Hello Police State
Two abysmal offerings today, first is this:
An 89-year-old woman could be evicted from her home of more than 50 years for missing one tax payment of $572 on her South Hanover Twp. property.
Helene Shue’s red farmhouse and 41 acres of land along Route 39 — about two miles from Hersheypark — were appraised at $800,000, said her nephew, Jeff Arndt. The property was sold in September at a sheriff’s sale for $15,000.
Arndt said he and his aunt were not aware that the county was seeking to recoup a portion of the 2001 taxes until an anonymous caller tipped him off Monday night.
“He told us the property had already been sold,” Arndt said. “The Lord laid it on his heart to tell me about it.”
Arndt has hired an attorney, and filed a legal challenge of the sale yesterday. The petition states that the taxes were paid in full every other year, including this year.
Dauphin County’s tax bureau made repeated attempts to collect the 2001 payment before selling the property, said Jennifer Kocher, a county spokeswoman. Several notices were sent seeking payment, and two notices were posted on the front door of her house, Kocher said.
“There’s a very strict procedure we must follow that includes 12 notifications,” Kocher said. “We followed the letter of the law to a T.”
The $572 owed in back taxes represents part of what is owed for 2001, Kocher said. County records confirm that Shue paid all her subsequent tax bills in full, she said.
Arndt said Shue did attempt to pay the $572 in question. But he said the check was returned with a form letter from the tax bureau explaining that the payment should be made by certified check or money order.
The government fails to accept partial payment and this warrants confiscation and forfeiture of property? This is abysmal.
This one is slightly more disturbing:
A drug sweep Wednesday morning at a South Carolina school has some parents and students questioning police tactics.
Surveillance video from Stratford High School in Goose Creek shows 14 officers, some with guns drawn, ordering students to lie the ground as police searched for marijuana. Students who didn’t comply with the orders quickly enough were reportedly handcuffed.
Police didn’t find any criminals in the armed sweep, but they say search dogs smelled drugs on a dozen backpacks.
The school’s principal defended the dramatic sweep.
So, essentially storm troopers assault many innocent kids because someone might have some weed? One final thought:
“I was just upset knowing they had guns put to their head and a canine was barking at them and about to bite somebody,” said Latonia Simmons, the parent of one student. “It was awful.”
Awful is not the word. Abysmal, criminal, asinine, Nazi, Gestapo and other words come to mind.
November 8th, 2003 at 9:22 pm
The school principal was like something out of Breakfast Club or something.
His name’s George McCrackin, and he was actually quoted saying that he would utilize whatever force was necessary to keep drugs out of the school. And he called this experience “invaluable” but not dangerous, because no guns were ever pointed at the students’ heads.
This isn’t a person that needs to be in charge of students or other educators. That he even allowed this to go on shows he’s taken on an adversarial role with the students. It shows that he feels that they no longer listen, and only understand violence.
December 22nd, 2005 at 12:06 pm
[…] For those of you who don’t remember Goose Creek, here’s the skinny: A drug sweep Wednesday morning at a South Carolina school has some parents and students questioning police tactics. […]