"Martial Law" Declared in Arkansas Town


HK4U

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That Mayor is an idiot. If they want to stop all the drug dealers and hustlers in the neighborhood, arm their citizens and declare open season on all the scum. Let the Citizens pop them in the head!
 
It's not often that I agree with the ACLU, but I do this time. I hope this curfew gets challenged in court. It's bad enough that gun control punishes law abiding citizens for the actions of criminals, but curfews too? What's next? Furthermore, what happens to anyone who violates the curfew? Do they go to jail? This is an outrage.
 
1 Innocents go to jail
2 Innocents now has a convict record
3 Innocents is now disqualified to have weapons or license because of record
Conclusion: The antis plan working as they planned

Well, let's hope that anyone who gets caught up in this ridiculous net that has been set up is able to get their "convictions" (convictions for what, I have no idea) set aside and sues the pants off the town government.
 
Here is a Update on this matter.

HELENA-WEST HELENA, Ark. - Officers armed with military rifles have been stopping and questioning passers-by in a neighborhood plagued by violence that's been under a 24-hour curfew for a week.
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On Tuesday, the Helena-West Helena City Council voted 9-0 to allow police to expand that program into any area of the city, despite a warning from a lawyer with the American Civil Liberties Union of Arkansas that the police stops were unconstitutional.

Police Chief Fred Fielder said the patrols have netted 32 arrests since they began last week in a 10-block neighborhood in this small town on the banks of the Mississippi River long troubled by poverty. The council said those living in the city want the random shootings and drug-fueled violence to stop, no matter what the cost.

"Now if somebody wants to sue us, they have an option to sue, but I'm fairly certain that a judge will see it the way the way the citizens see it here," Mayor James Valley said. "The citizens deserve peace, that some infringement on constitutional rights is OK and we have not violated anything as far as the Constitution."

The area under curfew, in what used to be a West Helena neighborhood, sits among abandoned homes and occupied residences in disrepair.

White signs on large blue barrels warn those passing by that the area remains under curfew by order of Mayor James Valley. The order was scheduled to end at 3 p.m. Tuesday, but Valley said the city council's vote would allow police to have the same powers across Helena-West Helena.

Among the curfew operation's arrests, 10 came from felony charges, including the arrest of two people carrying both drugs and weapons, Fielder said. The police chief said the officers in the field carry military-style M-16 or M-4 rifles, some equipped with laser sights. Other officers carry short-barrel shotguns. Many dealing crack cocaine and marijuana in the city carry pistols and AK-47 assault rifles, he said.

"We've had people call us, expressing concern for their children," Fielder said. "They had to sleep on the floor, because of stray bullets."

Fielder said officers had not arrested anyone for violating the curfew, only questioned people about why they were outside. Those without good answers or acting nervously get additional attention, Fielder said.

However, such stops likely violate residents' constitutional rights to freely assemble and protections against unreasonable police searches, said Holly Dickson, a lawyer for the ACLU of Arkansas who addressed the council at its packed Tuesday meeting. Because of that, Dickson said any convictions coming from the arrests likely would be overturned.

"The residents of these high-crime areas are already victims," she said. "They're victims of what are happening in the neighborhoods, they're victims of fear. But for them to be subject to unlawful stops and questioning ... that is not going to ultimately going to help this situation."

The council rejected Dickson's claims, at one point questioning the Little Rock-based attorney if she'd live in a neighborhood they described as under siege by wild gunfire and gangs.

"As far as I'm concerned, at 3 o'clock in the morning, nobody has any business being on the street, except the law," Councilman Eugene "Red" Johnson said. "Anyone out at 3 o'clock shouldn't be out on the street, unless you're going to the hospital."

The curfew is the second under the mayor's watch since the rival cities of Helena and West Helena merged in 2006. That year, Valley set a nightly citywide curfew after a rash of burglaries and other thefts.

Police in Hartford, Conn., began enforcing a nightly curfew for youths after recent violence, including a weekend shooting that killed a man and wounded six young people.

Helena-West Helena, with 15,000 residents at the edge of Arkansas' eastern rice fields and farmland, is in one of the nation's poorest regions, trailing even parts of Appalachia in its standard of living.

In the curfew area, those inside the homes in the watch area peered out of door cracks Tuesday as police cruisers passed. They closed the doors afterward.


Is this the USA we are talking about or a 3rd world country? Giving the police to much power is not a good idea at all. because with some officers the power trip goes to the head and they start to think they are above the law them selfs. IDK about you but some times i cant sleep and get in the car and drive to the store for a soda or ice cream at night. Is that not my right as a tax payer???
 
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Look where the town is. It's by Memphis TN which is one of the most Link Removed Las Vegas NV inherits similiar problems from southern CA. The Mayor and City Council need to address the issue with Memphis PD. You deal with the rabid animals and pests where they breed and nest, not where you find them.
 
Look where the town is. It's by Memphis TN which is one of the most Link Removed Las Vegas NV inherits similiar problems from southern CA. The Mayor and City Council need to address the issue with Memphis PD. You deal with the rabid animals and pests where they breed and nest, not where you find them.


Yes we all need a good citizen mayor like this. And a hole in our head too. Below is a quote by the mayor and thie site it is from.

Mayor James Valley said "citizens deserve peace" and "some infringement on constitutional rights is OK."

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They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety. Ben Franklin,= patriot

Mayor James Valley= traitor, _
 
Yes we all need a good citizen mayor like this. And a hole in our head too. Below is a quote by the mayor and thie site it is from.
I'm perfectly happy with our Mayor who is rather fond of gin and marketing Las Vegas. I did not nor will I ever condone Mayor Valley's actions. What should be going on is their PD working with Memphis PD to eliminate the problem from coming into his town. That is what I am advocating.

We had a problem in one of the most dangerous areas of Northtown (the Las Vegas equivalent of Watts) with a low income housing area known as Gerson Park. The area was bulldozed down and replaced with senior apartments and condos. LVMPD put a substation nearby as well. No more pests or rabid animals because their breeding ground is gone and the exterminator put a branch office by the infestation. It was done without martial law, created jobs in construction for the duration of the project and made the neighborhood better.

Get rid of the condemned buildings. Pass city codes requiring the owners to do something about them or they get turned over to the city. Have the city attorney win nuisance judgments against the owners of the condemned property. That is how you deal with the problem. You don't do it by declaring martial law. You do it by leveraging eminent domain.

Put a police line around the trouble area. Condemn that zone. Get AR State Police involved and the County Sheriff to assist with the specific problem.

If we had such a mayor in office in Nevada, they would be commiting a felony under NRS 197.200 if force was used, gross misdemeanor otherwise. The mayor, sheriff and chief of police are all parts of the executive branch of government. Does AR have a similiar statute? This doesn't include whatever federal crimes and civil rights violations have been made. I do know that we have a statute against it.
Mayor James Valley said "citizens deserve peace" and "some infringement on constitutional rights is OK."

Link Removed

They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety. Ben Franklin,= patriot

Mayor James Valley= traitor, _
 
Black on black marshel law. Black on black crime at its higest ,maybe they just dont want to be free.With freedom comes responsibility take or leave it.
 
I believe that this mayor just signed a political death wish; politically active citizens take note. Next election throw this guy out and don't look back. He and his police department have lost control of their city, so they decide that the best way to fight the criminals is to punish law abiding citizens.
 
I believe that this mayor just signed a political death wish; politically active citizens take note. Next election throw this guy out and don't look back. He and his police department have lost control of their city, so they decide that the best way to fight the criminals is to punish law abiding citizens.
Don't forget about the City Council too. They voted 9-0 to allow police to expand the program into any area of the city. May as well clean out the whole bunch.
 
Why not set up watch groups? Get the people involved? If they really want change and for this to stop why don't they step up and do there part to take back there city? Why ask the LEO to do it for you and by doing so give up your rights and be treated just like the people you want stopped? But giving the LEO this much power to just stop who ever they want for no reason. Or put you in jail for stepping out side to go to the store after hours. You are putting your selfs in jail because you follow the law. On the other hand the people you want stopped still have all there rights because they don't follow the laws. So you come to the police and give them all this power and in a way you make them gang members with badges! They are not following the rules of the law or of the US. all you have done is gone to a gang that has badges and guns. Step up and say NO enough is enough ans take back your city and your rights. before all your rights are gone and your town looks like Iraq with armed check points at every road. Next the police will be kicking in your doors and taking people to jail with no proof that any thing wrong was done.
 
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Could be we are seeing here and in other parts of the country a trial balloon so to speak. A little test to see if in the name of security how much abridgement of freedom the people are willing to take.


"Since March 9, 1933, the United states has been in a state of national emergency. A majority of the people of the United States have their lives under emergency rule. For 40 years (now 72 years) freedoms and governmental procedures, guaranteed by the Constitution have, in varying degrees, been abridged by laws brought forth by states of national emergency."
Senate Report 93-549 (1973).

"The truth of the matter is that you do have those standby provisions, and the statutory emergency plans are there whereby you could, in the name of stopping terrorism, apprehend, invoke the military, and arrest Americans and hold them in detention camps."
U.S. Representative Henry Gonzalez, August 29, 1994

"Today, America would be outraged if U.N. troops entered Los Angeles to restore order. Tomorrow they will be grateful! This is especially true if they were told that there were an outside threat from beyond, whether real or promulgated, that threatened our very existence. It is then that all peoples of the world will plead to deliver them from this evil. The one thing every man fears is the unknown. When presented with this scenario, individual rights will be willingly relinquished for the guarantee of their well-being granted to them by the World Government."
Dr. Henry Kissinger, Bilderberger Conference, Evians, France, 1991
 
It's spreading.. Here is the latest case...


HARTFORD, Conn. - Police took 16 young people off the streets on the first night of a curfew crackdown in response to escalating violence, officials said.


The curfew in the Connecticut capital bans anyone under 18 from loitering on the streets after 9 p.m., unless they are with a parent or guardian.

Police Chief Daryl Roberts said curfew violators were taken to their homes and enforcement of the long-standing curfew went without incident Thursday night. He said there were no reported shootings in the city of 125,000 residents.

Police have said the curfew ordinance will be enforced for 30 days.

The announcement followed a violent weekend during which 11 people were shot. Seven of the victims were wounded in gunfire that erupted after Saturday's West Indian Day parade. A 21-year-old man was killed, and the wounded included a 7-year-old boy and 15-month-old girl.

City officials initially said that curfew violators would be detained at community centers, but backed off that plan after the American Civil Liberties Union of Connecticut said it would violate youths' rights. But officials said violators could be placed in state custody if they are picked up by police and there are no responsible adults at their homes.

An ACLU attorney, David McGuire, said the group opposes juvenile curfews because they violate the fundamental rights of innocent people. He said there were no immediate plans for legal action against the city.
 

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