Posted on 10/07/2013 5:24:27 AM PDT by markomalley
National Park Rangers shut down a family-owned and fully-booked inn along a lonely North Carolina highway on Saturday, driving customers away during the peak tourist season.
Bruce O’Connell, the owner of the Blue Ridge Inn, provoked the park rangers when he reopened his lodge after the Park Service demanded he close his business by Thursday due to the partial government shutdown. The World War II veterans who stormed their barricaded memorial inspired him to take a stand against the federal government, he said.
“It’s conscience and conviction that have taken over me, and I just can’t roll over any more,” he said. (RELATED: WWII vets storm closed memorial as GOP congressman reportedly distracts cops)
In response, the rangers blocked the inn with patrol cars and told customers and told customers who had booked reservations months in advance that the “government was closed,” according to USAToday. They also forced 35 of O’Connell’s 100 employees out of their homes and off the federally-leased lands.
“It’s about the visitors. It’s about the staff and employees who are now having to move off the mountain — they live here — with no notice. They have no jobs. That’s the concern,” said O’Connell of his newly homeless, jobless workers.
Another North Carolina outpost, the Peaks of Otter Lodge, folded without a fight after receiving a similar Park Service order.
Chief Ranger Steve Stinnett plans to enforce the directives issued from National Park Service Rangers in Washington, D.C. to keep rangers holding customers and homeowners at bay “as long as they are needed” — in other words, until the government resumes the recently shuttered 17 percent of its functions.
Keeping the rangers ringed around the inn will, according to Stinnet, ensure that “people don’t utilize a business that, according to the federal government, is closed.”
The Obama administration’s decision to deploy federal agents to wall off private businesses costs the tourism industry $76 million per day.
North Carolina’s unemployment rate currently stands at 8.7 percent.
I think this is the first time someone in the administration told the truth.
Last week the NPS was blaming OMB.
The OMB chief is a protege of Harold Ickes, who relishes playing the role of the Clinton’s “bad cop”. There’s no way that this will ever reach further up the foodchain, but if there’s a figurative head to call for on a political silver platter, it’s the OMB Chief’s .
So, Rannug, Where should we rendezvue? It will only take me a short while to load mags and about 5 hours for the drive, but I be there to join your company of good men. Just give me a time and place.
They shut down the inns, costing the government income, then pay the rangers to make sure they remain shut down. They don’t want to save money; they want to inflict pain and inconvenience to make a political point.
I’d be interested in what the lease agreements for these various private homes and businesses on public land say.
Supposedly we’re a nation of laws. If the lease allows for these places to be shutdown in this sort of situation, then the owners should comply, since they agreed to what is in the lease. If not, the response is “get a warrant” (although for what, I’m not sure). Barring that, any entry is trespassing and/or home invasion and should be dealt with accordingly.
I’m not sure I would count on the “fundamentally transformed” Armed Forces to defy illegal orders in the future.
I posed that question in another thread. And what about the leases for the homes on Federal land that people live in? They have been kicking them out too.
Notice that they aren’t sending in federal goons to shut down all the oil, gas, other mineral businesses operating on leased federal land or cattle operations on leased land. Just this guy, because he’s too small to hurt the DNC financially.
“Oh yes, it can. What you are seeing with the Park Rangers is PEOPLE FOLLOW ORDERS. Now I know what the prescient Germans of 1930 saw coming. “
Just think HItler was nominated for a Nobel “Peace Prize” in 1939, so Obama can be “proud” of the “heritage” of the Nobel Prize. Alfred Nobel is probably spinning in his grave over the “nominees, and recipients” of his prizes.
I agree.
And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor.
This, of course, is the last sentence in our Declaration of Independence of July 4, 1776 when selfless patriots risked it all for their country.
I wonder how many selfless patriots one could find in this country today who would take such a risk as did our Founding Fathers? We now have career politicians in our Federal, State, and local governments who will do and say only whatever it takes to achieve office and then stay in office. This self-serving mindset continues throughout our career military leadership and our Federal workforce where, again, they will say and do only what is good for their career and what’s good for the country doesn’t even enter into the equation.
Do you really think any of the NPS Police who are on orders from Obama to keep Americans out of National Parks and National Monuments will do anything that will jeopardize their careers? For that matter, if the people resist the government and Obama declares Martial Law, do you think our military leadership will risk their careers by refusing to fire on the American people? Like you, I once thought they would, but life has taught me differently; let me explain.
I remember back to War Zone C in 1966 when I was a U.S. Army Special Forces NCO assigned to a Special Forces A Camp on the Cambodian border. When the weather was clear and intelligence reports indicated the Viet Cong weren’t in the immediate area, VIPs would occasionally helicopter into our camp for a visit. After our Detachment Commander had briefed them, they would usually stroll around our camp and “inspire the troops” before they departed. One day a visiting Colonel asked me, in passing, "How’s the war going Sergeant?" I’m sure he didn’t expect an answer to his inane question, but I gave him an answer anyway, and it was an ear-full. After he wiped the shocked expression off his face, he smirked and replied, "You just don’t have the Big Picture, Sergeant." Then, he strutted back to his waiting helicopter, flew back to his big city Headquarters, and left me standing there scratching my head and wondering what he meant by his "Big Picture" response.
It took me a while to determine exactly what the Colonel meant, and when I did figure it out, it was a paradigm-shift that brought the war and the world into focus for me for the first time. That Colonel, and many other officers I served with in Vietnam, only saw the war as a once in a lifetime career opportunity that had to be milked for everything they could possibly squeeze out of it during the brief time they could take credit for its prosecution. As for the Colonel and his entourage visiting our camp, along with other Special Forces Camps along the border, I learned their motive was only to earn Air Medals, as each time they landed in one of our A Camps, they logged it as a Combat Assault.
At first, it was hard for me to understand how these officers could fight a war and nowhere in their agenda would be a priority on closing with the enemy, destroying him and winning the war. History had taught these officers that when the war ended, the ride was over, promotions stopped, the Army downsized, and they would be out of a job. So their priority was to keep the war going until they received their stars and could retire as General Officers. As medals were a sort of insurance against losing their jobs after the war, there were large division sized operations run for no apparent reason other than to justify medals for their senior leadership. There’s no doubt in my mind some of these officers prayed to God every night and beseeched God to “Please don’t end this war before I get my stars.”
I found many, but not all, officers in Vietnam to be career-oriented opportunists who only saw the war as an opportunity to enhance their careers, and they would only do or say whatever was good for their careers. In an officer’s day to day decision making process he had three basic elements to consider: What’s best for the Mission? What’s best for his Men? And what’s best for his Career? When the war ended, I noticed that those officers who had given primary consideration to their careers in every decision they had made remained in the Army and those who had put the prosecution of the war ahead of their careers were caught up in the first Reduction in Force (RIF) and eliminated. Those officers who had protected their careers at every juncture continued to protect their careers, and by doing and saying only what was good for their careers, they rose to become the senior leadership of the Army.
In my day to day interactions with these career conscious officers, I noticed that they considered us Special Forces NCOs to be feeble minded, and they didn’t trust us simply because we placed no importance at all on our careers. They couldn’t understand how we could be so irresponsible that we wouldn’t take care of ourselves above all else. If we didn’t protect our careers, we wouldn’t have one, and then how would we one day support our family, pay our mortgage, and send our children to college?
No, I don’t think there will be many, if any, NPS Policemen who will endanger their careers and threaten their family’s security over this. For that matter, I don’t think there will be many, if any, Americans with a full time 8 to 5 job, a family, and a mortgage who will risk their family’s security over this. And, of course, the 47% aren’t going to risk their welfare check, EBT Card, and “Bama Phone over this either.
Yes, we have become a nation of complacent sheep, and what the future holds for us is anybody’s guess, as the American People live out the old Chinese curse, ”May you live in interesting times.”
And it is sad to think of how many enlisted troops lost their lives so that the career officers could further their career.
I don’t know much about war, but some of the stuff I’ve read about our troops losing their lives due to rules of engagement and kowtowing to muslim sensitivities is very disheartening.
They could have said they were “self-furloughing” to save money during this national crisis.
> I’m not sure I would count on the “fundamentally
> transformed” Armed Forces to defy illegal orders in the
> future.
Good point. I know more than a few Christian men who will not be re-enlisting at the end of their current tours. I believe this is intentional. Christians will recognize illegal orders. Sodomites and pagans are far less likely to do so.
Rusty,
I totally agree with you. I was only correcting the facts about the lease as I understood info from the Asheville Tea Party site so that some liberal can’t say we had the facts wrong.
I think we are all in agreement about all this nonsense. I just hope that once the shutdown is over we don’t forget about it and pursue our grievances.
When I read about military guys being disciplined for not openly embracing gays and/or stating their religious beliefs it does not instill confidence that the mission of our military is any longer to defend our constitution.
It's called Rules of Engagement "creep."
I once took part in a small "Brush War" where our starting Rules of Engagement were, "If you feel threatened, shoot." These initial Rules of Engagement soon changed to, "If you are shot at, you can return fire." As that meant when we met the enemy we had to give him the first shot, and I thought the rules couldn't get any worse than that, but they did.
Just Before we were pulled out of the fracas, the Rules of Engagement were changed to, "You may return fire only if you receive effective fire." This, of course, meant that the enemy not only had to shoot at you but he had to also hit you before you could return fire.
That country is now one of the few Communist States left in the world.
“Creep” could apply to just about all the gov’t rules these days.
Actually I bet the state national guard has perfectly adequate ground attack aircraft and air defense units. Of course the feds have nukes too.
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