Louisiana Voice

What’s with these Buford T. Justice-wannabe redneck sheriffs and their ignorance/disregard of the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution?

What do they think gives them the authority to arbitrarily decide—and enforce—some obscure (actually, non-existent) law that makes it a criminal offense to exercise our freedom of speech laid out in the Bill of Rights very First Amendment?

Way back in August 2016, before the election of Ass-clown Trump, Terrebonne Parish Sheriff Jerry Larpenter had a local man arrested for daring criticize the sheriff on the man’s web blog.

Not only was he arrested, but the sheriff’s department, armed with a warrant, DISPATCHED SIX ARMED DEPUTIES TO THE BLOGGER’S HOME where he was arrested on the basis of Louisiana’s criminal defamation statute. Deputies seized two of his laptops in the process.

(The full story of this episode is covered in my book, Louisiana’s Rogue Sheriffs: A Culture of Corruption, available for $30 by contacting me at louisianavoice@outlook.com)

Four years later, St. Tammany Parish Sheriff Randy Smith did the same thing when another local man was critical of the lack of progress in the investigation of the murder of a St. Tammany Parish woman, Nanette Krentel, a murder, by the way, that still has not been solved.

The problem in both the Larpenter and Smith actions was the law on which they based their arrests had been declared unconstitutional in 1981, nearly four decades earlier. In Larpenter’s case, it cost the sheriff’s office about $250,000 in a court judgment and should have caused embarrassment to Judge Randal Bethancourt who had issued the warrant.

In Smith’s case, Assistant District Attorney Collin Sims ADVISED THE SHERIFF that the arrest of Jerry Rogers was unconstitutional. Smith, though, ignored the advice and had Rogers arrested, handcuffed and booked into parish prison where he was strip-searched, calling to mind Forrest Gump’s proclamation “Stupid is as stupid does” and handing Rogers a slam-dunk lawsuit in the process.

Fast forward to today and head up to Perry County, Tennessee, where Sheriff Nick Weems apparently thinks he is heir-apparent to another Buford (Pusser, in this case). His problem is, however, he picked on the wrong guy: a retired cop.

Larry Bushart, who spent more than three decades in law enforcement, was arrested in September on a charge of threatening mass violence at a school and was held for 37 days because he was unable to post $2 million bond. Only widespread media attention and public backlash got the charges dropped.

His specific offense? He re-posted a meme that featured a photo of Yam Tits Trump reacting to a school shooting at Perry High School in Iowa and Trump’s quote “We have to get over it.” Alongside that comment, Bushart posted, “This seems relevant today.”

NOT SO, SAID HIGH SHERIFF WEEMS who, confusing his geography, somehow managed to take the reference to the Perry, Iowa, shooting as a threat to Perry County, Tennessee High School and claiming that Bushart had thrown the Perry County residents into a panic.

Local police paid Bushart a visit at his home around 8 p.m. on September 21 to warn him about the post “insinuating violence.”

Bushart told sympathetic officers that he was not going to take his post down and officers left.

About three hours later, they returned, this time with an arrest warrant even as an officer acknowledged he’d done nothing illegal.

Weems said the arrest was justified because Bushart’s post caused “mass hysteria” in the community, though his office still has not responded to public records requests for evidence of such hysteria.

As a result of the sheriff’s b.s., Bushart says he lost his job, missed his wedding anniversary and the birth of a grandchild during the 37 days he spent behind bars.

Times like this I’d love to be a lawyer—specifically Bushart’s lawyer.

Folks, this is what we are beginning to encounter more and more frequently. From capitulation to Trump by major news networks, control of licensing, to approval of mergers and acquisitions, this administration is already flexing its muscle to get its way. There is no better illustration of this than Sunday’s spiking of a 60 MINUTES SEGMENT by Bari Weiss, the head of CBS News.

I mean, who needs Faux News now that Trump has The Washington Post, CBS and ABC eating out of his hand?

Now, if we wish to play by the rules of Sheriff Weems, then we are forbidden from saying anything negative about the dead lest we set off a public panic. Accordingly, Trump now must have his fat ass thrown into jail under a multi-billion-dollar bail (mere millions would hardly be a deterrent for him, given how much money he’s grifted in his one year back in the Oval Office) for disparaging the name of Rob Reiner.

Let’s keep the playing field level.