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Posted on 12/16/2001 7:48:42 AM PST by fivetoes

July 31, 2001 Lovingston, Colorado

What started out as one man’s desire to be left alone has escalated into a police SWAT standoff at a local residence and national protest. Benjamin J. Adams finally had enough of the way the country was heading and decided not to have any contact with the outside world and just wanted to be left alone. To let others know of his dissent he protested by placing a traffic barricade in his driveway that stated ‘I AM NOT COMING OUT’, LEAVE ME ALONE’.

Ben Adams let people know he did not want to be bothered and has not been left alone since.

After constant badgering by the press, Ben agreed to talk to a reporter in a phone interview to give his side of the story. He said that it all began years ago as the freedoms guaranteed by the Bill of Rights became slowly diluted in the name of political correctness. It was an attempt to ensure that no one would ever be offended. There is nothing in the Constitution or Bill of Rights that guarantees you the right ‘not to be offended’. He first noticed it when news reporters began pronouncing the word harassment differently. He thought that some people did not like the sound of ‘her and ass’ in the same sentence. He went on to rant about the latest assault on freedom. He said it was zero tolerance. “My God, no one is allowed any common sense or has to assume any responsibility for anything any more. I just got fed up with it! Every time I turned on the television or the radio I was bombarded with messages that indicated that any time I had a thought, someone was going to be offended if I verbalized it. You can’t even tell a woman she looks nice without wondering if you are going to be charged with sexual assault. Every where I go, whether it is to the grocery store, the movie theater, or work I see people walking past, their eyes fixed firmly in front of them, afraid to strike up a conversation or look at anyone for fear they might offend someone,” Ben said.

He went on to say, “In order to maintain my sovereignty I decided that I was going to stay in my house and not come out for a few days. It was my own personal protest against the direction the nation has been subtly heading the past couple of decades. Why, in my house, I can rant and rail against the government and all of the do gooders that want to control everyone. I figured I still had freedom in my own home!”

It all began when police were alerted by a concerned passerby who saw Ben’s barricade in his driveway and thought it unusual. Officer O’Bannon was dispatched to the home and knocked on Ben’s door to inquire about the barricade in his driveway. He was told to go away and leave him alone. Officer O’Bannon returned forty five minutes later with Sharon Cain, a county social worker, to assess if anyone in the home needed help. Through the closed door Ben assured the pair that everything was just fine and no one in the home had called for assistance. He asked the pair to please go away and leave him alone, as no crime had been committed.

The entire incident rapidly escalated from that point. The meddling social worker was offended that Ben would not come out and talk with her and convinced the police chief that there is something mentally wrong with a person who just wants to be left alone. The police determined that since half of the homes in America have firearms in them that there was a good possibility that there were guns at the address in question. A check with the Division of Wildlife confirmed that Ben had drawn hunting licenses for several years and probably had at least one high powered rifle with a scope in the home.

The police and social services deemed it necessary to determine if there was probable cause to enter the home. Two patrol cars were sent to Ben’s house and once again tried to convince the determined Ben to come outside. When he refused the charges against him began. The first was Disobeying a Lawful order by a Law Enforcement Officer. The call came from headquarters to seal off the area. The two officers began to string yellow ‘POLICE LINE: DO NOT CROSS’ tape around the perimeter of the property. The police had now officially barricaded Ben in his own self-induced barricaded home. The standoff was now official!

After the DO NOT CROSS tape was put up and the SWAT team called in, it became unclear as to who was doing the barricading.

The police were convinced that they had a ‘nut case’ with guns on their hands. They sent out a press release to the local media that an antisocial, emotionally disturbed extremist had barricaded himself in his home and that there was reason to believe that he was armed. Since one of the SWAT team’s primary responsibilities is to respond to barricaded persons, they were called out to ensure the matter did not get out of hand and to end the standoff as quickly as possible. Within minutes twenty two members of the Lovingston SWAT team had the modest home surrounded and were shouting through bullhorns, demanding that Ben come out with his hands up. Since Ben had done nothing wrong that he was aware of he decided to ignore the police outside. The standoff continued and as night fell the police brought in flood lights that turned the dark of night into the light of day.

During the night the police had the city of Lovingston turn off the water and electricity to the home. Public service was called in to turn off the natural gas to the house. The neighborhood was evacuated to ensure their safety. They did not want to have any innocent neighbors accidentally shot by a stray police bullet.

Ben’s wife had always been good at keeping a well stocked pantry and a good supply of emergency equipment on hand. There were plenty of batteries, candles and Frosted Flakes to ride out power outages. When Ben saw the police stringing the tape around his home he filled the bath tub with water for drinking. He closed the drapes and turned on the radio and listened to some loud rock and roll to drown out the bullhorns. Ben had done nothing wrong, he just wanted to be left alone.

The standoff has now entered it’s third day with no resolve in sight. Reporters from all of the major networks and news outlets are on the scene. With cameras constantly on them the police are on their best behavior. Since there is no law against wanting to be left alone the police are extremely cautious in handling this delicate situation. They appear to realize they overreacted and are looking for a way out of this sticky situation in order to maintain public confidence and assurance that there really is a need for every community to have a militarized police force.

It appears that the standoff has attracted attention throughout the country as thousands of like-minded individuals are barricading themselves in their own homes as a sign of solidarity. Police in Atlanta, Dallas, Seattle and Baltimore are reporting being besieged with calls from concerned individuals that people are barricading themselves in their houses. Local television stations around the nation are assuring people that it is not a crime to want to be left alone.

In Chicago an entire apartment complex is supporting Ben in his quest to be left alone. The manager at the Admiral Assisted Living Apartment Complex said that everyone in the building has been stocking up on groceries and will stay in the building until the siege in Lovingston comes to a end. The residents, mostly senior citizens agree with Ben that the country has gone down hill in the past few decades. They have been on the phone with their friends in other apartment complexes throught the nation urging them to join in the protest. They recall a different time when seeking solitude was not a crime and policemen did not look like storm troopers. They feel it is tiome to take a stand!

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Support Ben Adams!

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