I told you readers that many people are coming to me with their sad stories. Here's one of them.
Hello Charles,
Here is the article I told you I'd write for your blog, please keep my name anonymous.
On Friday, July 7, 2006, my boyfriend and I wer enjoying a night of drinking in the Tannery. When te bars were gearing down we decided to leave. 
On our way out of the Tannery we saw two friends who were playing hand drums, trying to make some extra cash. 
We stopped to listen to them play, then at exactly 2:00 a.m. the Fredericton City Police's finest came over and told them to stop playing. 
This is a usual occurrence in the Tannery, we know this because we sometimes play the drums there too for extra cash. The police often say "stop playing" with an "or else" tone in their voices.
We have questioned them before about this, and have tried to explain to them that themoney we make is for important things like food, and we make the most of our money aftre the bars close.
However, the police do not seem to understand the fact that not everyone has money in this city, and sometimes you need to go to your fellow human being for assistance in order to survive.
We have noticed over the few years we have been playing outside the Tannery that many of the usual fights that occur aftre the bars close are greatly reduced because people are happy, they're dancing, and having a good time.
On this particular night my boyfriend decided to question the police again about the 2 a.m. shutdown.
They were young police officers and seemed to have an urge to assert their autority. They were standing in the usual police way, with arms crossed, stern looks and ready to pounce at a moments notice.
What struck us as odd was the fact that not one minute after they told our friends to stop playing that a procession of 10 Harley Davidson's thundered by, and the police took no notice of them. 
We held up our ams to the police as if to say "Aren't you going to do something about THIS noise?" We approached the police and questioned them on their decision to stop one noise and allow another, much more drowning and annoying noise, to continue.
They sternly and in a very defensive tone told us that we cannot expect them to run after a line of Harley's on the street. I started to wonder if the radios they were carrying were only for show. 
We began to question them again, and that's when they got upset with us. One police officer (his name we didn't get) told us he had heard enough from us, and to move on. When we asked if we lived in a democracy, the other police officer said plainly "No you don't live in a democracy, this is a dictatorship." 
This statement greatly concern us. If this police officer believes we live in a dictatorship than the actions of the police force in our area are soon becoming clear. 
Is this the opinion of one police officer, or are they being trained to think in these terms. It seems lately that this is how they are trained, and how they rule this city. You can't do much in this city without the police taking action and City Hall making up crazy by-laws to make those actions legal.
It seems, to me, that the extreme noise of all these Harley Davidson's in this city is more intrusive and painfully loud than stopping a street performer with a hand drum, or a guitar.
As for us citizens of Fredericton, beware that your constitutional rights under a democratic country are not accepted in this city.
Sunday, July 09, 2006
FREDERICTON POLICE FORCE- NO!!! YOU DON'T LIVE IN A DEMOCRACY, THIS IS A DICTATORSHIP!!!
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
16 comments:
To the "girlfriend":
You started off your sad little story by stating that you and your boyfriend had just accomplished a night of drinking.
Drinking at the bars costs money.
If your two musical friends are so poor that they're trying to make money for "important things like food" then maybe you and your boyfriend should have given those two friends your drinking money since you and your boyfriend obviously have a surplus of money and can easily afford sufficient food if you are out wasting money drinking at the bars.
Something similar to this happened to my friend last night. He had some people over for drinks, some of us were inside and some were outside on the porch. A neighbour called the police about noise and my friends were givin a ticket. I went home right around the time they go the ticket but as my friend and I were walking home, three very loud motorcycles were driving down the street with a police car following them. We figured since they were making so much noise the police would stop them. I watched them go all the way down the street and the police did nothing. There's definitely a double standard.
Playing drums a 2am?
A nite of drinking but no money for food?
Lucky your still alive,but no one knows for what reason.
WOW, let me tell you, I don't know which is scarier, the police, or the really nasty ass New Brunswickers out them always quick with that first stone. It sounds like New Brunswickers are just really mean, nasty, petty people.
Talk about avoiding the issue, the issue isn't what these people should have done, no doubt they gave them some money. Are people saying they have no right to bring up any issues at all?
If they are poor, that's a problem, if they need food, that's a problem. And the response is 'well, you should adopt them then, leave the police out of it'.
That's just crazy, but there are lots of mean, crazy New Brunswickers out there. They are usually most like that where there is a lot of poverty, it isn't their fault, they simply don't have any political power so they rant on those less fortunate, the above posters are truly to be pitied.
However, one thing is not the same as the other. Noise bylaws do not apply to transportation, simply because the noise is only temporary. They guys on motorcycles would soon be gone. If they continued to drive up and down the same street over and over again, I guarantee that the police would get involved.
However, cops are as varied as any human beings, yet there are similar traits. Keep in mind that you and your friends are also voters, and the bylaw was brought in by your representatives-not the police. The police simply do as they are told. As we saw before, one officer even wrote a ticket citing the wrong by-law.
By ignoring the politics, people allow it to continue. Form a lobby group, get organizations involved, take it to the United Nations, etc.
You can't very well expect people to support partying in the streets every night. If you are musically minded, get to the underground cafe and borrow a microphone and their imac and record a CD. Paypal accounts are free, as are websites and internet at the library.
There is no doubt that this is a horrible law, and the cop is quite right, it is a dictatorship, you just get to choose a different dictatorship in three or four years and hope he wasn't lying to you.
The noise doesn't enter into it. It is bylaw 91 which was being broken-soliciting and loitering. Loitering is illegal and requires that you 'give a reasonable justification' for what you are doing. Of course when you say you are making money (whether for food or whatever) then you are soliciting, which is the other half of the bylaw. These people are not stupid, they know how to clamp down on the poor.
However, for those interested, we are setting up a new program for this, just keep an eye on charles blog.
money for nothing, chicks for free
11:36 AM
What a cruel and mean thing to say [ Damn police, bigoted and racist. ]
I know a lot of Police Officers Male & Female Officers Alike. Whether you want to admit it or not, they are always in Dangers Way.
Can you imgaine what any community or City would be like, without them.
Support Your Local Police. They only enforce the Laws Of The Land, that the politicians make, in addition to the Criminal Code Of Canada.
get a job
Did somebody say 'job'? Somebody spotted a job somewhere? Where? Did I miss it? I saw a job one time, boy, those were the days!
10:01am: I don't understand your attitude. If you had starving friends, you would have no shame about spending your money on booze instead of helping them out financially so they could eat? Wow, maybe you should look in the mirror before you start the cursing and namecalling.
Nobody was called names. It was said they were to be pitied. Poor people are likewise to be pitied, do you think they get all up in arms if somebody says so? So whats a mirror going to do?
Are you seriously saying that in order to make a case against the police state that you must de facto forego all unnecessary purchases in order to give all your spare income to the poor so that you will be justified in arguing on their behalf?
These people went to a bar, came out, and noticed what was going on. If they were in the supermarket would you say 'hey, you got a bag of potato chips there, therefore you have no right to argue on behalf of the poor because you haven't given them all your money'. That's nonsense.
Do the police have better things to do? You better believe it and if people obeyed the laws they could do that. There's a panhandling law and that appears to cover drumming at 2am. Those who don't like it can certainly take it up with City Hall but don't blame the police. They're upholdig the law. As to the comment police aren't in harm's way?!? That's ludicrous. Just this past weekend, two Mounties are shot in Sask. and one here in N.B. is pinned against their own car by a criminal. That stuff may not happene every day but the potential is there...and that's not on "American TV".
If you're not poor, then how do you know there's no 'need'? What you are saying is that you don't need to be playing the drums at 2AM, therefore, nobody should need to. That's a pretty selfish way of looking at the world, but from your nickname, nobody can be surprised.
That's why there's no tourism in Fredericton, because they've legislated the people right off the streets. You can walk to work and Tim Hortons, but apart from that the city is off limits. I wonder how long before a tourist who isn't all dressed up and is just standing around waiting for somebody gets hassled by the cops.
The internet is a powerful medium , and there are travel forums all over the place. Who knows whether people see Charles blog and how the cops react and figure they are better off just hurrying through to Nova Scotia or PEI.
Tourists are not all seniors. Younger people could be out and see cops parading up the streets hassling people just playing the drums and think the people are living behind the iron curtain. Who wants to visit a place like that?
There are already noise level bylaws. If musicians make too much noise they could just play quieter. Like the harleys, if they are too loud, they'd be told to move along. It doesn't hurt anybody, and most of the posters here aren't even up at that hour or downtown-so why do you care?
Live and let live. But I suppose that doesn't apply to those who don't have money-they have to justify everything, like why they'd want to actually play music for the public, or make some change at it when they've had the nerve to buy some beer. They might as well have New Brunswick's tourist slogan saying "welcome to the rock"
Kudoes to you Little Charles for leaving a name. As I've written many times, it's a small courtesy here in blogland to do so. Nice to see some like yourself doing so.
Newsflash, nobody really cares about who you are, whether a name is posted or not. So you don't play drums, good for you, have an award. They played bongo drums, which can be played very quietly, and perhaps you've never lived in downtown Fredericton, but when the bars close-quiet it aint.
People can come on here and complain about anything they want-don't like it, don't come to the blog.
So you don't need money, good for you, perhaps Charles will create a special blog to sing your praises. So you're an anti social malcontent who doesn't bother anybody-congratulations. We'll all remember that from the documentary when you snap - "He was a such a quiet boy, you never even knew he was there".
Downtown Fredericton at two thirty AM is already pretty festive, there are people all over the streets, so it seems stupid to say you can't play bongo's when there is drunken yelling and screaming ten times louder.
As for tourism, again that was misrepresented. Tourist demographics are changing, and many tourists are younger - and have more money. Go to dublin sometime and you can see what its like, its a party, and the last thing people want to see is cops everywhere hassling musicians. In case you didn't know, New Brunswick isn't exactly the tourist mecca of...well, anywhere. It should take all the help it can get.
There are already noise bylaws, so if somebody breaks the noise bylaw, nobody is saying they should be let off the hook. There certainly doesn't need to be extra laws saying you can't even ask somebody for spare change or play an instrument. Of course, people are free to disagree and repeat that just because they don't want to do something- nobody should be allowed, that's their business.
To 11:19 PM's post of
Are you seriously saying that in order to make a case against the police state that you must de facto forego all unnecessary purchases in order to give all your spare income to the poor so that you will be justified in arguing on their behalf?
Who was saying that? You're putting words in people's mouths. What I was clearly saying is that the drinking couple PERSONALLY KNEW the drumming pair. The couple blew money all evening on booze, saw their FRIENDS begging for money and then she whined to this blog about her friends who don't have money for "important things like food." If I had a friend who was STARVING and had to beg for money to buy food while I wasted my money on booze, then I would be ashamed of my selfishness for not financially helping my STARVING friends.
Who said they were starving? Who said they even knew they were there before they went in the bar? That's just jumping to conclusions so that the issue can be about them, and not the horrible loitering and panhandling by laws in fredericton.
This blog is for whiners, don't like it, don't come back. You call it whining, I call it bringing up an important story. We don't tell you to shut up and keep your opinions to yourself, so why do it to others?
If New Brunswick were a little more relaxed like european countries-hell, even Ontario under Mike Harris wasn't pulling this crap, perhaps some tourists would actually visit the place. But as usual, rampant conservatism wins out, even though hardly any people involved even live downtown. There are no hotels or motels, so the noise can't bother them, and the streets involved have almost no apartments, and as said, the ones that do already get tons of noise anyway.
So the issue isn't what this couple did or didn't do, or why, because we don't know those answers. You can assume all you want about their motivations, that's your business, but it's not the issue.
Post a Comment