Bizarre, Criminal law

Bureaucrats Always Win In The End

-Submitted by David Drumm (Nal), Guest Blogger

We have previously discussed the plight of Julie Bass, the woman who was charged with a misdemeanor for growing cucumbers, tomatoes and other vegetables in raised beds in her front yard in Oak Park, Michigan.

Bass’ plight went viral with a blog and a Facebook page “Oak Park Hates Veggies.”

The good news is: the city has dropped charges for the vegetable garden. The bad news: the city is going after her dogs. New charges have been resurrected for not having licenses for her two dogs.

The canine culprits are shown here.

Bass’ lawyer, Solomon Radner, reported that Bass got licenses for her dogs after she was charged in June, and showed the paperwork to officials. These kind of cases are usually closed after the paperwork has been shown to be completed. Failure to have a dog license is a misdemeanor charge carrying a 93-day jail sentence.

It’s refreshing to learn that Oak Park city attorneys have nothing better to do than play revenge games with citizens.

H/T: The Detroit News.

19 thoughts on “Bureaucrats Always Win In The End”

  2. David,

    Not all bureaucrats. I was one once and I didn’t do stuff like that. Unfortunately, I knew some who at least tried punish people who they didn’t like. At least in the Welfare Department, we prevented them, except if it was some non-bureaucrat appointed politically to a Management position. There are some drawbacks, but over all much to be said for Civil Service.

  4. I still think there is more to this case than we are hearing. I’m guessing one of Bass’ dogs snarled at the city attorney or maybe bit his precious little pekingese. Or maybe some municipal muck-a-muck owns the local grocery store. In any case, this seems a clear case of malicious, retaliatory prosecution/persecution.

  5. Send the state version equivalent of a Freedom of Information Act to the appropriate municipal authority requesting records of pet owners cited within the past four years for non-registered pets and dispositon of each charge. Send a copy of the request to every local media outlet.

  7. I smell malicious prosecution, so mark me down in the “what Blouise said” column.

  8. rafflaw,

    I agree that she should have had the dog’s licensed, but…

    Excerpt from the Detroit News article in the posting:

    He reported Bass got licenses for her dogs after she was charged in June, and showed the paperwork to officials. Typically, cases are closed after the issue is addressed.

    But Radner spoke to an Oak Park city attorney colleague who informed him that the dog license charge is not dead against Bass, something he called “a very dirty move.” (end excerpt)

  10. I’ll echo Blouise’s comment. These guys need to go! Now, about the dog licenses…she should know better.

  12. “It’s refreshing to learn that Oak Park city attorneys have nothing better to do than play revenge games with citizens.” -Nal

    A whole lot of petty and not-so-petty “revenge games” goin’ on these days…

    ——-

    “If you are going to rankle the powers that be you better be sure your nose is very clean.” -Frank

    Even if one’s “nose is very clean”, these power-hungry goons will find ways to harass and torment.

    ——-

    “…if you are going to take on people with power be prepared for this sort of treatment.” -Frank

    Fact. These days… count in it. Especially if one is vulnerable in some way. They’ll go after one’s job, one’s money, and the list goes on . We’re a nation of predatory thugs.

    ——-

    AY, …and if they can cash in, fill the coffers… so much the better… You’re right.

    ——-

    Failure to have a dog license is a misdemeanor charge carrying a 93-day jail sentence. -Nal

    Think “for-profit prisons”…

    It all boils down to money and power.

  13. Time to get a new administration and legislative body who will, in turn, hire a new city manager. This all reeks of a high school clique mentality and their actions coupled with the national attention are causing real damage to the resale value of the citizens’ homes. The prom is over … time to grow up.

  14. Give them the power to run your beloved welfare state or to prosecute the war on “the fashionable cause du jour” and they always start abusing that power with nonsense like this. Even the benevolent rarely walk away from power.

  17. Doesn’t New Michigan law permit the governor to send in his goons to quash this uprising before it takes hold? If the don’t put a stop to it NOW, soon EVERYBODY will be growing vegetables and owning dogs!

  18. If you are going to rankle the powers that be you better be sure your nose is very clean.

    Anyone think it is odd that the only client that got a lot of attention was client #9? At $5000 a trick there must have been other powerful men on that list. We know from past experience that the wiener boy from NY isn’t the only House member behaving badly; how was it that some bozo just decided to poke around looking in his messages?

    That is not an excuse for what they did. Exactly the opposite, if you are going to take on people with power be prepared for this sort of treatment.

  19. Hey they have to raise revenue somehow nal…..NOT KIDDING.

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