Yea, that's him. The paper spun the article like he's some sort of
hero collecting taxes from nee'r do wells.

Note the part about his issuing warning tickets to totally legal
boaters? Now why the hell does he do that? How would you like to be
issued a warning ticket for NOT speeding? He absolutely is rude and
harrasing, pulling over boaters that are totally legal and registered
in their own home state, still issuing warning tickets. Best thing as
we have told the mayor and CofC there, is to just avoid the Venice
area completely and spend your cruising $$ elsewhere.

On 7 Mar 2007 05:02:30 -0800, "Keith"
wrote:

Yea, that's him. The paper spun the article like he's some sort of
hero collecting taxes from nee'r do wells.

Note the part about his issuing warning tickets to totally legal
boaters? Now why the hell does he do that? How would you like to be
issued a warning ticket for NOT speeding? He absolutely is rude and
harrasing, pulling over boaters that are totally legal and registered
in their own home state, still issuing warning tickets. Best thing as
we have told the mayor and CofC there, is to just avoid the Venice
area completely and spend your cruising $$ elsewhere.

If he gave me a "warning" while I was legal, he'd be in a world of
legal hurt.

On Mar 7, 5:02?am, "Keith" wrote:
Yea, that's him. The paper spun the article like he's some sort of
hero collecting taxes from nee'r do wells.


The facts as outlined in the article don't justify any sort of outrage
at all.

The guy wrote a walloping total of 255 tickets last year, less than
one per day.



Note the part about his issuing warning tickets to totally legal
boaters? Now why the hell does he do that?


No, there was no portion of the story that said this cop was issuing
warning tickets to totally legal boaters. Here's the factor that may
have escaped your notice: In the state of Florida, all boats on the
waters are required to carry some sort of state registration. That
registration can be from any state. If a boater lives in a state where
registration is not required or is considered optional and arrives in
Florida without a valid state registration on his boat he or she is in
violation of Florida state law. How the hell does that make them
"totally legal"? Yes, they are totally legal in their own state but
they're not totally legal in Florida. If you go to another state or
country, it's customary to obey any local laws that may be different
than the laws in the state or country you came from. In Florida, state
law reuires all vessels to be registered in *some* state.

The warning tickets were issued to people who lived in states where
registration was not required or was optional. According to the
newspaper, boaters who received warning tickets could continue boating
in Florida for another two weeks- so the issue of a vacation being
terminated by a lack of
proper out-of-state registration is almost moot.



How would you like to be
issued a warning ticket for NOT speeding? He absolutely is rude and
harrasing, pulling over boaters that are totally legal and registered
in their own home state, still issuing warning tickets.


Not so, according to the newspaper account. Warning tickets are not
issued to boaters who are in compliance with the law by having their
boat registered in their home state. Warning tickets are issued to
boater who are, (or who claim to be) from out of state and have no
state registration for their boat.

Enjoying the privilege of using the public waterways for private
recreation means that we have agreed to be boarded for safety checks
and to make sure that our papers are in order.

My boat is documented, and has no state title. Even so, my state
requires that I pay an annual tab fee (several hundred bucks) and post
a sticker in my pilothouse window or on the hull. We are often
inspected pretty closely by water patrolmen in varioius communities,
and more than once have been asked to show our registration papers
that correspond with the sticker in the pilothouse window.


Best thing as
we have told the mayor and CofC there, is to just avoid the Venice
area completely and spend your cruising $$ elsewhere.

If you want to stir up a lot of outrage, at least get your facts
straight.
How dumb do you suppose everybody is? After a newspaper account that
dubunks a lot of your accusations is posted here you then say "See,
everything I claimed is right there in the newspaper article!"

The cop sounds like he's got some issues with his policing style. Who
the heck carries a duffle bag filled with law books? But he's not
ticketing people who are "totally legal". State laws differ. If I'm
allowed to have medical marijuana in California, I wouldn't expect to
get away with it in FLA. :-)
Don't like the Florida state law that requires boats to be registered
in some state or another? Then don't take your boat there- or if you
live in Florida ask your state legislature to change it.

"Chuck Gould" wrote in message
oups.com...
On Mar 7, 5:02?am, "Keith" wrote:
Yea, that's him. The paper spun the article like he's some sort of
hero collecting taxes from nee'r do wells.


The facts as outlined in the article don't justify any sort of outrage
at all.

The guy wrote a walloping total of 255 tickets last year, less than
one per day.


Better hit the math books again Chuck. The *average* work year is some 240
days.

On Mar 7, 9:01�am, "JimH" wrote:


Better hit the math books again Chuck. *The *average* work year is some 240
days.

Slacker. :-)

You're giving this guy 30 days per year paid leave and every weekend
off?
Maybe so, public employee and all....

Using your numbers, he's all the way up to 1.06 tickets per day
instead of "less than one". The material fact is that he's not some
sort of out-of-control ticket writing robot slapping a citation on
everything in sight.

He's enforcing the Florida law that says your boat must be registered
in some state, and that state can be somewhere other than Florida if
that is where you live. He's handing out warning tickets to out-of-
state boaters who come from states that don't require boat
registration, when if he wanted to be a real stickler he would be
entirely justified in writing them an actual citation. The folks who
receive a warning ticket have two weeks to either finish their
vacation in Florida and go back home -or figure out how to get a state
registration, (presumably from Florida), for their boat.

The guy sounds like a bit of a jerk, with the lawbooks and all, but I
suspect he carries those as a result of confrontations with folks who
don't know the law or who feel that the laws of the State of Alabama
(or wherever) just ought to apply in Florida.

Why would we not want to obey the laws of states and countries where
we are visitors? Makes no sense to me to do otherwise.

"Chuck Gould" wrote in message
ups.com...
On Mar 7, 9:01?am, "JimH" wrote:


Better hit the math books again Chuck. The *average* work year is some 240
days.

Slacker. :-)

You're giving this guy 30 days per year paid leave and every weekend
off?
====================

Umm........no, I am giving him 20 days per year paid leave.

5 days/week (heck, that can even include weekends for those of us with an
open mind) x 52 weeks less 20 days vacation, paid holidays and sick leave =
240 work days.

Try the math again Chuck.....you can use your fingers and toes if that helps
you. ;-)