Ride for Jamie Lawson: CCL Action Alert

Calling all Constitutional Civil Libertarians (my e-friends from Freedom Connector). You never have to do anything as a group, and I don't invite you to do anything as a group every year, but this is the sort of thing Constitutional Civil Libertarians will probably want to do.

Recap: Back in April, the sleepy Mayberry-like streets of Gate City, Virginia, were the scene of a real high-speed car chase as a drug dealer from Tennessee idiotically tried to evade local law enforcement. Having no idea where he was going, he almost trapped himself on a dead-end road, then went into rat-in-trap mode and tried to ram his way through the converging police cars as he headed back to Tennessee. He knocked a state police cruiser into a parked truck. Jamie Lawson was the State Trooper inside this cruiser. At last report Trooper Lawson was making good progress, but was still in pain, in an expensive hospital in Atlanta.

A local bank has been collecting donations to help the Lawson family, but some people wanted a livelier way to express their feelings about local police officers and out-of-state drug dealers. These people have scheduled a Benefit Ride for Jamie Lawson, to begin in the parking lot of Gate City High School at 2 p.m. on the second day of June. Police cars and motorcycles will be escorting a procession of private vehicles through Scott County. Riders will pay for tickets to win door prizes donated by local businesses. Drawings will be conducted, and door prizes distributed, along the way.

Specific information about routes and prizes remains undisclosed...partly because the list is growing. It should be quite a parade.

Since this web site does not generally recommend unnecessary use of motor vehicles, I want to affirm here that this web site thinks a Benefit Ride is a valid reason to drive. Of course, there's no reason to overdo things. I think we should get a van, or vans, or even a bus, and pack it. The more people in the fewer vehicles, the better.

The idea of hanging a sign identifying Constitutional Civil Libertarians on the back of a van has crossed my mind. That's as far as the idea can go, with me, since I don't own a van. As a statement this might call attention to the disparity between libertarians (who may think some laws should be revised, but think existing laws should be obeyed) and barbarians. If someone out there has a suitable van and would like to make this statement, let me know; I'll publicize the statement and, if you have room, ride in the van.