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From Starhawk:
Hey friends, we need your help! Our Earth Activist Training Sustainable
Skills Bus has been seized without cause by the police. Below is an
account from the Wilsons, who have been travelling in the bus for the
last seven months doing trainings in permaculture and sustainability,
including ways you can help. My own accounts from the action can be
found on www.starhawk.org and I¹ll be posting daily as long as I can‹or
sign on to my own list
by emailing starhawk-subscribe@lists.riseup.net.
If you¹re on that list, my own account follows. Please support these
folks who have been doing such good work for us all. Thanks!
POLICE SEIZE PERMIBUS
Please Post Far and Wide including any Media Contacts You May Have
At approximately 6:25 pm on August 30, 2008 Minneapolis Police,
Minnesota State Troopers, Ramsey County Sheriffs, Saint Paul Police, and
University of Minnesota Police pulled over the Earth Activist Training
Permaculture Demonstration Bus (Permibus) by exit 237 on Interstate 94.
Initially the police told the people on the bus to exit. When the people
on the bus asked if they were being detained they were told that they
were but police were unable to provide justification. When asked why
they pulled the bus over they refused to answer. After repeated requests
to explain why the bus had been stopped Officer Honican of the
Minneapolis
Police explained that this was just a routine traffic stop
though he did not explain the reason for the traffic stop. The police
then told Stan Wilson, the driver and registered owner of the Permibus,
that they were going to impound the bus in case they wanted to execute a
search warrant later.
After more than an hour of being questioned by Stan and Delyla Wilson as
to the legalities of their detainment and the impoundment of the
Permibus, the police then informed Stan that the bus, which is legally
registered as a passenger vehicle in the state of Montana, was being
impounded for a commercial vehicle inspection.
Shortly afterward Sergeant Paul Davis, a commercial vehicle inspector
arrived on scene. Despite the polices insistence that the reason for
impoundment was for a commercial vehicle inspection the Permibus crew
were not allowed to remove anything from the bus including computers,
toiletries, and
17-year-old Megan Wilson's shoes. The police finally
allowed the animals to be removed from the Permibus before it was towed,
leaving the Permibus family standing beside their chickens and dogs,
homeless on the highway.
The Permibus was relocating from the Bedlam Theatre in Minneapolis,
where they had spent the day teaching Urban Permaculture, to a friend's
house in Saint Paul for a well deserved break. The Permibus has been in
the Minneapolis area since August 2nd when the crew appeared at the
Midtown Farmers Market for a morning of Permaculture education including
Permaculture 101, chicken care, seed ball making for kids, and the
Permi-puppet show.
During the past month the Permibus has parked at several local
businesses and, as a neighborly gesture of respect for local police,
Mr. Wilson contacted the appropriate precincts just to let them know the
Permibus was in the area and had permission from the
business owners to
be parked on their lot. Through this, as well as other casual
discussions with Minneapolis and Saint Paul police officers, the
Permibus crew found the local police to be interested and respectful.
However on August 30th all that changed when, for no apparent valid
reason the police pulled over and seized the Permibus. After the
incident Stan Wilson said, "If the combined law enforcement of
Minneapolis, Saint Paul, Ramsey County, and the State of
Minnesota can pull over and impound a vehicle and home used to teach
organic gardening and sustainability, one has to wonder what it is our
government really fears. After all, we seek to teach people that the
real meaning of homeland security is local food, fuel and energy
production. For that we have had our lives stolen by government men with
guns."
As of now, after repeated requests to be present at any vehicle
inspection, with an list of
what they are inspecting for, as well as
requests to be served any warrants for searches of the vehicles prior to
a search and to be present during the search the Permi-family has been
unable to ascertain the current status of the Permibus. On site Mr.
Wilson was told that Officer Palmerranky was the inspector in charge of
the case and would determine if the Permi-family' s rights protecting
them from unreasonable search and seizure would be respected. Neither
Officer Palmerranky nor his supervisor has yet to return Mr. Wilson's
calls.
The loss of her home and possessions is particularly difficult on
seventeen-year- old Megan Wilson. Megan, a shining example of what this
country asks of today's youth, has dedicated herself to making positive
changes in the world. She was the youth keynote speaker at the Local to
Global conference in Phoenix AZ, has taught conflict resolution at youth
shelters and is the
outreach coordinator for the Skills for a New
Millennium Tour, the family traveling educational project.
Megan believes that, "While I understand that the world we live in is
not as it should be I strive to live and teach in a way that shows the
world how life could be. What I don't understand is why I can't get
dressed for an evening out with friends in my own home without armed men
stealing my life out from under me." The Permi-family, along with their
dogs and Permaculture super-hero chickens are currently being housed by
folks in the Twin Cities.
The Skills for a New Millennium Tour is a family education project that
travels around the United States teaching homesteading, citizenship, and
life skills at farmers markets, community gardens, churches, intentional
communities, schools, and in people's living rooms. The Skills Tour is a
donation supported project dedicated to providing tools for
sustainable
living, including Permaculture, to anyone who is interested, regardless
of income. "We believe that any solution that is not accessible to the
poor and urban areas is not a real solution for the future," states
Delyla Wilson.
Permaculture is a design system with ethics and principles that can be
applied to food production, home design, and community building in order
to increase sustainability in food production, energy production, and
social systems. The Permibus is a rolling demonstration of small scale
sustainable living with three people, three dogs, three chickens, and a
box of worms as permanent residents. The chickens and worms are part of
a closed-loop food production composting system that supports the
Permibus's traveling garden.
For more information on the seizure of the Permibus, the Skills for the
New Millennium Tour, or Permaculture, the Wilsons can be reached at
406-721-8427
or through email at skillstour@gmail. com. You can also see
pictures and read stories about the last six months of their educational
adventures at permibus.livejournal.com.
To our supporters: First we ask that as many people as possible contact
precinct one in Minneapolis, MN at 612-673-5701 and Mayor Rybak at
Phone: (612) 673-2100 or
call 311 or call (612) 673-3000 outside Minneapolis.
Also call the Ramsey County Sheriff
Sheriff - Bob Fletcher 651-266-9300
[NOTE FROM MARY: This number doesn't answer. The
Mayor's office recommended 651-266-9333, but it
is a recording, and does not have any provision
for leaving comments]
and demand the immediate release of the Permibus.
We are also in desperate need of donations. Though we do not yet know
the full cost of getting the permibus returned we know that it will
include tow fee, impound fees, and legal fees. To donate
contact us
directly for a local address or...
Donate On-line:
Go to: www.earthactivisttraining.org/ donate.htm
Click on: Donate Now!
Under "Gift Information" write: Permibus
Under "Please send acknowledgment of this gift to" write:
skillstour@gmail. com
Donate by Mail:
Make check payable to: A.C.T.
On the "For" line write: Permibus
Send check to: A.C.T. 1405 Hillmount St. Austin, TX 78704
Hey friends, we need your help! Our Earth Activist Training Sustainable
Skills Bus has been seized without cause by the police. Below is an
account from the Wilsons, who have been travelling in the bus for the
last seven months doing trainings in permaculture and sustainability,
including ways you can help. My own accounts from the action can be
found on www.starhawk.org and I¹ll be posting daily as long as I can‹or
sign on to my own list
by emailing starhawk-subscribe@lists.riseup.net.
If you¹re on that list, my own account follows. Please support these
folks who have been doing such good work for us all. Thanks!
POLICE SEIZE PERMIBUS
Please Post Far and Wide including any Media Contacts You May Have
At approximately 6:25 pm on August 30, 2008 Minneapolis Police,
Minnesota State Troopers, Ramsey County Sheriffs, Saint Paul Police, and
University of Minnesota Police pulled over the Earth Activist Training
Permaculture Demonstration Bus (Permibus) by exit 237 on Interstate 94.
Initially the police told the people on the bus to exit. When the people
on the bus asked if they were being detained they were told that they
were but police were unable to provide justification. When asked why
they pulled the bus over they refused to answer. After repeated requests
to explain why the bus had been stopped Officer Honican of the
Minneapolis
Police explained that this was just a routine traffic stop
though he did not explain the reason for the traffic stop. The police
then told Stan Wilson, the driver and registered owner of the Permibus,
that they were going to impound the bus in case they wanted to execute a
search warrant later.
After more than an hour of being questioned by Stan and Delyla Wilson as
to the legalities of their detainment and the impoundment of the
Permibus, the police then informed Stan that the bus, which is legally
registered as a passenger vehicle in the state of Montana, was being
impounded for a commercial vehicle inspection.
Shortly afterward Sergeant Paul Davis, a commercial vehicle inspector
arrived on scene. Despite the polices insistence that the reason for
impoundment was for a commercial vehicle inspection the Permibus crew
were not allowed to remove anything from the bus including computers,
toiletries, and
17-year-old Megan Wilson's shoes. The police finally
allowed the animals to be removed from the Permibus before it was towed,
leaving the Permibus family standing beside their chickens and dogs,
homeless on the highway.
The Permibus was relocating from the Bedlam Theatre in Minneapolis,
where they had spent the day teaching Urban Permaculture, to a friend's
house in Saint Paul for a well deserved break. The Permibus has been in
the Minneapolis area since August 2nd when the crew appeared at the
Midtown Farmers Market for a morning of Permaculture education including
Permaculture 101, chicken care, seed ball making for kids, and the
Permi-puppet show.
During the past month the Permibus has parked at several local
businesses and, as a neighborly gesture of respect for local police,
Mr. Wilson contacted the appropriate precincts just to let them know the
Permibus was in the area and had permission from the
business owners to
be parked on their lot. Through this, as well as other casual
discussions with Minneapolis and Saint Paul police officers, the
Permibus crew found the local police to be interested and respectful.
However on August 30th all that changed when, for no apparent valid
reason the police pulled over and seized the Permibus. After the
incident Stan Wilson said, "If the combined law enforcement of
Minneapolis, Saint Paul, Ramsey County, and the State of
Minnesota can pull over and impound a vehicle and home used to teach
organic gardening and sustainability, one has to wonder what it is our
government really fears. After all, we seek to teach people that the
real meaning of homeland security is local food, fuel and energy
production. For that we have had our lives stolen by government men with
guns."
As of now, after repeated requests to be present at any vehicle
inspection, with an list of
what they are inspecting for, as well as
requests to be served any warrants for searches of the vehicles prior to
a search and to be present during the search the Permi-family has been
unable to ascertain the current status of the Permibus. On site Mr.
Wilson was told that Officer Palmerranky was the inspector in charge of
the case and would determine if the Permi-family' s rights protecting
them from unreasonable search and seizure would be respected. Neither
Officer Palmerranky nor his supervisor has yet to return Mr. Wilson's
calls.
The loss of her home and possessions is particularly difficult on
seventeen-year- old Megan Wilson. Megan, a shining example of what this
country asks of today's youth, has dedicated herself to making positive
changes in the world. She was the youth keynote speaker at the Local to
Global conference in Phoenix AZ, has taught conflict resolution at youth
shelters and is the
outreach coordinator for the Skills for a New
Millennium Tour, the family traveling educational project.
Megan believes that, "While I understand that the world we live in is
not as it should be I strive to live and teach in a way that shows the
world how life could be. What I don't understand is why I can't get
dressed for an evening out with friends in my own home without armed men
stealing my life out from under me." The Permi-family, along with their
dogs and Permaculture super-hero chickens are currently being housed by
folks in the Twin Cities.
The Skills for a New Millennium Tour is a family education project that
travels around the United States teaching homesteading, citizenship, and
life skills at farmers markets, community gardens, churches, intentional
communities, schools, and in people's living rooms. The Skills Tour is a
donation supported project dedicated to providing tools for
sustainable
living, including Permaculture, to anyone who is interested, regardless
of income. "We believe that any solution that is not accessible to the
poor and urban areas is not a real solution for the future," states
Delyla Wilson.
Permaculture is a design system with ethics and principles that can be
applied to food production, home design, and community building in order
to increase sustainability in food production, energy production, and
social systems. The Permibus is a rolling demonstration of small scale
sustainable living with three people, three dogs, three chickens, and a
box of worms as permanent residents. The chickens and worms are part of
a closed-loop food production composting system that supports the
Permibus's traveling garden.
For more information on the seizure of the Permibus, the Skills for the
New Millennium Tour, or Permaculture, the Wilsons can be reached at
406-721-8427
or through email at skillstour@gmail. com. You can also see
pictures and read stories about the last six months of their educational
adventures at permibus.livejournal.com.
To our supporters: First we ask that as many people as possible contact
precinct one in Minneapolis, MN at 612-673-5701 and Mayor Rybak at
Phone: (612) 673-2100 or
call 311 or call (612) 673-3000 outside Minneapolis.
Also call the Ramsey County Sheriff
Sheriff - Bob Fletcher 651-266-9300
[NOTE FROM MARY: This number doesn't answer. The
Mayor's office recommended 651-266-9333, but it
is a recording, and does not have any provision
for leaving comments]
and demand the immediate release of the Permibus.
We are also in desperate need of donations. Though we do not yet know
the full cost of getting the permibus returned we know that it will
include tow fee, impound fees, and legal fees. To donate
contact us
directly for a local address or...
Donate On-line:
Go to: www.earthactivisttraining.org/ donate.htm
Click on: Donate Now!
Under "Gift Information" write: Permibus
Under "Please send acknowledgment of this gift to" write:
skillstour@gmail. com
Donate by Mail:
Make check payable to: A.C.T.
On the "For" line write: Permibus
Send check to: A.C.T. 1405 Hillmount St. Austin, TX 78704
posted by:
|
Washington, D.C.
|
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