# Day in court after Lower Dolores crackdown.



## liquidchaos (Jul 11, 2005)

I got quoted in the local newspaper from the buzz for something I wish was not publisized in that regard. we are on a public forum and it sucks that someone like 'the man' could use it in such a way... down with the man!


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## mitgreer (Oct 22, 2003)

*what rights*

so much for our so-called freedom of speech, that is our federal goverment at work. Anything you say on mountainbuzz will be used in a court of law? What about the random fines? Seems like the pulled them all out of a hat.: What happened to the set standards that all other juridictions use? Just a question? 








:


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## brendodendo (Jul 18, 2004)

That sucks. F&^K the man.
How did they finger you as Mtn>Fish? Did the court subpoena Mtn.Buzz records? It is a public forum, but I would think that if the courts wanted records of names and IP addresses, the admins on this site would not just hand them out. I hope that you did not get ratted out. PM me or e-mail.


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## Caspian (Oct 14, 2003)

mitgreer said:


> so much for our so-called freedom of speech, that is our federal goverment at work. Anything you say on mountainbuzz will be used in a court of law?


_Please _tell me you were drunk and high when you wrote this...


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## acetomato (May 6, 2006)

Gotta say, I agree with Caspian on that one.

In the words of Dean Wormer: "Fat, drunk and stupid is no way to go through life son".


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## COUNT (Jul 5, 2005)

I don't believe any of the Admins had a hand in this.

COUNT


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## lhowemt (Apr 5, 2007)

That is a bummer, but it is a public forum, and you had "the right to remain silent", correct? They could have even subpoena'd a friend if they heard that you had talked to them and possibly incriminated yourself. 

It is pretty creepy that they knew you were Mtnfish, they are lurking!


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## sj (Aug 13, 2004)

Link to the original thread?


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## sj (Aug 13, 2004)

Duh sorry I haven't been playing here for awhile. sj


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## Andy R (Jul 3, 2005)

Wow, I am sorry to hear about that. The Man has not been in contact with me or been given any information from us. You were just joking with whatever you posted, right


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## Canada (Oct 24, 2006)

do you think the fines and penalties were driven by peoples attitudes in their posts on this site?

Sorry you paid a price. Anything placed in a public forum is free to be used. They can even go into your trash at your home when you carry it out to the curb.


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## gh (Oct 13, 2003)

Yep, I had nothing to do with that and I think Count is right, none of us did. Wonder if they were just doing the cop thing where they tell you something like its a fact and wait for you to confirm. Dont ask me how I know about that.


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## kombat32 (Nov 7, 2006)

think the reporter gave up the goods? he posted on the Buzz, hell may have even quoted it himself...


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## rivermanryan (Oct 30, 2003)

Back in the old days of the 'Buzz around 2001-2, I reported on the security situation at Green Mountain Reservoir and how it related to boater access to the lower Blue. It seemed pretty innocent, but I was confronted with hard copies someone printed off from the forum and handed to a top manager in our organization. I got a pretty good hand slap for my actions, but it taught me a good lesson about what you write on these things and who reads them.

That might be somewhat related to how Kara Lamb got involved with this forum. Kept me shut up and let the professional public relations lady handle it! I guess it was for the better as Kara now does a great job.


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## COUNT (Jul 5, 2005)

Did anyone ever contact AW about this and did they take a stance? I know it's not quite in the line of what they usually do and they may have avoided it simply for the fact the representing this type of case might be considered bad for the PR image. But at the same time, there are certainly some stewardship issues involved.

COUNT


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## Canada (Oct 24, 2006)

*AW*

I think AW would significantly weaken their position as a lobbying organization if they started taking the forefront on defending drug offenses. 

Many members of this community partake of illegal substances. Any effort to link organizations associated with the advancement of illegal substances should be kept very far from the one common ground we all have. River access. For river access, we need to represent the wholesome, family related element of the sport. Not the disrespectful, hard drinking, drugged up fringes the land owners would want to paint us as. If you really want to escalate and fight this, there are probably some organizations out there whose agenda is for legalization that could help. I would argue that you will not win, and will likely have a bulls eye on you from that day forward from the eyes of law enforcement, but you could try. 

This ties back to the thread about a town that was pulling over kayakers and searching their cars. The profiling the forum ranted about was successful. Everyone that posted something about the search said the officers found something to cite them for. Kind of funny in a sad way.


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## Canada (Oct 24, 2006)

*Bounce:*

I am very currious if parties who got off had lawyers, and if you feel any of the posts here effected peoples fines and or sentences. Why did some parties get off and you recieved more than expected?

Thanks,

Curiosity at how I would have responded on behalf of a client if they came in with this info. Sorry about the outcome.


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## mountainfish (Aug 22, 2006)

*No Lawyers present.*

I was the first of our group to meet with the posecutors. The thing that disturbed me was that both BLM officers that wrote the citations were in the room. I had written about them on mountainbuzz and they definetly took it personally. They seemed to be pushing for the more severe penalties. It was really intimidating and a little scary. I wish I would have gotten a lawyer. Is this Legal? I have been in trouble before and when I met with the prosecutor the officers involved were not in the room. I thought there job was to issue the tickets and not decide punishment. They should be there for a trial or if I plead not guilty...but at this stage it seemed shady. I really feel like I was pressured into the deal I got b/c those officers were sitting on each side of me with grins on their faces. I was scard of what might happen if I fought it. They were enjoying seeing me sweat. There seemed no method to the madness. One friend had his charges dismissed but they gave him over $250.00 in court fees. My fees were only $25. To sum it up i am feelin violated by everything from the manner in which the tickets were initailly written to the whole scene that went down in court. I hope to never come anywhere near a situation like this again.


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## smolakian (Jun 4, 2007)

Dude, cops LOVE seeing people sweat. They get off on it. Sadly, the majority of them entered the force as an extension of their glory days in high school combined with the fact that they didn't have the skills to do anything else.

Yeah, I know some of you with law enforcement in the family will take offense AND it is a gross generalization. But, for the most part, my interactions with the police have reinforced this stereotype. Even the two cops I know personally are douche bags when they aren't working.


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## smolakian (Jun 4, 2007)

^^^^
I hope they're reading this.


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## Canada (Oct 24, 2006)

The fact that they were there probably means they were taking it personally, and wanted to make sure the prosecutor did what they felt was appropriate. They are entitled to be there.

Better to have a large fine and no record in my book, so your friend was probably a winner in the matter.

When all of the emails started coming through, that probably personalized it. The lawyer may have been able to negotiate a plea, but if the officers "rangers" were this upset, even that would have been difficult.

Your end comments are pretty right on, when you are in their world, they are in control and the outcomes can be scary. Best to avoid ending up in their world.

I was arrested one night for poaching. We were watching a herd of elk through our headlights in a national park. The catch to the whole process was we didn't have a weapon. The ranger was convinced we'd hidden it. My friends were real smart asses that night, and I think that’s why we ended up being taken in. The next day, I had to call the head ranger, who was the father of a personal friend to get the thing cleaned up. I ended up paying a fine for watching wildlife through an artificial light, but in the end felt lucky that was all. While we can thump our chest about our rights, it's your word against theirs, and the prosecutors will defer to them unless you have hard facts to prove them wrong.

In the end, I'm still surprised they were doing this in the night in the desert. They must have had alot of complaints to have them take this aggressive tactic, or have been really bored.

Sorry about the difficult outcome.


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