August 16, 2007
By: Sid Riley
This column presents a non-partisan, conservative viewpoint about items of interest in our community and our lives. Focus is on items that are impacting your pocket book, your personal freedoms, and your rights. I hope that you will read the column regularly and that it occasionally influences your opinions and actions. Now, on to the subject of the week:
"I Should Have The Right To Be Stupid If I Want To Be!!"
The system continually seeks ways to broaden its area of revenue generation. More and more laws are passed, and things that were once legal become illegal. This has led us into a relatively new and large money maker for the legal network, the creation of seat belt laws and subsequent enforcement.
First, let me state that I do agree with the child restraint vehicle laws. It is the responsibility of any adult transporting a child in a vehicle to assure that those children are as safe as possible. Anyone caught with a loose kid in a car should be stopped and fined.
However, when an adult decides to not add that measure of safety to his/her own well being while in a vehicle, they should have the RIGHT to do so. It should be "big brother" bureaucrat’s responsibility to advertise the risk and to educate the public as to the advisability of using a seat belt, but the ultimate choice as to whether or not to "buckle up" should remain with that adult individual. If we want to be stupid, we should have that right.
The only argument that can be used against this philosophy is the argument that if more people suffer injuries in crashes because they were not strapped in, it causes insurance rates to go up. Well, how far do we take this argument?
If I do not take my blood pressure medicine each morning and suffer a heart attack, my action of not taking the pills also caused the insurance rates to go up. Should we then enact a body of "MEDICINE LAWS" where big brother can fine us if we do not properly take our prescribed medicine? We could then hire "PILL COPS" to raid our medicine cabinets and count the pills to be sure we are in compliance. In my opinion, that type of intrusion into our personal rights would be no worse than their intrusion into my vehicle and ticketing me for being stupid enough to drive with no belt.
I agree we should all wear our seat belts….but I think it is unconstitutional for Big Brother to stop me and fine me for being stupid when I forget.
One of the prime reasons that our legislators enacted and the police started enforcing these laws was because of the potential increase in revenues that this body of law can provide.
The police in Dothan are rigorously enforcing seat belt laws. I personally know three people from Jackson County that have been fined while shopping there. In one instance they were only moving from one shopping center parking lot, across a road and into another lot, never exceeding 15 MPH.
How can they claim that the increased safety gives them the right to pass a law that takes away your freedom of choice (and your money)? They should spend public money educating the public, and should always encourage people to buckle up, but to force people to do it is in my opinion, unconstitutional.
How can the same law enforcers watch a motorcycle rider pass by, exposed to all sorts of potential injuries, without a helmet, and in the same moment fine an auto driver sitting in a metal cage, for not wearing a belt? Could it be because the motorcycle group has a better lobbying organization? In 2006 within the state of Florida there were over 267,000 arrests for seat belt violations. If these resulted in fines of $50.00 each, the resulting revenues for the state system was $1,335,000.
A few years ago I was doing some work in Mexico City. Mexico City is the largest city in the world, and is known for its high level of crime. With murders, muggings, rampant drug violations, robberies, rapes, and a barrage of other crimes, the police spend much of their time on motorcycles easing through traffic trying to catch someone not wearing a seat belt or talking on a cell phone.
I was with a resident Mexican who got stopped for not wearing his belt. He got out of the car, he and the cop conversed for a few minutes near the rear of the car, the cop opened his ticket book, the resident laid a few hundred pesos in the book, and the event was over. I pray that our system never degenerates to that level. It was much more profitable for the Mexican cop to put some pesos in his pocket, than to waste his time out catching a druggie, or a robber.
I do agree with restrictions on drivers using cell phones while in motion. It does endanger others. However, I am very much against the seat belt laws, since they only affect me. The next time a police car stops next to you in traffic and you realize that you forgot to buckle up, and you slowly try to "sneak in a click", instead of fear you should feel resentment.
If you agree that the emphasis should be on educating the public about the use of seat belts and not on arrest and fines, then in my opinion "You Are Getting It Right!"
RUDAMENTS: ODDS AND ENDS WORTH MENTIONING
- The voters of Jackson County voted "NO" to the prospect of a new half cent added sales tax. I hope that the bureaucrats and elected officials also got the message that the people are tired of wasteful spending at the taxpayer’s expense. This might include such items as $250,000 girls’ softball fields, unneeded new construction of public buildings when facilities are available, 5% raises, and granting more and more holidays and benefits to the bureaucracy. This vote should give them a clue to try to exercise some restraint as they work on the budgets for next year.
- The baseball tournaments are all over now, but this year almost every community benefited from the state and national events that were held here. Also, a lot of visitors got the opportunity to experience our area for the first time. 2007 has been a "Year of Sports" for Jackson County.
- Phil Rizzuto, hall of fame player for the Yankees died at 87 on Tuesday. I have a baseball autographed by him in Chicago when I went to a Whitesox and Yankee game with my dad at age twelve. He was a great player and person.
- Folks, the county commissioners are already spending big chunks of money on architects, hiring pre construction managers, and preparing drawings and plans for a new County Administration Building they have decided to build. They are doing this while just under one million square feet of building space is setting empty in Marianna, much of it public property. THIS IS A BAD DECISION AND A WANTON WASTE OF YOUR TAX MONEY! I strongly urge you to get involved and talk to your commissioner immediately!
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