's Free Zone law, requiring the area immediately next to the pavement in subdivisions be free of obstructions.

Oh, the irony. Exemption for mailboxes, gates, etc.?

[Tulpa]

I didn't see any mailboxes or gates in the video.

[Juice]

I saw plenty of trees and bushes.

[Wind Rider]

Yeah, let em go after mailboxes - particularly ones that are installed exactly per Post Office 'regs' for placement. This would give the postal inspectors a cheap excuse to SWAT gear up. . .

[Irresponsible Hater]

Wow - she didn't even identify herself. Is she a cop? A city worker? That's amazing.

[Tulpa]

The video doesn't show her arrival...it jumps from the guy describing the scene earlier in the morning to her already being there and telling him she doesn't want to arrest them.

[Irresponsible Hater]

From TFA:
http://www.delawareonline.com/.....p-incident

"State police declined to comment or identify the officer involved, citing an internal investigation into a complaint by the McCaffertys."

...

"John McCafferty said the woman never clearly identified herself or which agency she was with but just issued orders."

And from TFV, she's not wearing a uniform.

[Tulpa]

I'm calling BS on their claim that she didn't identify herself or her agency. There's no indication in the video that they tried to find out that information or were upset that she didn't provide it. Since it's their edit, we can assume that all the outrage that happened was included.

[Irresponsible Hater]

I'm calling BS on their claim that she didn't identify herself or her agency.

I'm calling BS on your calling BS. So there.

[Tulpa]

I'm calling BS on your calling BS. So there.

Nuh-uh. I called it first.

[Joe R.]

You can't triple stamp a double stamp!

[Apogee]

Because when there's a question of statism, you just can't suck hard enough, huh?

They obviously don't want the public to know about this stuff, or they'd be recording it themselves.

[Apogee]

That was to Tulpa @7:04

[Tulpa]

Again, if she didn't identify herself, why didn't they ask who the fuck she was when she showed up giving orders?

If she refused to tell them who she was, why didn't they get that on video?

[Irresponsible Hater]

A: Maybe they did, maybe they didn't
A: Maybe they did. Maybe they didn't for who knows why not.

But how the fuck would you, personally, have any insight into the accuracy of the reporter's or homeowner's account?

Anyway, no one's making a federal case (yet) out of her alleged failure to identify herself, so you can relax.

It's just a nice little extra detail that the one barking orders is in plainclothes, and (maybe) didn't bother to tell people who she was. Whether or not the victims were too frazzled to have the presence of mind to ask her for her credentials is a separate, also interesting, issue.

Forget the part you imagine must have happened off camera. What about the part on camera? You did see the part where the authorities were being total dicks, right?

But don't worry, as long as all the forms were filled out in triplicate, it's all legal and you can root for the popo.

[Solanum]

FUCK. Do not read the comments to that story. You've been warned.

[Cytotoxic]

Jesus Christ you're NOT kidding.

[capitol l]

Do you mean the youtube comments, the ones that I was were unanimously calling for the homeowner to use deadly force on the government interlopers. One commenter stated that the hooded skank needed "kicked in the cunt."

[capitol l]

saw is backwards

[Solanum]

No, the comments from Nathans's link. Here's a sampler:

Do these people sleep under rocks!!!! It is a law and Rep.Short knows it, what is the question here, or is this a matter of the law does not apply to me. Put the hoop in the back yard or go to the park and abide by the law. Short should not be defending law breakers.

that guy and his wife look like idiots and they should have been arrested its the law ! and they should have told them to take down there xmas lights

THE LAW IZ TEH LAW!!1!

[capitol l]

Wow, those are fucking bad.

*cancels all future trips to Delaware*

[Wayne Campbell]

"Or imagine being able to be magically whisked away to Delaware!
Hi... I'm in Delaware.."

[Apogee]

But Delaware is Joe Biden's state!

Why weren't these people put in a closet for their own protection?

[Contrarian P]

Wow...those may be the most asinine comments I've ever read, and I occasionally check out the ones on the Huffington Post. Seriously? "It's the law, just get over it?" Talk about missing the damn point. I did, however, enjoy the poster who pointed out the numerous laws regulating trick or treating and wondering when the kids would be locked in jail.

[Juice]

So someone introduced a bill or whatever, then people voted on it, and made a LAW against trick-or-treat?

[Tara]

No, very small and mostly-unsupervised bureaucratic offices wrote rules regulating how far from home kids can trick or treat, at what age they may not do so with adult supervision, how much illumination they should carry, how much reflective tape should be applied to their costumes, what hours of what days they may do so, etc. etc. etc., and since that office works within a department with law enforcement powers, those regulations simply become effective as law unless legislators go out of their way to vote otherwise. And who would? They are, after all, only small guidelines that make all kinds of sense for the sake of child safety. In fact, they will all just be rolled into a larger omnibus bill sometime when nobody is looking too closely, and that will just make it easier for everybody.

End result: Nearly every kid in the neighborhood is breaking at least some of the laws, and it would only take one old grouch who is up to speed on the regulations to ruin Halloween for everybody.

[Free2Booze]

Too late. It does explain Joe Biden's 36 year stint as a United States senator.

[Baby Jesus]

*weeping*

[Tulpa]

Reminds me of the X-Files episode that gave me my handle -- though it was an HOA (that beloved anarchocapitalist institution) doing the anti-basketball enforcement in that case.

[Full Metal Trousers]

"It's the uber-menscher!!!"

[gnut]

This kind of crap goes on with HOAs all the time.

via privatopia.blogspot.com

Kids' Lemonade Stand Curtailed By Their Homeowners Association

Posters For Lost Yorkie Spark Tiff With Valley HOA

As Evan McKenzie -- a former HOA lawyer himself -- observed:

It's like something you would see in Nazi Germany or Soviet Russia. People think these things don't go on. But we know they go on every day in condo and homeowners associations. These people who have no idea how to use power at all. They won't even accept limits on their power. They don't even know what the law requires of them, these directors. They go by what some lawyer tells them to do, which the lawyer tells them to do only because he or she knows they can get away with it. Because the only recourse you have is some civil suit. Here in Illinois, we don't have an Ombudsman. Most states don't. There's nowhere for owners to turn. If the lawyer tells them "Oh, just jack 'em around. Who cares what the rules are? Who cares what the law says? It doesn't make any difference." The transaction costs of enforcing an owner's rights are so great that they are hardly ever able to do it. ( OnTheCommons.net June 26, 2010 )

Because conservatives, libertarians, and Ayn Randians fetishize private corporations as a thing of beauty that can never have too much power, they dare not be critical of mandatory membership in an HOA union as a condition of home ownership (even when mandated by the government: OnTheCommons.net April 28, 2007).

So the stories of HOA corporations abusing individual American homeowners don't get reported by conservatarian sites such as Reason, Overlawyered, Instpundit, National Review, Volokh, Independence Institute, Institute for Justice, John Stossel, etc.

Just try to find any mention of what happened to U.S. Army Captain Michael Clauer on those sites -- especially on those that claim to "support the troops."

Instead, we're treated to breathtaking displays of idiocy such as "Since HOAs are very local and small, participants are often neighbors and hence have incentive to settle disagreements in a civil manner" (Independence Institute. February 28, 2009). Which is evidence that libertarians are as clueless about the real world results of their theories as your typical college campus communist wearing a Che Guevara t-shirt and driving around in a Prius sporting a "Hope and Change" bumper sticker.

[Alpheus]

Oh, I'm not ignorant of HOAs: I am fully committed to avoiding them, and I would strongly support any efforts to establish the right to leave them when they become overbearing.

What you describe is as much a failure of law, though, as it is a failure of "free market" lawmaking--moreso, because the law, as it is currently structured, gives too much power to the HOA director.

[gnut]

> What you describe is as much a failure of law, though,
> as it is a failure of "free market" lawmaking--moreso,
> because the law, as it is currently structured,
> gives too much power to the HOA director.

I agree with your analysis, but most conservatives / libertarians / Ayn Randians don't.

Instead, their position is that homeowners in HOAs consented to be abused. "Their theory tells them that private repression is actually freedom because it is based on contract law." Unfortunately, the advocates of economic liberty and free markets have descended into a parody of corporatism.

But the problems with HOAs goes way beyond the petty authoritarianism of the board of directors you sometimes hear about. As a corporation, HOAs are a defective product that endanger a member's personal assets, not protect them from any debts and liabilities created by the HOA corporation. Eg, if the HOA board mismanages the association's money, or commits an illegal act that results in a large fine, you can lose your home.

Personally, I believe HOA unions should be abolished. But short of that, HOA unions should be made as voluntary as labor unions -- ie, homeowners should be able to join and leave them as they please. And I don't mean by selling their house, unless the conservatarian position on labor unions is that union workers who don't want to be union members in a closed shop "can always get another job."

PS -- Having just checked out your blog, I see that you're active in the gun rights movement. What is the conservative / libertarian / Ayn Randian position on HOAs banning guns? Hint: do an internet search for "repressive libertarianism" (with the quote marks).

[Daze]

Government spends millions on "Citizens! Get outside and exercise!" propaganda, then sics the bulldozers and thugs on anyone who dares exercise outside.

Ha ha, suckers.

[Joe M]

Right hand, left hand, etc.

[ass-hat/hole]

Ambidextrous statism. What's the problem?

[Tulpa]

sics the bulldozers and thugs on anyone who dares exercise outside.

Hyperbole much?

It is possible to exercise without a basketball hoop next to a public right of way.

[Wayne Campbell]

I don't know. Is it possible for you to suck the government's cock without getting spunked on?

[Tulpa]

Hyperbole mixed with ad hominem now. Try to work in a strawman next time too.

[Apogee]

All gubmint, all the time isn't ad hominem when it's applied to you, it's just an observation.

[Lurker]

Where is my manual on government approved? outdoor exercise?

[Kyle Roberts]

http://www.hooah4health.com/4you/FM2021-20.pdf

[SFC B]

TC 3-22.20 replaced FM 21-20

http://www.armyprt.com/downloa.....ning.shtml

[Juice]

I guess technically a cul de sac is a "public right of way" but not much of one.

[Apogee]

I guess technically a cul de sac is a "public right of way" but not much of one.

But the pole wasn't blocking the public right of way. It was removed on the request of another homeowner - wonder how much this removal cost the city?

This is government in action. No conflict resolution - just a sledgehammer used by one segment of the populace against another.

[Free2Booze]

Does beating the crap out of your whiny neighbor count as exercise?

[Restoras]

"Some days I almost hate this country."

What I feel at a moment like this is hatred for what it has, in some instances, become.

A monopoly working with state sanctioned regulators to consolidate power and deprive the proles of thier property rights, all under the threat of force against the property holder. Disgusting.

[Id]

Deprive the proles of their poles.

Missed opportunity there dude.

[CatoTheElder]

"Some days I almost hate this country."

My sentiments precisely.

[?]

There are days when my hate fades to "almost," too.

Then I see a road, or a seatbelt, or a sandbox without bloody syringes in it, and my hate recovers.

[Alpheus]

I'm glad you're in a position to see roads, seatbelts, and sandboxes, all without bloody syringes in them.

I wish I could live in such an idyllic place!

[capitol l]

Some days I almost hate this country.

Get over that "almost" barricade and we'll send you the decoder ring.

--------
Seriously, fuck that hoodie wearing skank with the business end of a basketball hoop.

[Tulpa]

As sickening as the DOT's behavior here is, that basketball hoop was bolted into the ground waaaay too close to the street. If a driver slides on ice on that street they could easily be killed by that thing.

They should not have been as heavy-handed as they were, and should at least have let him keep it after removing it though.

[Beezard]

Couldn't the same be said for a mailbox or a car parked at the end of the driveway?

[Warty]

Jesus fucking Christ.

[X]

authoritarian cock isn't just going to suck itself

[Fuck]

For crying out loud, Tulpa, get off it!

"authoritarian cock isn't just going to suck itself"

If the authoritarian cock is privatized, libertarians will gladly drink from it.

[GILMORE]

Yeah. ON A DEAD END STREET? People are clearly going to drive into the pole at high speed... what, while they're doing donuts hyphy style?

retard.

[tom]

You might be correct but it did appear that the street was actually the end of a cul-de-sac and since it was a neighborhood I would hope people would be driving a little slower than normal, especially if snow is on the ground.

[JW]

I smell a trap.

[oncogenesis]

If a driver slides on ice on that street they could easily be killed by that thing.

Seriously? To be killed by it, you'd have to be traveling at such speed that it wouldn't matter if the hoop were 6 ft behind the curb. And I doubt that driver safety was what the anonymous "concerned citizen" complained about.

[sailshonan]

Well better fuckin start removing the street lamps and electric poles...

[Full Metal Trousers]

Exactly.

[Fluffy]

Actually, since the Bill of Rights has been incorporated against the states, by keeping the hoop after removing it all involved here are guilty of civil rights violations.

In Suits at common law, where the value in controversy shall exceed twenty dollars, the right of trial by jury shall be preserved, and no fact tried by a jury, shall be otherwise re-examined in any Court of the United States, than according to the rules of the common law.

Where was the jury trial before they seized this property?

And if you get up on your high horse that this wasn't a civil matter:

In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury of the State and district wherein the crime shall have been committed, which district shall have been previously ascertained by law, and to be informed of the nature and cause of the accusation; to be confronted with the witnesses against him; to have compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in his favor, and to have the Assistance of Counsel for his defence.

[Tulpa]

It's not seized, it's impounded. Like when they tow your car after you park in front of a fire hydrant.

She said he could call DOT to arrange to come pick it up, so it's not like they're permanently confiscating it (assuming she's not lying again). Though obviously a non-douchebag would have just put the pole in his driveway like she said she would.

[Sy]

No, a non-douchebag wouldn't have given a shit about a basketball hoop in front of a neighbor's house anyways.

Try again.

[NL]

The Supreme Court hasn't decided to incorporate the 7th Amendment, so it doesn't apply against the states. They only selectively incorporated the bill of rights, basically whenever they decide that the right in question is sufficiently important ("fundamental to a scheme of ordered liberty").

[Edwin]

actually, since it was a fixture and it was installed within the right-of-way-easement it was public property the minute it was installed

this is probably so, the legal details concerning public property easements/rights of way is complicated

[Free2Booze]

"If a driver slides on ice on that street they could easily be killed by that thing."

It's at the end of a cul-de-sac. Besides, anyone driving through a residential area at speeds high enough to be killed by a basketball pole, is much more likely to run someone down in the street than die from hitting a pole.

[Tulpa]

Simple physics: if you lock the brakes on ice your car actually accelerates as the rotational kinetic energy of the wheels is converted to translational kinetic energy.

[JoshiNHB]

Honest judge,
Doppler shift made the red light look green at the speed I was going.

[Free2Booze]

Negligible and brief. The amount of rotational E converted, when compared to the rest of the system, is small and will eventually be negated by the non-conservative forces, such as the work done by kinetic friction and the brakes opposing the motion of the wheels.

Unless, the car is going really fast, which brings us full circle to my original point.

[db]

Or if your wheels are made of tungsten.

[Barely Suppressed Rage]

Simple physics: if you lock the brakes on ice your car actually accelerates as the rotational kinetic energy of the wheels is converted to translational kinetic energy.

Oh, for fuck's sake, you don't even have the slightest grasp on fundamental physics. If you lock the brakes your car ACCELERATES? Fucking A, how fucking wrong can you be? That would violate basic Newtonian physics. OK, I could see a teensy, tiny, momentary jolt of tiny, tiny acceleration - but it immediately would be canceled out by the fact that the car's fucking wheels are NOT ROLLING. Additionally, even if it did "accelerate", you're saying that it would accelerate enough from the speed that you would be driving on a fucking CUL-DE-SAC to slam into the pole with sufficient force to kill or maim?

Just fucking get off it already. Jesus Christ, you just don't fucking know when to give up, do you.

[pedant dunkel]

Acceleration is the rate of change of velocity. Slowing down or changing direction is acceleration.

/pedant

[Orly]

If a driver slides on ice they could easily be killed by another car. BAN ALL CARS.

[Free2Booze]

Or just ban ice.

[Drax the Destroyer]

If you are driving fast enough in a cul-de-sac to be unable to slow down in wintry conditions and you hit a fucking basketball pole that has been there for 60 mother-fucking cunt-punching years then you probably deserve to die.

[Wind Rider]

God damn Tulpa. The more of this obnoxious contrarian in service of the man shit you post, the more the image of you with your ankles for earrings, and you cooing 'do me with your nightstick, officer' becomes more plausible. Stop it. Just stop it now. Freak.

[Kristen]

Talk about a fucking strawman. Jesus h. chrysler.

If a driver slides on ice on my street he/she could easily be killed by my house. Better tear that bad boy down!

[Bryan C]

"If a driver slides on ice on that street they could easily be killed by that thing."

That's what SHE said.

But, seriously, that's your safety standard? If a sliding car could hit it and hurt somebody, it's gotta go? There's not enough bubble wrap in the entire world, pal.

The approach shown here is likely the norm. The more useless the rule, the more rabid and extreme the enforcers become. When you have random city employees threatening people with arrest for standing on the own lawn you've gone well beyond "heavy-handed".

[Ed Zacharias]

Sorry, the money line for me is when the chick in the hoodie really asserts her authority as she was protecting the goons from being taunted:

"This ends now . . . go in the house!"

My God.

[Art Sanilla]

Well someone had to protect those DelDot workers from the vicious taunts of the homeowners.

[BB]

The vicious taunt of a homeowner WHO USES A CANE.

[Rhayader]

Yeah, that's what got me too. "You can stand there, but you can't taunt these people."

Fucking. A. I'm way too lazy to point out everything wrong with that.

[R C Dean]

My response would have been to paraphrase South Park:

"Whatever. Its my property. I do what I want."

[alan]

"I'm sorry I thought this was America. I didn't know we're in a communist county."

[Hand cuffed, led to cop car, trousers around the ankles]

I haven't watched the video yet. I suspect when I do I'll be in a much less jovial mood.

[Tara]

Better still, tell her ONCE to step off the lawn, and when she does not do so, immediately turn to the state trooper and CALMLY say, I wish to file trespassing charges against this woman right now. Please arrest her and take her into custody.

If the cop refuses, read his badge number for the camera and ask him to repeat his refusal for the record.

It could only get more fun from there.

[Tulpa]

While that would in theory be a wonderful exercise of your rights, for uh, practical reasons you probably want to keep the cop standing off to the side and out of this dispute.

I have a strong feeling a state trooper isn't going to be on your side against the state DOT.

[Lost_In_Translation]

Well he sure as hell wasn't doing anything to keep the bitch in line.

[Wind Rider]

The only thing that could have been done to keep that bitch in tune with reality would have been for the cop to handcuff her, bend her over the hood of his cruiser, and have the DelDOT crew pull a train on her.

[Kristen]

You for got while yelling "stop resisting"

[kArupt]

THIS

[CSettles]

So much freaking win!

[R]

The problem with that is that if that part of the lawn in question is part of the right-away, she wouldn't be guilty of trespassing, so the cop would just laugh at you.

I personally would have made full use of my first amendment rights, though, and continued taunting and mocking until she had me arrested. Then I'd own their asses. A violation of civil rights suit would pay for quite a few new basketball poles.

[Sudden]

She looks like she could really work a pole though.

[sailshonan]

Of course she can work a pole. She didn't get her job through intelligence, talent, or personality. BTW, the number of female cops at the Pinellas (FL) SO who used to be pole dancers or Hooters girls would astound you.

[Irresponsible Hater]

Her sweatshirt says FBI Quantico.

I really hope this is not a federal issue, but I wouldn't be surprised.

Also, at 3:12 she says "oh, here comes the crazy wife". Never a good sign when the cops not only have no empathy for you, but think you're *crazy* for resisting them. That's a recipe for a tazering or worse.

[BradK]

And what, Quantico doesn't have a gift shop?

She's no Clarice Starling that's for sure.

[Free2Booze]

When ever public employees start to whine about having their collective bargaining privileges revoked, just play this video.

[Kristen]

Street carts in DC sell those things. Probably came to town to see the cherry blossoms and got herself 2 for $10 on FBI duds.

[Aresen]

Some days I almost hate this country.

I love your country.

I can't stand the people in charge.

[DDavis]

I like the country plenty, but often do hate the people in charge.

I hate the FDA.

I have nothing but respect and gratitude for cops who uphold the law and respect citizens, and nothing but hatred and contempt for cops abusing citizens and the constitution.

That broad lied to citizens about what she was going to do, and then threatened them with arrest for exercising their free speech rights on the grounds of their own home.

And that's what she did *with a camera running*. Imagine how she treats citizens when there are no cameras present.

[BradK]

I'm actually surprised the she or one of her armed thugs didn't make a grab for the camera under the auspices of "interfering with a police officer".

[Restoras]

A+

[oldtimer]

Is there a school where they learn that shit?

[Aresen]

I believe it is actually a clinic.

It was featured in One Flew Over the Cookoo's Nest.

[Restoras]

Nah, just an informal club, kinda like German Workers Party, or something similar.

[BradK]

Like the art of bank robbery in Charlestown, Mass., it's passed down from father to son.

Or in this case daughter.

[Drax the Destroyer]

Public School? Is this a trick question?

[Publius Cato]

Some days I almost hate this country.

Almost?

[gritsl]

What a horrible person she is. I'm sure her mother's proud.

[Fatty Bolger]

Look at the bright side. Nobody's dog was shot.

[Chupacabra]

They'll come back to finish that job later.

[Drax the Destroyer]

And for good measure, they will make sure to find a black girl to ignite, then shoot.

[DOT]

Missed a spot!

[sailshonan]

Missed a Spot!

[Clich? Bandit]

I am actually trying to watch the vid after reading these comments...this will not end well for my blood pressure.

[Aresen]

Please post again after you have done so.

We want to be sure it has not induced a heart attack or seizure.

[Clich? Bandit]

fuck

[Clich? Bandit]

I hope this never happens to me ... cause I would be dead. Over a basketball hoop. And I don't want to die over a basketball hoop.

[ccballew]

+1

[Clich? Bandit]

And of course I am stupid enough to got to the article and read the comments...insert long continuous string of explatives here...now I am on my way to the ER with a busted left ventricle, and some banana cream pie.

[Almanian]

Knock Knock!!!

Who's There?

Orange

Orange Who?

Orange ya glad I didn't say BANANA.....HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAA!!!!!

[Fatty Bolger]

The Annoying Orange

[Almanian]

That is simply wonderful. Thank you!

[Achtung Baby]

Okay, how come nobody has mentioned the fact that the homeowners PARK THEIR CARS RIGHT IN FRONT OF THE POLE! Jesus, the DOT can't see the cars for the pole.

[GILMORE]

Want. To. Puke.

[X]

kids, be sure and paint FUCK OBAMA on your backboards to give your basketball goals free speech protection

[sloopyinca]

That bitch in the hoodie deserves a pie in the face.

[Pro Libertate]

What kind of pie?

[Solanum]

Chicago-style pie? Wait, no one deserves that.

*runs away*

[Episiarch]

I'm glad to see others ridiculing ProL's disgusting, and possibly psychotic, choice of pizza.

[Pro Libertate]

Typical. You clearly have nothing relevant to add to this pie thread. Which isn't about pizza. How limited you've become in your thinking since you moved to Seattle. Which has neither pizza nor pie.

[Episiarch]

You're not the president of this thread!

[Wayne Campbell]

I'd have to go with lemon meringue. Or perhaps a Boston Cream.

Seriously, though. Pie ain't got shit on a good piece of cake.

[sloopyinca]

name-fail.

[capitol l]

Party on sloopy.

[Pro Libertate]

I have the mandate of the people!

[Sudden]

I'm with you ProL, true pizza should require a fork and knife.

[Pro Libertate]

Yes, we wouldn't want to waste something good to eat, now would we?

In any case, this isn't a pizza thread. It's a banana pie thread.

[capitol l]

Nobody was talking about pizza, they were referring to that sweet smelling steaming pile of rotting masturbation that Chicagoans have the gall to call pizza.

[sloopyinca]

Oooh. Sick burn. [Puts hand in the air in high-five offering to capitol l]

[capitol l]

*whack*

[heller]

Actually the Chicago deep dish has a proud and illustrious history, starting with the chamber pot and devolving into the crock of shit idiots eat today.

[sloopyinca]

Chicagoans need to stick with making the world's greatest-tasting hot dogs, and leave pizza to the rest of the world.

[Sudden]

Ken, you obviously don't live in the Bay Area because had you ever been to Zachary's, your hatred of deep dish would quickly be remedied. you simply haven't had the fortune of having a truly appropriate representation of Chicago deep dish. I pity you in that regard.

[Almanian]

I heard Sandi shit on a Chicago-style "pizza" once.

Thin and crisp as God intended, bitches.

[sloopyinca]

Sudden,I think I'm heading to the bay area next weekend. I'll be sure to duck in cause the thin pizza looks good. The slop in the other pic looks like someone took a dump in a pie dish and threw a dead fetus on top of it.

[monsterMash]

"Swear to God. Some days I almost hate this country."

Then leave bro.

[MWG]

Love it or leave, right m.Mash?

[capitol l]

Whooa, dude LOL you told them oh yeah

snap into a slim jim bro man dude stuff like

wooo!

/dipshit

[kbolino]

And go where, exactly?

That's really the point, isn't it. It's worse everywhere else. But apparently we're just supposed to roll over and say, as long as we're marginally better than everywhere else, man up and live with it.

Great argument.

[tote-road]

They are coming for the street hockey nets next. Fuck.

[jayrad]

It's cool man. Just put up a closed sign and play on the roof of the Quickstop.

[DelDOT bitch]

Let's make this perfectly clear. You can't use public property for sporting...unless your a multibillionaire NFL, MLB, NBA, or NHL owner. Go fuck yourselves, you proles.

[DelDOT bitch]

...and yes, I know that it's "you're." Grow up, you Kochsuckers.

[kbolino]

You tell that rhetorical audience. You tell em, buddy.

[sailshonan]

That reminds me of a time I got into an argument with a county comissioner campaigning out in front of the DMV. I had just received a ticket for parking in front of my house, because you are not allowed to park on the roads in this county. My BF has two cars and I have one, and our pop up camper is in the garage, so I do as my neighbor and everyone else does, just ignore the laws and park on the streets that my taxes pay for. (I live in a subdivision; no heavy traffic here) When I got into it with the pol, his response to me was that I needed to buy a house with a three car garage...

[Absinthe Minded]

What a pretentious piece of shit! It reminds me of that anti-smoking South Park Episode where Rob Reiner is talking to the guy smoking at the bar:

Reiner: Would you mind putting that death stick out?!

Bar Guy: But, uh, this is a bar.

Reiner: Isn't smoking illegal in bars here?

Bar Guy: Look man, I work 14 hours a day at the saw mill. I just got off work and I need to relax.

Reiner: Well when I relax I just go to my vacation house in Hawaii!

Bar Guy: I ain't got a vacation house in Hawaii!

Reiner: Yuh your vacation house in Mexico, then, whatever it is!

Both Completely disconnected with common people!

[Christine O'Donnell]

Miss me yet?

[Christine O Donnell]

Sorry. Working on my HTML skills. By the way, I'd of cast a spell on that DelDOT Bitch. Just sayin'

[Fluffy]

Here's a question:

Since what's happening here is that there is a property boundary line dispute, how in fuck's name can one party to that dispute just stroll up and violently settle the dispute in its own favor?

Did I miss the part where this survey dispute was litigated and a court order was issued in the DOT's favor?

Does this mean that I can just rent a backhoe and demolish my neighbor's fence if I think it's over the property line?

[Tulpa]

So it would require litigation to remove the couch and table that a homeowner set up on the midst of traffic on the street in front of their house?

Public right of way is written into civil law, it's not a common law property dispute.

[Fluffy]

This isn't on the street and it isn't abandoned property.

This is more like the Massachusetts Turnpike Authority deciding somebody read a survey wrong and showing up at the Newton Holiday Inn while it's occupied and dynamiting it.

It's a semi-permanent improvement in a disputed easement. If they get to just knock that shit down without a court order, then I assert the right to destroy any property in Delaware I choose. If there's no law for them, there's no law for me.

[Tulpa]

It's hard to tell from the video, but it looked like it was right up against the street. The public right of way legally extends a certain distance from the edge of the street -- otherwise this guy could detain anyone who walked on the grass immediately next to the street for trespassing. (I'm not sure what the distance is in Delaware, but it's certainly long enough for the hoop to have been in the right of way)

[Tim]

If you actually took the time to look at the letter the state rep drew up and sent to the DOT, you'd see there are a heck of a lot of different legal reasons why this isn't cut and dry. Among many, the pole predates the law, and as such the rep's interpretation of the particular law suggested to him that the pole was grandfathered. The point is DelDOT knew fully that it wasn't a cut and dry issue of public right of way enforcement.

[Kristen]

Yet more strawmen. Does your computer smell like a barn?

[Juice]

No. You have to call DOT. Then they destroy the fence. See? You pay taxes, you get public service.

[Tyler Nixon]

Believe me, this incident is but a representative little slice of what it's like living in this backwater state teeming with layers and layers of overlapping, overzealous, overfed Democrat-party-absolute-ruled government (state, county, city) constantly subjugating the citizenry to its self-protecting/self-perpetuating/self-justifying group megalomania.

Unaccountable, corrupt bureaucratic agencies.

Arbitrary authoritarian coercion down to the most micro level of life, all nice and "legal" like, affirmed by a largely rubber stamp judiciary that has made it clear for decades never to bother them with any principled or constitutional challenge to even the most rapacious government intrusion, scheme or power-grab.

Self-dealing AFSCME bottom-feeders grown politically powerful as they are parasitic.

Sweetheart deals of all sorts handing taxpayer resources to the politically (i.e. Democrat) connected players in a cozy little inside power game. (see also the "Delaware Way").

EXAMPLE: State Senate Pro Tem under federal investigation for violating the Hatch Act.

http://www.delawareonline.com/.....l-scrutiny

Just one of many double-dipping state legislators, working 6-figure executive branch jobs in agencies they supposedly oversee -- not to mention the rampant nepotism and institutionalized cronyism.

Deplorable authoritarian law enforcement tactics, practices and priorities suckled and matured through decades of ole Joe Biden (Senator "Crime Bill")'s self-hating-liberal obsession with macho, big-mouthed muscular law, order and control...lest any lousy Democrat be called "soft on crime".

No overkill, no abuse, no failure of results, no outrage, no mindless control freak coercion by any badge-wearer or authority-pusher is EVER so much as questioned much less criticized by the statist Delaware political establishment (D's and R's included, frankly).

In this crazed Biden enclave (remember, this is a man who used federal law to make glow sticks into drug paraphenalia) there is nothing but slobbering praise and affirmation for any uniformed agent, particularly armed, exerting force in the name of state power, end of story.

People think Obama is dangerous, without knowing as we do in Delaware what a mindless, megalomaniacal authority-worshiping statist (without even the pretense of a coherent ideology or philosophy driving him) is just a heartbeat away.

[kbolino]

You do vote for these people, you know.

[Tyler Nixon]

Decades of ever-tightening exclusionary election statutes imposed by Delaware's incumbent overseers, particularly empowering the two major parties' closely-held hierarchies, have rigged the whole process to squelch free, fair or equal ballot access.

They banned write-in candidates who aren't registered. They're about to kill the basic political free speech by which people organized as parties may nominate whomever they wish by requiring that any party nominee register with the state as a member of the nominating party (to the exclusion of all others, btw). (All this to kill any potential danger from pesky 'fusion candidates').

The incumbent and partisan turf protection rackets are so ingrained in this small state's body politic that now dozens of lifer incumbents routinely run UNOPPOSED.

Even some of the most dedicated reformers or crusaders face personal and financial exhaustion to challenge the inside game in any meaningful or public way, usually ending up demoralized or marginalized to the point that few even bothering trying to challenge it any more.

So your comment is quaint. Voting means jackshit if there is really no choice involved, no?

[Tulpa]

But it's nice that you don't pay sales tax at restaurants.

[GILMORE]

Ugh. Samples from the comments @ the article on Delawareonline.com
=
whattheheck
3:55 PM on March 29, 2011
The representative trying to get the family their illegally placed hoop back and return of the fine they have to pay can also pay for the medical expenses and funeral of one of her kids when they dart out into traffic. And while he's at it, he can pay for the damage to someone's vehicle and their life-long therapy for innocently hitting some kid.

The law if the law; the rest of us follow it, why can't everyone else? If you don't like rules, move out of the country!

==================

TeeCeesGhost
7:53 AM on March 29, 2011
Although I'm not quite sure what the hoop being there since the 50's has to do with anything, I'm pretty sure the hoop has not been there since the 50s. It's kind of funny how they have weeds growing everywhere and the house looks horrid and the basketball backboard is their main concern. I'd like to know why the woman was not arrested. If the police came to my house and I hindered their intent, I'd be arrested. Are our police really afraid of public opinion (no matter how misinformed)?

========================

whaler
9:46 AM on March 29, 2011
"She said they had been trying to work things out with the state for weeks when crews showed up Friday."

According to reports......they were TOLD, by mail on numerous occasions, to get those damn things DOWN!
What is it with this Rep. Bryon Short, D-Highland Woods in stepping in between the LAW and this family?
....vote hunting?
Fine the family.....lock them up.....recycle the hoop.

===========================

The whole situation sort of reminds me of how the NYC MTA got extra money for a subway station clean-up initiative about 5 years ago... basically, to clean them the fuck up because most havent so much as had a fresh coat of paint since the 1970s.

What they did was produce 1000s of "Can it For a Greener Planet!" posters, glued to the garbage cans.

Actual garbage remove decreased over the period. So what you ended up with were thousands of overflowing garbage cans that were literally bursting, spilling crap on the platforms.

Of course, when I asked the subway booth guy and the local MTA maintenance guy what the deal was, they pointed out that garbage removal was a specific job they were not allowed to handle. That's "MTA Hauling & Property Maintenance General Contracting"'s job..

Oh, and when they DO show up?.... This is what you get =

http://secondavenuesagas.com/2.....that-sits/

MUCH improved, no?

Put this in the light of recent efforts to Ban Food in the subway system...? Because, "it might attract rats and bugs" (although the MTA dropped this one for now)

...point being, their "ban" proposal wasn't about making sure train stations & trains remain clean... It was about wanting to not have to take out the trash anymore, really.

[BradK]

When you read comments like Gilmore quoted and, assuming they are coming from Delaware residents -- and voters -- is it really any surprise that shit like this goes on? Get the government you deserve, blah, blah...

And I wonder how many times the DelDOT twats have cried poverty over budget cuts, yet seem to have plenty of manpower to go around and rip private property out of privately owned land.

[Free2Booze]

Or that Joe Biden was elected to the United States senate seven times.

[Kreel Sarloo]

Look at the video Brad. The pole was between the curb and the sidewalk. That's in the right of way and hence the state's land.

There probably should have been a more formal notification procedure followed with time for review and compliance but when you put shit on someone else's land they have a right to remove it.

Think about what you'll do if a squatter ever decides to put a cardboard shack up on your front lawn.

[Lost_In_Translation]

Think about what you'll do if a squatter ever decides to put a cardboard shack up on your front lawn.

Yeah because that's the same thing

[Kreel Sarloo]

It's the same thing in the sense that it's using property that is one is not entitled to use for that purpose.

If you want to complain, complain about the fact that many municipalities require the property owner to clear snow and other debris from the sidewalk and to mow the grass in and otherwise maintain the utility strip (the grass between the sidewalk and the curb - where the hoop was) in front of their property.

[Lost_In_Translation]

*rolls eyes*

How about people just use common fucking sense when enforcing right of way concerns. Shanty town = need to remove, Basketball goal /= need to remove. I know its alot to ask of bureaucrats.

[Tulpa]

Wait, you want bureaucrats to have discretionary power? Bueller?

[Lost_In_Translation]

Its not power to go beyond their mandate. Its power to stay "the law does not fit this situation, further review is necessary". Basically it requires them to use their brains.

[Wind Rider]

Can't use what they never had.

[waffles]

You can't live in a basketball hoop you silly goose!

[omg]

As someone who grew up in DE, let me tell you about the morons who work at DelDOT.

DelDOT needed to re-pave DE's entire section of I-95 about 10 years back, and it decided that it would be a good time to experiment with a different kind of concrete. The new concrete didn't work, and halfway through they decided to close down the entire DE section of I-95 for a month while they ripped everything up again.

Between this, the U of D "all white people are racist" program, the kid who got expelled for bringing a camping butter knife to school, and having the indignity of being the hole Joe Biden crawled out of, I look at all Delaware articles on this site through a facepalm.

Actually, I think Delaware might have the most WTFs-per-capita outside of California.

[New jersey]

Oh ay, buddabing - I thinks we got you beat

[Warren]

Swear to God. Some days I almost hate this country.

Not "this country". That is strictly a coast thing. Try that shit in Indiana or Kentucky and you'd be net deep in angry mob, pitch forks, and torches before you pulled up the second board.

[mad libertarian guy]

This.

Try that shit in KY and you're likely to get disappeared in the mountains.

[spmat]

This. To quote a Southern philosopher, "I'd like to spit some Beechnut in that [woman]'s eye."

[Greer]

first they come for the basketball hoops....

The problem is that this little timeworn joke is getting really fucking close to reality.

[mailbox]

First they came for the basketball goals, but I said nothing because I was white.
Then they came for the hockey goals, but I said nothing because I couldn't rollerblade.
Then they came for the street lamps, but I didn't care because I rarely went out in the evening.
Then they came for me, and nobody said anything because there was nobody left on the curb.

[imhotep]

I do hate this country. And anybody who loves this country doesn't really love this country, but instead loves an ideal they have in thier mind that never really exicted in the first place. No worries though - the government will bankrupt themselves soon enough Godspeed pricks.

[AreopagiticaCelebrates]

Repeat after me: the country is not the government; the government is not the country.

Some days I really really hate the government.

Not the country. The country, thankfully, is much much more than the government.

Swish, all net.

[sloopyinca]

Swish, all net.

It would have been but the basket was removed by DelDOT while you were in the process of shooting.

[capitol l]

Swish, all net.

It would have been but the basket was removed by DelDOT while you were in the process of shooting he plays for Vilanova.

[The score]

a writer who hates this country-almost, and another who loves Hitler

[The sore]

Rectal sore, that is.

[Free2Booze]

"Sir, go inside"!?

You have got to be fucking kidding me. This is why everyone should own guns.

[Lost_In_Translation]

"Ma'am, go away"

*pump action*

[Tulpa]

*internet tough guy*

[Lord Ballsac]

*internet power-worshipper*

[Lost_In_Translation]

Foul. Inappropriate use of action tags *.*

[skr]

Reason should send everybody in a video like this a free copy of the magazine or at least a newsletter after highlighting them on H&R. It's like ambulance chasing for freedom.

[Almanian]

Um, drugs are bad..mkay?

[Kreel Sarloo]

Sorry people, but that pole appears to be between the cub and the sidewalk and hence in the right of way, IOW the state land.

If someone put something on my property I'd probably want to take it down too. I might be less of a dick about it but I'd still want it down.

And for whoever asked, there's no need for a survey to determine the right of way line. the right of way line is behind the sidewalk. How far behind varies, but the are where the BB hoop appeared to be was in the right of way.

Be as outraged as you want, but if you don't want your shit torn down and hauled away, don't put it on someone else's property.

[Kreel Sarloo]

And while I'm at it I might point out that I'm disappointed that Matt Welch didn't verify whether the hoop was in the right of way or not.

That said, the outrage at the fact that there was apparently no notification our time given for review etc is perfectly justified.

And I will add that the world would certainly be better off with fewer self-righteous busybodies like the neighbor that ratted on them.

[Tulpa]

And while not technically a legal requirement, they should have let him keep the pole after removing it. Perhaps with a warning that he would be fined if he tried to put it in the right of way again.

[Lost_In_Translation]

I'd be interested to see the justification of the hazard the pole presented in the right of way.

Oh, and I saw alot of poles with mobile bases in that truck. I wonder what right of way they were violating and why they had to be confiscated.

[Lost_In_Translation]

Oh, by the way, that deck you had built on the utility easement, yeah, I'm gonna have to tear it up. No, the power company doesn't need to do any work on it, but its there easement.

You see, being a dick is easy. And apparently for some bureaucrats, fun and profitable.

[Tulpa]

Right of way != easement

But she was a dick. It's possible she was just retaliating for the wife's stunt of climbing on top of the pole and the guy blocking it with his van, or maybe she's always that way.

[Lost_In_Translation]

Dude, its in the definition

An Easement, a privilege to pass over the land of another, whereby the holder of the easement acquires only a reasonable and usual enjoyment of the property, and the owner of the land retains the benefits and privileges of ownership consistent with the easement.

Right of way is also used to describe that strip of land upon which railroad companies construct their roadbed; in this context, the term refers to the land itself, not the right of passage over it.

The term right of way also refers to a preference of one of two vehicles or vessels, or between a motor vehicle and a pedestrian, asserting the right of passage at the same place and time. It is not an absolute right, however, since the possessor of the right of way is not relieved from the duty of exercising due care for her own safety and that of others.

[Tulpa]

Where are you getting that definition from?

[Tulpa]

From wikipedia:

Right of way is a term first used to describe the right to travel unhindered, to access a route regardless of land ownership or any other legality. The right of way may be limited. If one person owns a piece of land which is bordered on all sides by lands owned by others, a court will be obliged to grant the right of way to those approved by the owner or owners of the isolated land area. It is also common practice for the public to be granted the right of way on a path or track which is in common use for a lengthy period of time (see Easement). Public right of way is not restricted by land ownership and grants travel access to all.

[Lost_In_Translation]

Dude, its still an easement. Stop being obtuse. If you're claiming the basketball pole is restricting mobility, you're an idiot.

[Wind Rider]

Tulpa is being particularly pseudo-idiotic about the entire thing.

Actually, this isn't the first time I've seen piheaded morons run amok because of the placement of a basketball hoop on someone's private property. In the previous example I'm aware of, it was the result of a developers ad hoc 'covenant' used to bait folks in for the Stepford value of it all. Then the neighbors decided they didn't like each other very much, and started taking each other to court over the leftovers from a marketing strategy by some guy that took a whole lot more of their money than if they hadn't been such pretentious prigs in the first damned place.

Here, those goals appear to have been in place, without incident, for a number of years (and looking at the style of the homes in the area, 50's/60's construction is likely, so the guy's claim it had been there for decades is quite likely).

At the end of a cul-de-sac, or the interior roads of most residential developments without major through traffic, someone without much else to go on might squawk about the "safety" aspect for the children?, but that means they're just really making up imaginary shit to get what they think they want or have power to do. I'd like to see what Tulpa comes up with to rationalize the utter urgency of the situation such that before the subject was fully discussed and concluded within the system that results in his priapism, work crews, heavy equipment, and armed force had to be immediately deployed and the homeowners involved were challenging the validity or sanity of a one size fits all arbitrary draconian social more about the use of tape measures and children's plaything installations.

e.i. Tulpa, your pretentious ass might be better served if you were to pull your fucking head out of it.

[Wind Rider]

and all that other shit that would make all that make sense it I hadn't been typing so fast I missed shit.

[Kreel Sarloo]

It's not on their property, it's in the right of way.

Now, I repeat, this was handled by the DOT in a dickish fashion and the neighbor who complained is and asshole.

At the very least the homeowners should have been notified in writing and been given time to correct the situation themselves.

But, again, if you want to keep your property, don't put it on someone elses.

[Kreel Sarloo]

No, it is not an easement.

Road rights of way are the fee title property of the state or other agency.

Abutting owners hold no right or interest in that property except for the right to use it for transportation purposes. A right which they share with every member of the general public - unless of course it's a private street, in which cast the DOT would no have any right to interfere at all, although the Homeowners' Association will.

And as we all know HAs can be even more dickish than the DOT.

[Lost_In_Translation]

Listen, I'll grant you that some right-of ways correspond to land the government already owns, but that's not the definition of a right of way. Companies can acquire right of ways just like easements because they're essentially interchangeable definitions. I work for a company that buys right-of-ways all the time to lay pipelines. The owner agrees to some restrictions of his rights to that land in return for monetary compensation. That doesn't mean he loses all ability to use that land other than walking across it.

Now, if the right-of-way is government "owned and maintained" like sections abutting major roads, that is different altogether and its not the right of way that enforces the removal of the goals, its the fact the goal was on government land.

[Free2Booze]

The owner of the right of way depends on local and state laws. In some municipalities the property owner owns the land, in others, the property line ends at the right of way.

[Lost_In_Translation]

Dude, its in the definition

An Easement, a privilege to pass over the land of another, whereby the holder of the easement acquires only a reasonable and usual enjoyment of the property, and the owner of the land retains the benefits and privileges of ownership consistent with the easement.

Right of way is also used to describe that strip of land upon which railroad companies construct their roadbed; in this context, the term refers to the land itself, not the right of passage over it.

The term right of way also refers to a preference of one of two vehicles or vessels, or between a motor vehicle and a pedestrian, asserting the right of passage at the same place and time. It is not an absolute right, however, since the possessor of the right of way is not relieved from the duty of exercising due care for her own safety and that of others.

[IF]

I have two thoughts on this matter. First off, while it is not customary to make such claims against the government, even if the land did belong to the municipality, with the small intrusion of this pole, a claim could be made for adverse possession. The gentleman states that the pole was there for 60 years, which to my knowledge is beyond the scope of any adverse possession law minimums.

And second, with the government officials clearly acting deceptively, contrary to public policy, and subversively, I think that there might possibly be grounds for a Bivens Action, and one should be explored. This seems to me to be a possible Fourth Amendment infringement and while Bivens Actions are very difficult to win, it would be worth it to explore further. Public officials serve us -- not themselves -- and they must be held accountable for infringements upon our property and our Constitution.

[Tulpa]

Is adverse possession applicable to public property?

And anyway, the hoop that came down wasn't even available in 1951. Transparent backboards didn't become cheap enough for home installation until the 1980s at the earliest. Frankly this guy seems to make a lot of exaggerated claims.

[Vermont Gun Owner]

I do doubt that it is from the 60s but the backboard could easily be newer than the pole.

[johnl]

The blackboard could be newer than the pole. The entire assembly could be a replacement for an older one.

[Tulpa]

Fiberglass backboards, I should say. There were glass backboards back then but they would have shattered when the DOT crew dropped the backboard to the ground.

[Free2Booze]

We don't know who the property belongs too. If local laws state that the home owner's property goes all the way to the street, then the right of way gives the town/city/state limited usage rights.

The local government can regulate the right of way, but if the property belongs to the home owner, they should at least be able to keep their crap after the DOT ripped it out of the ground.

[Wind Rider]

Shorter Tulpa - "burp, get over it. I have, what's you're fucking problem?"

[Wind Rider]

Shorter Tulpa - "burp, get over it. I have, what's you're fucking problem?"

[modnar]

Sounded like he said 16 years to me.

[BoscoH]

Shaq totally would've smacked that bitch if this happened in Boston.

[Fuck]

Those Obama-Era bureaucrats feel very empowered nowadays, don't they?

[jester]

The reason this should piss just about anyone off is the fact that kids, just about everywhere in the world play in the street. Baseball, football, soccer, ride bikes, even set up ramps and jump of of them, skateboard, rollerblade, etc. In this case they have utilized the flat surface area of the cul-de-cac vs. the sloping driveway. Makes sense. Surely, most kids don't have licenses to perform these activities which are typically carried out on the back streets of suburbia everywhere. Yes cars occasionally drive by and and the kids move to the side and interrupt play for the short interval.

In this neighborhood, some people put up a hoop near the curb to profit from the flatter street. If some neighbor thinks it's an eye-sore, I am sure he doesn't think a hoop looks any better over the garage. Big deal. But honestly, to call out law enforcement on a neighborhood 'problem' that could have been solved more easily by the fussy neighbor finding a neighborhood more suited to his sense of deed restrictions. If the hoops had been their for a significant amount of time...jeez!

So if I had my pole taken, I would get it back, mount it on two large wagon wheels and roll it out into the middle of the cul-de sac and play ball. When I am done I just wheel it up the driveway. The eyesore stays and I play ball.

[Free2Booze]

Unfortunately, the more kids go outside and play, the healthy they will be. Think about the effect that would have on all of the bureaucrats who run Michelle Obama's "Let's Move initiative".

Fat kids = fat budget.

[Amakudari]

The reason this should piss just about anyone off is the fact that kids, just about everywhere in the world play in the street. Baseball, football, soccer, ride bikes, even set up ramps and jump of of them, skateboard, rollerblade, etc. In this case they have utilized the flat surface area of the cul-de-cac vs. the sloping driveway. Makes sense. Surely, most kids don't have licenses to perform these activities which are typically carried out on the back streets of suburbia everywhere. Yes cars occasionally drive by and and the kids move to the side and interrupt play for the short interval.

I was waiting for this comment.

Seriously, what percentage of kids are killed by neighborhood cars while playing pick-up ball at the end of a cul-de-sac? Hell, most cars turn off before then anyway. North Carolina is a very hilly place, so we played almost everything in the street.

All in all, Delaware has come across as a very shitty place to live. If the video's not obnoxious enough, check the comments on one of the only local sources I could find. Universal bootlicking.

[Damon Davenport]

"In modern war there is nothing sweet nor fitting in your dying. You will die like a dog and for no good reason." - Ernest Hemingway

[Rock Action]

The real crime, I think, is that every time the kids made a basket, the ball probably just hit the curb and rolled away.

Believe me, no fun.

And where were all the other basketball poles located? Near the street? Lightheartedness aside, what if ball hits curb, rolls in street, kids run after it, car comes...whomp!

Lawsuit ensues. And don't think the good people of this sleepy Delaware community will be so personally responsible and individualist that they abjure the use of the courts to compel said unfortunate driver to pay compensation for dearly departed/injured child X. I'm guessing that's the crux of the complaint and the matter here.

Still, the video leaves me nauseated.

[spmat]

You don't want to arrest the man, but you will. Worse yet, you can.

[Wind Rider]

How does some GED aparatchik hussy that thinks an FBI hoodie qualifies as 'professional attire' have the authority to arrest even her damned toenail clippings, much less a person? Stupid bint, even stupider ijits for employing her. None of this changes the opinion I developed over the years living in VA from watching morons with Delaware plates busy being the worst and most dangerous drivers on the road, or the ONE time I drove through DE and was amazed at the really fucked up way they do things in general. That people happily living in Delaware are fucking idiots. Incorporate a company there, sure. Live there? Eat a .357 slug first to make it a pleasant experience overall.

[Kreel Sarloo]

Dude, its still an easement. Stop being obtuse. If you're claiming the basketball pole is restricting mobility, you're an idiot.

Road rights of way are not easements, they are the fee title property of the agency that owns the road.

If your deck does not violate the terms of your easement agreement with the utility and does not interfere with the utility's ability to maintain their facility there is no problem since own the underlying fee which you are entitled to enjoy.

However the state (or county or municipality) hold a fee title interest in their rights of way not easements. You own no interest at all in the right of way except the general public right to use it for transportation purposes, both pedestrian and automobile.

The meassage to property owners should be this: know where your property lines are and don't put your property on someone elseses.

[Lost_In_Translation]

You're confusing a general arguement of tulpas definition of a right-of-way with your particular example of what can be a right-of-way. The government doesn't always own the land abutting the road, its simply a common example. For example, where the government has expanded an existing road, the government doesn't automatically own the land that's left next to the road. They have to acquire it by exercising there new right-of-way which did expand with the road.

[Kreel Sarloo]

It's a fucking subdivision. The state or local government aquired that right of way when the subdivision plat was filed. The rights of way were dedicated, ie signed over to the appropriate government authority.

The right of way is not just the pad surface of the raod. It is piece of property that is wide enough to include the pavement, curbs (if any), utility strips, sidewalks and sometimes a buffer beyond the sidewalk. The property owners rights within the right of way are limited to semi permanent improvements like landscaping. ie, if you want to tear up the grass in the utility strip and plant marigolds you usually can as long as you maintain it (if you let it go to weeds the city might come along and resod it).

Also, if a utility owner (who would have had to get an easement to put its line on a public road) needs to do maintenance on its line there you would like wise be out of luck since their only obligation is to restore the ground surface to the minimum that the road owner requires, ie sod, concrete or asphalt. If there had been a watermain or power cable buied under that BB hoop that needed repair, the agency concerned would have ripped it up and hauled it away.

If someone here can show that Delaware acts any differently in this than every othe jurisdiction in the world that follows Anglo-American style property laws I will stand corrected.

[Kreel Sarloo]

Also, even if the this is only an easement, the terms of easements for roads usually include language to not allow intallations of things like BB hoops which are not related to, and might infact be hazardous to, normal traffic operations.

That said, and I repeat, just because the law is on the state's side here, or any where else, is no reason for state employees to be dicks about it.

[Kreel Sarloo]

Is adverse possession applicable to public property?

No. Especially not rights of way.

[Barely Suppressed Rage]

Sweet merciful crap, that blonde bitch needs a fucking punch in the cunt. And I in no way advocate violence against women. But fucking a.

[Bugs]

I'm not the expert, but it seems like the basketball hoop is specifically positioned so that kids MUST use it from the street. Cul-de-sac or not, the street is not a basketball court. Kids should not play in the street. If the guy wants his kids to shoot hoops, he should do what 99% of other parents do - mount the hoop over the garage. If that's not an option, drive the kid over to the local park or school.

This is not about the nanny state, it's about being a good neighbor and a good parent.

[Barely Suppressed Rage]

Hey Bugs - shove a basketball up your ass.

Evidently, "99% of other parents" did NOT do what you suggest - witness the DOT truck full of basketball hoops.

It's a fucking cul-de-sac. Kids have played in cul-de-sacs ever since cul-de-sacs have existed.

[Kreel Sarloo]

From the shot I saw of the front of the house the driveway is to steep for shooting hoops in any comfort. It is readily apparent why whoever put the hoop there (ICBW, but it seemed like it was there when the current owner bought the house).

[Amakudari]

Cul-de-sac or not, the street is not a basketball court.

Fun Police sighting.

I don't care at all what the definitions for right of way or easement are, or how long the goal has been there, or whether the police acted appropriately, or what the filing deadline was for a restraining order. In suburbia, kids play in the street. It's a nice, flat surfaces that's only rarely used by cars, and in my experience as both a kid and an adult, kids will clear away when there's a car coming. I've never seen a kid get hurt or a driver have his commute slowed for more than a few seconds. I've never heard of it, either. In reality, the only people who are bothered -- not harmed -- are those awful neighbors who would confiscate errant frisbees. It's the biggest non-issue ever.

Under any definition offered above, the state has near-infinite leeway to harass users of public space. They could also tear down mailboxes for arbitrary reasons, patrol neighborhoods in search of cars to tow, etc. The discussion shouldn't be whether they have the power, but whether it's wise.

[Kreel Sarloo]

They can't tear down mailbaxes because mailboxes are the property of the USPS (even though you bought yours). DOTs and local governments have agreements with the USPS on mailboxes. The only thing the state or local government can control is what kind if post its on (must be breakawy etc).

[Amakudari]

The USPS is run by the US. The point stands that they can do as they wish, but in any case that sort of arrangement exists under the implicit assumption that the government will use its powers for good not evil. By and large that's the case. Uprooting basketball goals -- in the middle of the tourney, fer Chrissakes -- however, borders on caricature, and I'm glad I don't live in an area with such passive-aggressiveness rampant among neighbors and civil servants.

And really, in my old neighborhood and Charlotte in general they could uproot the majority of mailboxes as they weren't breakaway. It's popular in clay-laden NC to have an all-brick mailbox and 100% illegal. The law's just not enforced. The state doesn't look for them because "it is cost prohibitive, and we need to be spending those resources on maintaining the facilities, repairing potholes, fixing low shoulders." And here is one truck in Delaware removing more basketball goals in a day than NC forcibly removes solid brick mailboxes in a year.

[IceTrey]

Go buy a portable goal and get on with your life.

[Kreel Sarloo]

Make sure you take it in when you're not using it.

Otherwise the DelDOT maintenance crew will haul it away as property abandoned in the right of way.

[rosemary chafe]

those people are crime victims!also what happend to the poles?did they donate them to any communty centers or homeless shelters or low income housing?let me guess they went to the scrap yard and cashed them in and kept the money.criminals

[rosemary chafe]

i also think the homeowner should let the city mow the grass themselves from now on!DONT mow thier grass for free anymore.

[memyself andI]

This is fucked...

[pzm0729]

2011-3-31 15:12:09
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[MB]

Its interesting reading some of the comments where the videos were posted. Many are of the type 'that's the law', as those that excuses everything.

They got the b*tch on tape lying to these people, claiming they would leave the pole, then didn't. I hope she is punished for this, but probably won't be.

And who is she? If she's a cop (I doubt it) or some DOT employee, showing up in a gray hoodie with no id is strange.

And what is the state DOT doing this? Shouldn't subdivision streets be the responsibility of the local city/municipality, NOT a state DOT?

[ccballew]

"The will of man is not shattered, but softened, bent, and guided; men are seldom forced by it to act, but they are constantly restrained from acting. Such a power does not destroy, but it prevents existence; it does not tyrannize, but it compresses, enervates, extinguishes, and stupefies a people, till each nation is reduced to nothing better than a flock of timid and industrious animals, of which the government is the shepherd."
-Tocqueville

[George Mc Grath]

This action shows the government destrucion of private property without cause and total disregard of Contstitutional rights each american deserves. Corruption Rules.

[alaamiah]

Japanese