OH SHIT! JAIL TIME

[Guest BOSTONIAN]

CHECK IT OUT. I AM NOT TRYING TO BE LIKE I AM THE M,AN OR WHATEVER BUT I GOT 2 YEARS JAILTIME FOR GRAFFITI. THE ONLY THING I CAN SAY ABOUT THAT IS IT SUCKS AND I LEARNED MY LESSON. SO NOW I AM MORE CAUTIOUS WHEN I BOMB...IF YOU WANNA PLAY THEN IF YOU GET CAUGHT YOUR GONNA PAY. THATS THE NAME OF THE GAME....IF YOU THINK IS FUCKED UP PEOPLE GO TO JAIL FOR GRAFF THEN GET A LEGAL WALL OR JUST STOP ALL TOGETHER. UNLESS YOUR REALLY FRSH NO ONE WILL MISS YOU ANYWAYS...

[Guest cholo]

old skool

 

they sound like there old skool, old skool like fruit loops :cool:

[High Priest]

Sounds like they screwed themselves over. You cant be arrested for merely possesion of paint, no matter how over whelming the number of cans in your car...unless your under 18.

Further more they werent even painting and still pleaded guilty on vandalism charges... sounds like they put them self's right into the courts hands with out any help at all.

[rotgutparty]

wow....this america/canada conversation is one of the most insightful, polite, things i've ever read on this site. KaBar, whats your opinion on militias. i know some have racist, religious agendas and that is obviously fucked up but as for the others go, i'd like to know your opinion. it seems their distrust and hatred of the government is just as hardcore as the lefty liberal kids running around at WTO summits. except militia men are prepared to do ACTUAL damage instead of breaking windows and burning flags.

[KaBar]

Militias

 

Rotgutparty---Everybody has an opinion, and they are just that: opinions. Nobody has the absolute last word on any subject, although when I've had too much to drink I often write like I think I do. I know quite a bit about the Texas militia movement. Texas has one of the largest militia "populations" in the U.S., and can show about three or four organizations that were once pretty large. Today, they have shrunk to a fraction of their former size, but the members, of course, are still there.

The organizations that I know the most about are the (now-almost-moribund) Texas Constitutional Militia, and another organization called the 13th Texas Infantry Regiment (13th TIR). It is of course, not nearly as big as it sounds. There were, at the peak of the militia movement, supposedly over 90,000 members nation-wide.

I attended a meeting of TCM shortly after the Waco fire. It was held in a small Baptist church about five miles from where I live. The pastor was incensed about the Waco disaster, and had allowed TCM to meet in the Sunday School classrooms of his church.

There were about 75 to 85 people present. The meeting started with the Pledge of Allegiance and a prayer. Everybody there took off their hats or caps, and covered their heart with their right hand during the Pledge, and bowed their heads during the prayer. The prayer was for guidance and understanding, and for our Nation's leaders.

The first order of business was new members. Thirty-five men and women joined that night, standing in front, with their right hands raised like when you swear to tell the truth in Court. The oath was the same official one I took when I joined the Marine Corps.

They divided the new members up and assigned them to squads and fire teams. Then they showed a video tape of an idea put forth by a guy named "Bo" Grice, called SPIKE teams, and another one later from "Mark from Michigan" Koerneke (or however he spells it) about the importance of stockpiling sufficient ammunition. He recommended an absolute minimum of 1,000 rounds per rifle.

There was a lot of literature from the extreme right wing, but there were also several black teenagers in the audience (they had pretty hostile attitudes, too, and wanted to form all-black militia units, which was rejected by the leadership.) I did not see any real evidence of genuine KKK-style racism, in fact, I thought that they sort of went out of their way to be welcoming to the black kids, but the welcome did not seem to be reciprocated. The "commander" was pretty even handed about it. He said that while the black kids were more than welcome to participate, that TCM did not believe in racially exclusive organizations, and could not support either all-black or all-white or all-anything units. "Open to everyone, regardless of race, creed, or color" is their standard.

There were invitations to attend some field training, then they broke the meeting up. It all seemed pretty innocuous to me, although they were pretty pissed off about Waco. A couple of guys who had been drinking got up and gave an impassioned (and intoxicated) speech about the importance of the John Birch Society. They struck me as rather recent recruits to the JBS, and the fact that they had been drinking would have infuriated all the Birchers I ever met.

 

The 13th TIR was an amalgam of several other militia-like organizations. The backbone was the remnants of a WWII re-enactment group called the Texas Light Infantry (TLI) which broke up after several key members decided to support the so-called "Republic of Texas" organization and tried to hi-jack TLI into being a RoT militia organization. They managed to create a coalition of several other groups, including the Montgomery County faction of TCM, and a group from Fort Bend County. They have a website--check it out. The 13th TIR has companies from Austin, Odessa-Midland, Dallas, Bryan-College Station and a couple from Houston, or at least they did at one time.

 

http://freeweb.pdq.net/metalryder/13thTIR

 

I never heard any seditious talk, but I can't say it never occurred. It wasn't said while I was around. They seemed like good, decent patriots. A large percentage seem to be military veterans. One man I talked to was a former Marine Corps helicopter pilot. I met a doctor and several nurses, too. One thing about the Texas militia--they are heavily armed, and well-equipped. Several people brought in their gear, and they all seem to be equipped with standard USGI military equipment, but a variety of different types of rifles.

[Guest catwash]

Originally posted by High Priest

Sounds like they screwed themselves over. You cant be arrested for merely possesion of paint, no matter how over whelming the number of cans in your car...unless your under 18.

Further more they werent even painting and still pleaded guilty on vandalism charges... sounds like they put them self's right into the courts hands with out any help at all.

 

you obviously don't know anything about the case. You can't be arrested for possession of paint but you can be arrested on suspicion when you're outside a yard at 2am or whatever with a car full of paint, cutters and previous convictions.

 

Conpiracy to commit ciminal damage carries a higher penalty than actually doing it...

[Guest imported_b0b]

Originally posted by High Priest

Sounds like they screwed themselves over. You cant be arrested for merely possesion of paint,

 

In your country maybe. In the UK you can be arrested for both "Going equipped to commit criminal damage" & "conspiracy to commit criminal damage". The going equipped is very hard to prove. They went guilty to conspiracy thinking they would get off lightly and they didn't. Isn't there some kind of "carrying graffiti implements" law in the states?

 

Also rather than building new jails the authorities are letting more and more prisoners out with elecetronic tags that monitor your whereabouts. You are then under curfew and have to stay to certain areas or avoid other areas.

 

Also incitement to commit criminal damage carries a higher penalty than commiting it, or conspiring to do it. And no-one even has to have done anything, the incitement alone is counted, even if no-one listened to you.