Vermont man who flattened police cruisers with tractor is folk hero to some

If he thinks they weren't fair or what not to him before...

This guy isn’t a hero. He’s a damned thug that destroyed property.

Yep. If he was protesting taxes he’d be a hero. Personal freedom? Not so much.

On the bright, side his fellow inmates will provide some protection.

On the other bright side, now that they have to walk to the donut shop, some of the local constabulary may get in better shape...

So did the colonial patriots who flung tea into the harbor at Boston.

I’m sure the Tories of their day looked down on them for destruction of property.

A government employee should fear the wrath of the citizenry if he wrongs the citizenry, not the other way around.

Anybody have picture of the tractor? Inquiring minds want to know.

daily marijuana use side effects includes psychotic episodes. Sounds about right.

Nothing Crushes Like A Deer™?

Yeah, I can see how that could do a $250K in damage real quick. Bet it's the king of the impound yard.

For those unfamiliar with this case:

Man angry about arrest used tractor like monster truck to crush 7 cop vehicles

Friday, August 03, 2012 10:01:16 AM · by Cowman · 30 replies
yahoo news ^ | 03Aug2012 | Dave Gram

MONTPELIER, Vt. - Working in a stout former bank building with windows closed and air conditioners humming, Orleans County sheriff's deputies didn't know what was happening in their parking lot until a neighbour called 911. A man on a big farm tractor, angry about his recent arrest for resisting arrest and marijuana possession, was rolling across their vehicles — five marked cruisers, one unmarked car and a transport van. By the time they ran outside, the tractor was down the driveway and out onto the road. With their vehicles crushed, "We had nothing to pursue him with," said Chief Deputy...
Vt. man crushes police cars with family tractor

Friday, August 03, 2012 8:47:27 AM · by SoFloFreeper · 20 replies
NECN ^ | 8/3/12 | Justin Michaels

A Vermont man is accused of single-handedly leaving a path of destruction at one police station... Police say 34-year-old Roger Pion of Newport, Vt. took his family's farm tractor and ran over the cars just after lunchtime Thursday. Apparently, Pion was none-too happy about being arrested for resisting arrest after being caught with marijuana.
Vermont farmer crushed cop cars with tractor, police say

Friday, August 03, 2012 7:37:26 AM · by cotton1706 · 62 replies
http://www.nola.com/crime/index.ssf/2012/08/vermont_farmer_crushed_cop_car.html ^ | 8/2/12 | Dave Gram

Working in a stout former bank building with windows closed and air conditioners humming, Orleans County, Vt., sheriff's deputies didn't know what was happening in their parking lot until a neighbor called 911. A man on a big farm tractor, angry about his recent arrest for resisting arrest and marijuana possession, was rolling across their vehicles -- five marked cruisers, one unmarked car and a transport van. By the time they ran outside, the tractor was down the driveway and out onto the road. Thursday afternoon's incident ended when city police in Newport, the county seat of the northern Vermont...

some folks love law breaking things.....enough in 2008 to elect one President

personal freedom requires personal responsibility. If he wanted to break the pot laws then he should be ready to suffer the consequences. If he wanted to freely grow then I guess he should have moved to California

good thing there is no bayonet lug on the front of that think or it would really be a dangerous weapon

Arbitrary criminal laws that don’t protect individual rights are awesome!

you distort the founders and their efforts to be treated as British citizens by their king. Go back and study our history.... your depiction is not quite accurate

Kudos.

This doper just threw away his freedom, his farm, and financially wiped out his wife and kids.....some hero!

TANK (the movie).

Don't worry, Obama now can send that town some of his free GMs, you know the ones that GM will take back, NO MATTER WHAT, perpetually on the govenment dole.

He’s an idiot. How it this supposed to help his family? Was it his tractor or his father’s?

I am a libertarian on drug laws, but as a practical matter, this will only do more harm than good.

Where is the distortion?

Some patriots did hurl tea into the harbor at Boston.

The Tories at that time period undoubtedly looked down on them for doing so.

The last statement is a fact: a government employee should fear violating the rights of American citizens; free citizens should not fear angering government employees.

“daily marijuana use side effects includes psychotic episodes. Sounds about right.”

That is reefer madness nonsense. There is no medical evidence that cannabis has ever caused any damage to the brain or body. Not a single case in over 5000 years of use. Nor is there any proof that it causes any psychological issues or permanent physical changes.

Alcohol,on the other hand,is 100% proven and guaranteed to cause permanent damage to every organ of the body when abused. Alcohol is 100% proven to be a direct trigger for blacked-out violence in some people - when they wake up in jail not knowing why. We usually don't see the full extent of damage because a failed liver or alcohol poisoning claims most alcoholics before everything else has a chance to rot.

Yes, there is a correlation between crazy people using more cannabis but that does not prove it caused their issues. For example: schizophrenics smoke 350% more tobacco than the general population but that does not in any way prove tobacco caused it. They also drink 200-300% more alcohol than most people.

Before you reply, please read all my related posts on this thread:

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/2908809/posts?page=111#111

HTH does he even have room to turn that thing around in that tiny state? I doubt there’s a field any larger than a quarter section in that state.

With their vehicles crushed, "We had nothing to pursue him with..."

Pikers. Cut off the damned roof and give chase!

"What we're dealin' with here, is a complete lack o' respect for the law!"

He’s gonna have a long time to think about this. Sorry he is just plain stupid!!!

What’s that white speck on the dash daddy!!

"daily marijuana use side effects includes psychotic episodes."

That's what I'm thinking too. Maybe he can use the bipolar defense, but I'm guessing he hasn't been diagnosed yet.

Psychotic episodes = stoner logic

Anarchy was NEVER the goal of the founders. You and I agree that government needs to have a tight leash but that does not allow any cation at any time in retaliation. You skipped right over the idea of personal responsibility....how convenient

"There is no medical evidence that cannabis has ever caused any damage to the brain or body."

That's simply not true. Harvard did studies that showed long term pot used damaged the same area of the brain as is damaged in schitzophrenic/bipolar subjects.

Other studies have shown linkage as well.

5000 years of use

Are you just making crap up? Who's documented that pot was smoked 5000 years ago? And even if they did, what studies existed that they caused no harm?

The man who drove a tractor over several police vehicles in northern Vermont last week is on the verge of becoming a modern-day folk hero to some, with various online sites cropping up to canonize and defend the "simple farmer" from Newport, Vt.

To paraphrase this sentiment:

"Yay! He flattened a bunch of police cruisers that we taxpayers will have to pay $250,000 to repair or replace! He's a genuine hero!"

You know...there's just something bad wrong with the brains of people who might say something like that...like, maybe they're missing the part of the brain that actually does the thinking.

the t shirt sales will be hot

he did move other personal vehicles so as not to damage them before his running over the police equipment ..BTW ..guns in trunk survived
believe when he was caught ...put tractor in reverse ..that constituted assault on officers ..

Where did I claim anarchy was the goal of the Founders?

So did the colonial patriots who flung tea into the harbor at Boston.

Leaving aside the fact that they were being told by a government that offered them no representation that they had to take a commodity they didn't want and pay an extra tax for doing so, they still offered to pay the full market price of the goods.

Pion lives under a representative government and no one was forcing him to buy any police cars against his consent.

But I'm guessing he has not offered to pay full restitution.

I don’t believe anyone claimed the cases were equivalent. However, in both cases, the injured parties believed they had legitimate grievances against the governments whom wronged them.

“That's simply not true. Harvard did studies that showed long term pot used damaged the same area of the brain as is damaged in schitzophrenic/bipolar subjects.”

Show me this study. I've gone through every existing research paper on this topic for the last 20 years and not a single one can show conclusive brain damage. There was one “brain scan” study but the technology was proven inaccurate.

The studies showing “linkage” show no greater link than can also be “proven” with tobacco.

Read the post I linked to. It shows schizophrenia rates have not increased even as cannabis use has increased exponentially around the world since 1970.

Evidence of Cannabis use has been found and dated to 2000-3000BC. There has never been a single person with bodily damage from cannabis. Research animals have been given constant doses exceeding anything a human can ever consume with no resulting damage.

in both cases, the injured parties believed they had legitimate grievances

The Founders were correct, and Pion is not.

Hence the inequity in your comparison.

There has never been a single person with bodily damage from cannabis.

So it's magic smoke then? That leaves no trace on the lungs?

Really?

Even the Founders would agree that arresting a man with possession of a plant and “resisting arrest” was a violation of the man’s freedoms.

But then, they (particularly the Anti-Federalists) had a far more limited view on the proper boundaries of government than even many Freepers today.

“Git-R-dun!”

If you do smoke it, it will reduce lung capacity temporarily. However, it has never been separately linked to chronic lung disease or cancer like tobacco smoke. There has never been a single recorded case of a smoker with lung disease only from smoking cannabis – the ones with lung disease all also smoked tobacco. Tobacco itself is radioactive (look it up) and the particles enter deeper into the finer passages of the lungs.

The most recent study:

Study Finds Periodic Pot Smoking Doesn't Harm Lungs(Journal of the American Medical Association)
http://copd.about.com/b/2012/01/11/study-finds-periodic-pot-smoking-doesnt-harm-lungs.htm

Also, it doesn’t have to be smoked. It can be vaporized with a device barely larger than a lighter. Or can be easily made into a tincture or pills using only kitchen utensils. All the products are 100% non-toxic even at impossible doses.

With tobacco, you can actually die from spilling nicotine extract on your skin. “A person can overdose on nicotine through a combination of nicotine patches, nicotine gum, nicotine inhaler cartridges and/or tobacco smoking at the same time. Spilling an extremely high concentration of nicotine onto the skin can result in intoxication or even death since nicotine readily passes into the bloodstream from dermal contact.” - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nicotine_poisoning

"It shows schizophrenia rates have not increased even as cannabis use has increased exponentially around the world since 1970."

I don't know what you are looking at but this researcher shows a huge increase in bipolar disorder.

"According to the 1969 book, Manic Depressive Illness by George Winokur of Washington University, Bipolar Disorder used to be fairly rare. In 1955, only one person in every 13,000 was hospitalized for it. Today, by contrast, according to the National Institute of Mental Health, Bipolar Disorder affects an astounding one in every forty adults in our country!!! "

Source

Even the Founders would agree that arresting a man with possession of a plant and “resisting arrest” was a violation of the man’s freedoms.

I highly doubt it, since the Founders had no problem enforcing laws - passed by a representative assembly - against trafficking in fermented corn mash without paying the duty.

The principle remains the same: if you don't like the laws passed by your legally elected representatives, use the First Amendment and the ballot box to change them.

"Show me this study"

Harvard University Reports on Understanding Risks to the Brain from Marijuana

This article by drugfree california has a whole list of research studies.

Like those reliable studies on glowbull warming.....

Hot damn!
Now that's what I need in the way of a new lawn tractor, wonder how big a Bush Hog it'll pull?

"Like those reliable studies on glowbull warming....."

Yes they plan on enriching themselves through investments in alternative green pot and bringing on global government by linking pot to brain damage. /s

The Anti-Federalists also were opposed to allowing the federal government to claim for itself authority not granted to it within the bounds of the Constitution.

Washington and Jefferson grew hemp on their property. I deduce you would support police raiding Monticello and Mount Vernon, were they alive and doing so today.

It shows schizophrenia rates have not increased even as cannabis use has increased exponentially around the world since 1970.

I don't know what you are looking at but this researcher shows a huge increase in bipolar disorder.

Bipolar disorder is not the same as schizophrenia, whose rates are indeed flat: "But here's the conundrum: while marijuana went from being a secret shared by a small community of hepcats and beatniks in the 1940s and '50s to a rite of passage for some 70% of youth by the turn of the century, rates of schizophrenia in the U.S. have remained flat, or possibly declined. For as long as it has been tracked, schizophrenia has been found to affect about 1% of the population." (http://www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,2005559,00.html)

Man angry about arrest used tractor like monster truck to crush 7 cop vehicles

Vt. man crushes police cars with family tractor

Vermont farmer crushed cop cars with tractor, police say