Writer Robert FitzGibbon:

I wanted to alert you to an interesting situation taking place in my local community of Greenwood, California. This small mountain town sits in the Sierra Nevada’s, roughly between Reno, Nevada and Sacramento, California, in El Dorado County. The use of the word “town” may be a bit of a misnomer, as this gold rush era, two-blink community has seen better days. However, there are still about 1,100 residents of Greenwood, and we care deeply about the liberty and freedom afforded by living such a rural lifestyle. The nearest “big city” would be Placerville or Auburn, but with each of those cities thirty to forty minutes away by driving, it makes “shopping” a planned event. In situations requiring immediate grocery needs, we do have two stores located about fifteen miles apart, forcing the citizens of Greenwood to load up the kids and car just to get some milk.

Into this retail void stepped Mr. Cal, a retired construction executive who always wanted to run a small country store, something akin to the Walton’s Mountain grocer, Ike Godsey. After two years of repairs, remodeling, and refurbishing, Mr. Cal had returned the abandoned, derelict building to its original theme, complete with a new front deck and a tamely re-vitalized Mainstreet. Unfortunately, into the same void slithered the snake of county government, who after two years of inaction and idiocy could not approve a business license. At the same time, they allowed Mr. Cal to continue his efforts, including paying taxes to the same county government that now wants to charge him $30,000.00 in order to “re-zone” Mainstreet, thus allowing him to “legally open” his facility.

As a community, about a dozen of us appeared in court with Mr. Cal in order to answer the “criminal charges” against him, and the following letter-to-the-editor was printed in our local newspaper.

Since that time, the Sherriff has visited the store and informed Mr. Cal that no such raid will take place, and the director of plans and licensing for El Dorado County has set aside an entire day to deal with the issues and, purportedly, to insure a dignified, reasonable outcome for both groups.

We are still holding our breath, but I wanted you to know that people out here are listening and beginning to think for themselves a bit, and I think LRC has made a huge impact in that change.

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Letter to the Editor — Georgetown Gazette, Date — 6/9/11

As a relatively new member of the Greenwood Community, I was heartened by the show of support for Mr. Vincent Cal during his recent appearance in a Placerville courtroom. Mr. Cal, local resident and elderly, retired entrepreneur, has found himself in the unfortunate, yet increasingly familiar role of “criminally accused”. Those present to view this legal drama, played to the hilt by the government officials involved, were witness to the embarrassing circus now known as the American Criminal Justice System.

In a “courtroom” ringed with armed guards, in which officials are so afraid of the public they serve, that one must pass through metal-detectors and layers of security just to enter, supporters of Mr. Cal got a glimpse of a slippery-slope America. A visit to an “arraignment session” of El-Dorado County Court is like watching an Orwellian version of The Price is Right. Witnessing the government’s tag-team approach to justice would be hilarious if it were not so frightening. As “defendants” pour through the courtroom, the choreography between the, “Independent Judge”, the State’s Prosecuting Attorney, and the “Public Defender” are both comical and depressing. As the “Judge” ergonomically manages the flow of potential revenue through the court, Grandfatherly conferring with DA’s, PD,’s and occasionally, “the accused”, it seems as though “innocent until proven guilty” is the last thing on any official’s mind.

Frankly, the view from the cheap-seats of this theatrical event illustrates the stark hollowness at the core of the U.S. Justice System. As His Honor, Bob Barker negotiates with defendants regarding the size of their fine, monthly payment amount, and the due-date of probationary payments, no one seems to notice that this is the same “justice system” that legally approves of kid-napping and torture. However, in this court, most of the accused are simply folks who had too much to drink, and then entered the Government’s revenue generation zone, commonly referred to as driving. For a County in which their largest city’s motto is “Hangtown”, and the sub-culture opinion of El-Dorado County hovers around, “come on vacation, leave on probation”, one would think the theatre would be better?

The “crime” Mr. Cal is accused of involves the operating of a business without the proper licensing, administrative requirements and of course, the payment of a large sum of money to the frugally managed County Government. Every member of Mr. Cal’s support team understands the need for reasonable regulation and licensing (i.e. money). What the citizens of Greenwood and surrounding communities do not understand is the need to criminalize an elderly man trying to revive a tiny business in a small, supportive community? Must everything in America be glimpsed through the lens of criminality? Must everyone be a felon or on probation? Should all of Greenwood live under the fearful cloud of the murmured “we’ll hit them on Monday” threat which was mumbled by a passing cop, or licensing agent while leaving court? Must we live in fear of some Rambo-style SWAT raid on a building that was empty and in disrepair before Mr. Cal’s efforts? Should we look forward to the intentional shooting of a small dog or the accidental killing of Mr. Cal as he reaches for a phone during the threatened raid?

Those of us present in the courtroom certainly support Mr. Cal’s efforts to re-open a small, historically important, neighborhood country store. We believe the majority of residents also support reasonable county governance, as well as reasonable costs and fees associated with opening a new business. One would think the motivation of “ethically clean” income would excite county officials, rather than increasingly depending on the Drunk Driving Industry to finance county operations.

The sooner we adopt a philosophical approach to generating income from legitimate business taxes, instead of damaging citizens through unnecessary criminal fines and licensing costs, the sooner we’ll have a more ethical government. Perhaps in this case, a bit of negotiation or mediation may fill the community’s needs better than forcing a well-intentioned elderly man to endure the idiotic emptiness of the “justice system”.

Regards,
RJ O’Guillory

The Best of Llewellyn H. Rockwell, Jr.