-Caveat Lector- ------- Forwarded message follows ------- Date sent: Tue, 21 Nov 2000 19:24:28 -0500 (EST) To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Release: Thanksgiving Roadblocks From: Libertarian Party Announcements <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Send reply to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] -----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- =============================== NEWS FROM THE LIBERTARIAN PARTY 2600 Virginia Avenue, NW, Suite 100 Washington DC 20037 World Wide Web: http://www.LP.org =============================== For release: November 21, 2000 =============================== For additional information: George Getz, Press Secretary Phone: (202) 333-0008 Ext. 222 E-Mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] =============================== Thanksgiving seatbelt crackdown may cause huge traffic jams across USA WASHINGTON, DC -- Americans who like holiday traffic jams will have plenty to be thankful for during this Thanksgiving weekend: Swarms of police officers in all 50 states will be setting up random checkpoints to crack down on seatbelt violators. "Federal bureaucrats plan to throw a roadblock in front of your holiday travel plans," warned Steve Dasbach, the Libertarian Party's national director. "They've decided that enforcing seatbelt laws is so important that they're willing to snarl traffic, interrogate motorists, write tickets, and ruin your holiday drive. "But Libertarians say this policy is a mistake, a waste of police resources, and will just make millions of Americans curse these foolish laws on a day we should be giving thanks for life's blessings." On Monday, U.S. Transportation Secretary Rodney Slater announced a "zero-tolerance" policy for seatbelt violators, and said 10,000 police departments in all 50 states will be mobilized to use roadblocks, checkpoints, and unmarked patrol cars to track down disobedient motorists. Slater justified the massive police dragnet -- dubbed Operation ABC ("America Buckles up Children") -- as a way to improve compliance with child safety laws. However, the Transportation Department admits that 97% of parents already obey childhood seatbelt laws. "The National Nannies are clearly out of control when they can deploy thousands of police officers, and inconvenience millions of holiday travelers, just because 3% of the public doesn't properly obey seatbelt laws," said Dasbach. Unfortunately, if you happen to forget to buckle up, you might suffer from something much worse than a traffic jam. "Thanks to draconian seatbelt enforcement policies, you might get pulled from your car, handcuffed in front of your children, and dragged off to jail -- all for the crime of forgetting to wear a seatbelt," said Dasbach. "And that's no exaggeration: That's exactly what happened to Gail Atwater of Lago Vista, Texas, in 1994." Atwater, America's most famous seatbelt criminal, was returning from a soccer practice with her two small children when she was pulled over, arrested, handcuffed, and jailed simply because she hadn't buckled up. She sued, alleging excessive force, and the case, Atwater vs. Lago Vista, will be heard by the U.S. Supreme Court on December 4. The good news is that most Americans are unlikely to be taken to jail for simply not wearing a seatbelt, said Dasbach. "But the bad news is that you may still be caught up in the Great Thanksgiving Traffic Jam of 2000 as police search the highways for seatbelt desperados," he said. "And that's nothing to give thanks about." The one potentially positive aspect of such random police roadblocks, said Dasbach, is that they may make many Americans rethink their support of such meddlesome "victimless crime" laws. "Most Americans who originally supported seatbelt laws probably never thought that it would threaten their right to drive down the highway without being stopped at a police roadblock and interrogated like a criminal -- but that's exactly what's going to happen over Thanksgiving weekend in all 50 states," he said. "The lesson here? Be very careful about giving the government more power, no matter how benign or noble the purpose. Because, unfortunately, unlike most Americans, Big Government never takes a holiday." -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: 2.6.2 iQCVAwUBOhs8JtCSe1KnQG7RAQHk7QQAr8Ht4LpHj//PnZRO99i/Ps/4u8jCYCEw gr+mxFlQ69cadZmhn8n1iNqjl+Ggk/1Mrr11sEpmVY2dNlAisCNoAtqbLfh/wmK5 VvSGLOYbacc6l4Vt9TEJEBbTmRKT5m99aZ7wQNEGYII4nB8eQ4pfuUlg9/uP/tqR 5LOmWBbJLdo= =j4/h -----END PGP SIGNATURE----- ----------------------------------------------------------------------- The Libertarian Party http://www.lp.org/ 2600 Virginia Ave. NW, Suite 100 voice: 202-333-0008 Washington DC 20037 fax: 202-333-0072 ----------------------------------------------------------------------- For subscription changes, please use the WWW form at: http://www.lp.org/action/email.html Alternatively, you may also send a message to <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> with just the word "subscribe" or "unsubscribe" in the subject line. ------- End of forwarded message ------- A<>E<>R Forwarded as information only; no endorsement to be presumed + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. section 107, this material is distributed without charge or profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving this type of information for non-profit research and educational purposes only. + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + Integrity has no need of rules. -Albert Camus (1913-1960) + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + The only real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes but in having new eyes. -Marcel Proust ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The libertarian therefore considers one of his prime educational tasks is to spread the demystification and desanctification of the State among its hapless subjects. 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