The Sheriff Did Exactly What I Predicted

Some weeks ago, I predicted that the Madison County Sheriff's Department would soon begin harassing me. Sure enough, just now, at about 7:30 Sunday evening, August 30, a deputy stopped where I am parked, letting me know they are watching me. I am paying rent where I am parked, so they have no reason to stop except, possibly, to harass me….again.

It is important that you understand the background. It will tell you a lot about the Sheriff's Department. Some of you will love them, and others will get it.

I live in a motor home. Six weeks ago, I was legally parked on a state right-of-way when at 9:00 at night a deputy came and knocked on my door because he thought my parking was CURIOUS. Not illegal, not suspecious but “curious.” Is there some law about that?

If I was minding my own business, legally parked, and a cop knocks on my door while I'm in bed, and there is no law requiring him to do so simply because my parking made him "curious," then his "visit" gets pretty damn close to harassment.

If they can get me out of bed because some deputy believes something is curious, they can do it to you as well.

The following day, Mr. McCrary came and told me to leave because he claimed I was on his property. I politely showed him a map and assured him I wasn't. He called the Sheriff's Department to have me removed from the location.

A sergeant—not some new patrol officer, but a sergeant—hurries on down and decides I am parked on McCrary's property. He then got a trooper to tag my legally parked RV to be towed.

I saw the trooper on my way back and then saw the orange sticker. I went to the trooper and told him I had a map and that they were wrong. To his credit, he looked at the map and agreed that it appeared I was on the right-of-way.

To confirm my claim he contacted the DOT. The following day, two fellows from the DOT showed up with tablets. They were looking for "pipes," and both confirmed I was NOT on private property and therefore was not trespassing. Apparently, the Sergeant is a shoot first and  ask questions later kind of cop because he acted while completely lacking accurate information.

Their putting a sticker on my vehicle that was legally parked seems to be vandalism.

Having lived in Madison County for 22 years, I have had little to do with law enforcement and historically found the deputies to be reasonable, fair, and pretty low key. So I thought it odd that Sheriff's Department deputies would harass someone for nothing. I mean, PARKING? In Madison County, Really?

But then I realized something equally unsettling.

There have been two derelict and abandoned trucks parked on Hayes Run for every year I have been here. Derelict and abandoned in the state right of way are the requirements for having a motor vehicle towed. These trucks weren’t parked overnight. Not for a week. For 24 years. For 24 years, the law didn't, and apparently still doesn't, apply to someone on Hayes Run.

Yet, for some reason, the Sheriff's Department went out of its way for one person who was not violating anything, while turning a 24-year-long blind eye to a far more egregious, unsightly, and virtually permanent example of what qualifies under the law to be towed.

I know very well what ties these two things together, and it is a prime example of law enforcement protecting “friends.” regardless of the law..

I don’t know what happened to the Madison County Sheriff’s Department, but this should concern everyone.

Is this the kind of law enforcement we want in Madison County?