Free Republic

SPOKANE, Wash. -- When Donald Ross's sister passed, more than 100 people attended her funeral mass in Spokane. The burial was scheduled for a nearby cemetery, but Ross and his family only made it a quarter of a mile when flashing lights forced them to the side of the road. "Harold, his (my husband's) brother, said, 'You pulled us out of a funeral procession,'" said wife Shirley Ross. But the deputy kept them there, writing up five citations because the driver and the passengers were not wearing a seat belts. And the sheriff's department says he had every right. "We're...

Imagine you're having a backyard barbeque. A cop walks in and announces, "This is a random health and safety check to see whether you've removed the skin from the chicken before you served it." Though delicious in taste, we all know that chicken skin contains considerable unhealthy fat. If you're caught serving chicken skin, the cop gets your ID and issues you a $50 ticket. If something like this were to occur, most Americans -- I hope -- would see such an action as ludicrous, offensive and a gross violation of our liberties. But not so fast. Let's think about...

EUGENE, Ore. — A seat belt saved a driver, police say, but not in the usual way. Steven Earp, 48, was eating a fast-food sandwich Wednesday morning, said police Sgt. Doug Mozan. Earp choked and blacked out. His 1997 Honda sedan hit a parked car. After the wreck, Earp came to. Mozan attributed his revival to a "seat-belt-induced Heimlich maneuver."

Plunging 60 feet off a bridge in a car sounds like a sure death sentence, but survival experts say people can and do walk away from such a calamity, for a simple reason: They were wearing their seat belts. "The people who got out without a scratch absolutely had their seat belts on," says Brian Brawdy, survival expert and a former New York City police officer. "If you're knocked unconscious because you weren't wearing your seat belt, you won't be swimming to the surface." Kimberly Brown, who survived the bridge collapse, told "Good Morning America's" Robin Roberts that had she...

Wilsons Mills — Authorities in Johnston County could charge a father in a crash that injured his 9-year-old daughter — not because he caused the crash, but because he allegedly beat up the driver who did. Police in Wilsons Mills said the driver ran a red light along U.S. Highway 70 and collided with another vehicle in which the girl was a passenger. She was thrown out of the vehicle and critically injured. Police said the girl’s father left his vehicle and attacked the driver who hit them. The driver was taken to an area hospital for injuries he sustained...

State Police are investigating whether a trooper was communicating with a girlfriend's estranged husband while driving Gov. Jon S. Corzine on the night of a crash that left the governor seriously injured, according to a published report. Davy Jones, president of the State Troopers Fraternal Association, told The Star-Ledger of Newark that investigators want to know if trooper Robert Rasinski was communicating with the man, either on his phone or with mobile e-mail, while he was driving Corzine, or just before. State Police Superintendent Rick Fuentes confirmed in a statement to The Star-Ledger that the department was "in receipt of...

BREAKING NEWS: Corzine still critical, on ventilator By GEOFF MULVIHILL, Associated Press Posted Friday, April 20, 2007 at 2:08 pm CAMDEN — Though top staffers hoped early on that Gov. Jon S. Corzine would be back on the job about a week after a car crash on the Garden State Parkway, it's become clear there are no quick fixes for the governor's injuries. He remained on a ventilator and in critical but stable condition today, more than a week after badly hurting his leg and chest. The last major medical milestone came Monday, when doctors performed the third and final...

ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. -- State Police have declined to charge the 20-year-old driver of a pickup truck for leaving the scene of a crash that critically injured Gov. Jon Corzine this week after the man told investigators he was trying to make room for the governor's motorcade. However, authorities left open the possibility the driver could face other charges in the coming days, saying the investigation is not complete. State Police still want to interview Corzine, who remained on a ventilator Saturday, unable to speak. Surgery on the governor's injured leg was successful Saturday, and another operation was planned for...

State Police say they have interviewed the driver of the red pickup truck whose sudden maneuver on the Garden State Parkway was believed to have led to the crash of Gov. Jon Corzine's SUV on Thursday night. He has not been charged. Superintendent Rick Fuentes issued a statement saying the driver indicated he was unaware of the accident. The driver's identity was not released because there are no charges against him. He is described as a 20-year-old Atlantic County resident and an employee of an Atlantic City casino.

GALLOWAY TOWNSHIP, N.J. - April 13, 2007 - Gov. Jon S. Corzine was apparently not wearing his seat belt as required by law when his official SUV crashed into a guard rail, leaving the governor hospitalized in critical condition, two spokesmen said Friday. A state trooper was at the wheel and the governor was sitting as usual in the front passenger seat when the SUV slammed into a guard rail Thursday night, authorities said. Corzine broke a leg, his breastbone, 12 ribs and a vertebra. Corzine, 60, was sedated and on a breathing tube, and a doctor who helped treat...

Virginia's secretary of transportation sent out a letter announcing the state's annual "Click It or Ticket" campaign May 22 through June 4. I responded to the secretary of transportation with my own letter that in part reads: "Mr. Secretary: This is an example of the disgusting abuse of state power. Each of us owns himself, and it follows that we should have the liberty to take risks with our own lives but not that of others. That means it's a legitimate use of state power to mandate that cars have working brakes because if my car has poorly functioning brakes,...

General Motors has won the first round of a consumer lawsuit that could set a precedent for other automakers in similar suits pending in several states. A U.S. District Court judge in Dallas has dismissed a suit in which the owner of a 2004 Chevrolet Tahoe alleged that GM had been negligent in using tempered glass in its side windows rather than laminated glass.

<p>Rockville, Md. (AP) - Maryland State Police are using a military tool in the battle against seat belt violators.</p> <p>They're using night vision goggles to find people who don't buckle up after dark. Police say 40 percent of drivers don't use their seat belts at night, making the roads much more dangerous after sunset. Police in Maryland are among 13,000 agencies nationwide that are now using the goggles.</p>

MD State Police are using "night vision goggles" to go after seat belt violators.

Night-Vision Goggles Help Seatbelt Campaign POSTED: 12:36 pm EDT June 2, 2005 ROCKVILLE, Md. -- The "Click It or Ticket" campaign is getting some high-tech help in suburban Washington. Maryland State Police are using a military tool to make sure drivers buckle up. Officers had night vision goggles on Rockville Pike outside the nation's capital last night to look inside darkened cars. Police said they can see from a distance whether drivers have their seat belts fastened. *snip* Maryland authorities said they issued 111 citations Wednesday night as part of the campaign.

On Monday, the Illinois State Police and Illinois Department of Transportation announced the start of their largest-ever enforcement campaign, which will target unrestrained motorists in more than 3,000 "enforcement zones" set up statewide.

NASHUA POLICE to conduct seat belt checkpoints" was a small headline in our state edition one day last week, but it caught our eye nonetheless. The story said checkpoints would begin today and are an effort to improve "compliance with state seat belt laws." New Hampshire's law covers minors only, ours being the last state in the union that believes adults ought to be able to make their own decisions about buckling up. So we will be interested to see just how intrusive the police are in administering their "checkpoints." The New Hampshire Police Chiefs Association tried again this year...

Current Bill Summary SCS/SBs 221, 250 & 256 - This act makes modifies several provisions relating to the operation of motor vehicles. SEAT BELTS/BOOSTER SEATS - This act permits a law enforcement officer to enforce the seat belt law if the violation is clearly visible to the officer without stopping the vehicle. The act provides noncompliance with the seat belt law shall not constitute probable cause for a search of the driver, passenger, or vehicle (Section 307.178).

A Texas jury has found Ford Motor Co. liable for a rollover accident involving a Ford Explorer in another legal setback for the manufacturer of America's most popular sport utility vehicle. On Tuesday, the jury in Zavala County District Court ordered Ford to pay $31 million in compensatory damages in the case, Ford spokeswoman Kathleen Vokes said.

Another Triangle woman tells of being stopped by two Raleigh police officers, one apparently in training, who contended she wasn't wearing her seatbelt. Shown it was fastened, the officers retired to patrol car for a conference before returning 10 minutes later. One handed her a $75 citation because, he said, the shoulder belt was "too loose".

Far, far from Earth, two galaxies collide, spewing out gas and dust particles in waves that expand at 200,000 mph. A shimmering, iridescent blue ring circles one galaxy, and a blue puff of light blazes below the other, deep in the Sculptor constellation. These galaxies glow and spin, mammoth clusters of energy, 500 million light-years from Earth. The Andromeda galaxy, 2 million light-years away, sparkles purple and yellow in a glowing glob. One of the coolest places in this galaxy bubbles at a million degrees Celsius. Its central black hole swallows millions of suns, and it still rumbles in hunger....

<p>Imagine you're having a backyard barbeque. A cop walks in and announces, "This is a random health and safety check to see whether you've removed the skin from the chicken before you served it." Though delicious, we all know chicken skin contains considerable unhealthy fat. If you're caught serving chicken skin, the cop gets your ID and issues you a $50 ticket.</p>

Imagine you're having a backyard barbeque. A cop walks in and announces, "This is a random health and safety check to see whether you've removed the skin from the chicken before you served it." Though delicious in taste, we all know that chicken skin contains considerable unhealthy fat. If you're caught serving chicken skin, the cop gets your ID and issues you a $50 ticket. If something like this were to occur, most Americans – I hope – would see such an action as ludicrous, offensive and a gross violation of our liberties. But not so fast. Let's think about...

Skagit County judge refuses to enforce seat belt law MOUNT VERNON -- A Skagit County Superior Court judge has refused to enforce the state's seat belt law, finding it too vague. That decision also led the judge to dismiss drug and weapons charges filed in the same case. Judge Susan Cook ruled that the seat belt law is unconstitutionally vague because it refers to federal safety standards regarding which vehicles must be equipped with seat belts. "This statute fails to inform the average citizen of the location or legal citation of the federal standard it adopts," she wrote in a...

This must be stopped, the police would be able to pull over anyone any age not wearing a seatbelt. Pay at least a $75 fine, huge tax. Violation of civil liberties. It has been sent to the Governor but not by a veto proof majority in the Senate.

Police should not be able to stop and ticket motorists solely because they aren't wearing a seat belt, a new initiative group says. The Washington Seatbelt Coalition will begin gathering signatures next week to put a portion of the state's seat-belt law on the ballot. The group wants to undo the state Legislature's decision last year allowing police to stop and cite motorists who aren't buckled up even if they're not suspected of any other violation. Before June 2002, failure to wear a seat belt was a secondary infraction. That meant police could cite motorists for the seat-belt violation only...

Grandma 'destroyed' by child's death 11/18/02Stephen HudakPlain Dealer Reporter Eaton Township- The few times she rode in the front seat, 5-year-old Adrianna Cortimilia felt like a big girl, her father said. The last time, it killed her. Adrianna, a kindergarten student at Grafton Primary School, died Friday from head injuries apparently caused by an air bag that inflated during an accident a day earlier in a parking lot in Lorain. A city spokesman said an accident report was not available yesterday. Adrianna and her 3-year-old brother, Wesley, were in a van driven by their maternal grandmother, Betty Stull, when it...

In colonial America, one of the sparks that lit the flame of liberty was the dreaded "Writs of Assistance," more commonly referred to as the king’s "general warrants." Such general warrants were a declaration issued by the Crown that allowed the king’s soldiers to search for smuggled goods in any suspected house or premises, day or night, without giving notice or warning. In 1761, James Otis, a Boston, Massachusetts lawyer, who was advocate general of the Boston vice-admiralty court, was asked to defend the general warrants. Mr. Otis refused since he believed such warrants were a violation of a person’s...