Local NH press starting to get irritated

[Cobalt Shiva]

Be funny if it turns out he didn't use metal rods. A police ram truck would go right through the walls.

There was an incident back in the early 1990s--the cops were raiding a two-story house in San Fernando, the house was completely non-code, and an LAPD ram truck drove through the entry, the living room, the dining room, and into the swimming pool.

The house just kind collapsed in on itself.

Nobody home. But they got something like $800,000 worth of nose candy.

[Randall]

cheap plywood

Oriented-strand board. Ed's too cheap to pay for plywood.

Oddly, it looks like a slate roof on top of all that rubble.

[Nikki]

There's no need to worry about the house collapsing.

Ed is determined to replicate Waco. He'll bring the thing down on top of him and Elaine (probably via gasoline bombs) at the first sign of the federales.

[webhick]

There's no need to worry about the house collapsing.

Ed is determined to replicate Waco. He'll bring the thing down on top of him and Elaine (probably via gasoline bombs) at the first sign of the federales.

From what everyone's been saying, it'll probably take a lot less than a gasoline bomb to bring the place down. There's probably a corner of the tower where, if you snap your bubblegum just right, the whole thing will fall in on itself.

[LDE]

Seriously, I think they should employ one or two of those gigantic armored bulldozers the Israelis use to demolish Palestinian houses. I doubt the Browns have more firepower than the Al-Aqsa Brigades.

Knock down the gun turret, breach a hole in the wall, then flood the place with the nonlethal gas the Russians use.

[Demosthenes]

Check out the reader comments on this article.

http://www.unionleader.com/article.aspx ... 6e28b0d096

[Nikki]

Jason Gerhard can be cited for what? Leaving the scene of an accident? Impeding an investigation? Aiding and abetting a fugitive? Driving without a license maybe? Driving without insurance?

Throw the book at the little punk and then quietly beat him with sturdy rubber hoses....

Rubber hoses What the heck do you think the hobnail boots were issued for -- hiking?

The goal is to send him (or the relevant pieces) back to his buddies as an illustrative example.

[Demosthenes]

Video of the local Plainfield police:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=axUO8F0se3w

[Demosthenes]

Letter to the Editor

U.S. Marshal Service is not in control
Ron Godbout, Northfield

July 19. 2007 7:20AM

You'd like to think the gross incompetence in the executive and legislative branches doesn't flow down the chain, but it apparently does in the U.S. Marshal Service. The ongoing fiasco at the Brown compound in Plainfield attests clearly that the marshals are not remotely close to having control of that situation.

The Browns have been tried and found guilty by a jury of their peers, yet they remain free because the government doesn't want to look bad. How much worse could they look? The Browns communicate freely with their cohorts and the press, and now they're having barbecues to raise money. That sure spells impotence to me.

These people have broken the law by not paying their taxes, but they've readily sucked up our tax dollars spent for public services. They should be completely isolated - no one entering or leaving the property, especially rabble-rousers like Randy Weaver. They should be denied electricity, food and water. Eventually, their supplies will run out. Communications by cell phone can be easily jammed, and internet service and telephone landlines should be disconnected.

These people are looking to make headlines, so that, too should be denied.

I'm sick and tired of my tax dollars being wasted on futile efforts. To the U.S. Marshals: This operation should be treated like a siege. If you can't do the job, then step aside and let someone else do it. To the Browns, I leave a quote from the old TV show, Baretta: "Don't do the crime if you can't do the time."

[The Observer]

At the very least, I cannot understand why the U.S. Marshals are allowing other people to enter the property. This only encourages people to deliver supplies and allows for the possibility that weapons/ammunition can be provided to the Browns (above what Ed Brown has already stowed on the property. It also increases the opportunity for additional people to be injured or killed if an incident develops. Finally, allowing the Browns visitors encourages the Browns and keeps their morale up in terms of challenging and frustrating the system.

I agree that a siege should have been put into place once verdict was entered and the Browns refused to surrender. No one should have been allowed to enter the property and the Brown should have been isolated as much as possible.

[webhick]

Someone mentioned digging a ditch at the end of the driveway to make it difficult to allow followers to come and go.

It's starting to sound like a great idea. It won't prevent foot traffic, but if you dig the ditch around any part of the property that you can get a vehicle through (perhaps the neighbors would volunteer to dig up their land), it should prevent most vehicles from coming and going. Then, when the visitors park on the road or on the neighbor's property, you can legally tow them.

[Demosthenes]

It's an all or none venture. You can dig a ditch and the supporters can easily fill it or run a bridge across it. You can block the driveway with something big and the followers can clear cut a new path through the trees. If they want to isolate Ed, it will take a big commitment to act, which higher ups are apparently forbidding for fear of bad publicity.

[webhick]

It's an all or none venture. You can dig a ditch and the supporters can easily fill it or run a bridge across it. You can block the driveway with something big and the followers can clear cut a new path through the trees. If they want to isolate Ed, it will take a big commitment to act, which higher ups are apparently forbidding for fear of bad publicity.

Yep, they could build a bridge over a ditch.

And the citizens of Plainfield could form a militia and knock down the bridges every night.

It'd be hard to fill a ditch quickly with no heavy equipment (right? he doesn't have the equipment?). They'd also have to fill it using Ed's lawn, which I doubt he'd allow to be dug up (since his dog does her business off his property). So, he'd have to have the dirt trucked in. Whether by pickup or dump truck, it'd block the road to some degree. Then it could be towed.

[Demosthenes]

It's an all or none venture. You can dig a ditch and the supporters can easily fill it or run a bridge across it. You can block the driveway with something big and the followers can clear cut a new path through the trees. If they want to isolate Ed, it will take a big commitment to act, which higher ups are apparently forbidding for fear of bad publicity.

Yep, they could build a bridge over a ditch.

And the citizens of Plainfield could form a militia and knock down the bridges every night.

It'd be hard to fill a ditch quickly with no heavy equipment (right? he doesn't have the equipment?). They'd also have to fill it using Ed's lawn, which I doubt he'd allow to be dug up (since his dog does her business off his property). So, he'd have to have the dirt trucked in. Whether by pickup or dump truck, it'd block the road to some degree. Then it could be towed.

The citizens of Plainfield aren't anywhere near the Browns. They live in the middle of nowhere and the nearest neighbors shouldn't be the ones to bear the brunt of Ed's rage.

Ed has heavy equipment. Remember the bulldozer being used to block the kitchen door?

Ed's lawn is at the end of a quarter mile driveway. The rest of the land is woods. Plenty of dirt, plenty of trees to fill the ditch.

Personally, I hope they do find a way to block the driveway. Hauling food and fuel for the generator up the quarter mile long driveway would get real old, real fast, especially when the weather starts getting icy and snowy. It's a lot easier to live without a generator when it's warm and the days are long.

[webhick]

There you go again, bursting my bubble

Hauling shit up the driveway wouldn't be that difficult if they have a couple of four-wheelers.

[Demosthenes]

There you go again, bursting my bubble

Hauling sh*t up the driveway wouldn't be that difficult if they have a couple of four-wheelers.

So far, the Feds have taken the four wheel drive SUV...

[webhick]

There you go again, bursting my bubble

Hauling sh*t up the driveway wouldn't be that difficult if they have a couple of four-wheelers.

So far, the Feds have taken the four wheel drive SUV...

I'm not talking about a car. I'm talking four-wheelers (those dinky little recreational vehicles that race up and down everyone else's private property and along the side of the roads in skimoboarding season). The same four-wheelers that can easily be brought in on the back of any moron's pickup truck. Some come with plow attachments too (several of my clients use theirs to plow their driveway).

[The Observer]

It's an all or none venture. You can dig a ditch and the supporters can easily fill it or run a bridge across it. You can block the driveway with something big and the followers can clear cut a new path through the trees. If they want to isolate Ed, it will take a big commitment to act, which higher ups are apparently forbidding for fear of bad publicity.

Apparently the higher-ups are taking counsel of their fears. I am not sure why they expect bad publicity when the majority of people in this country are exasperated over the fact that the Browns have been sticking their finger in the eye of the courts. I would think that besieging the Browns would only garner positive publicity.

[Demosthenes]

Apparently the higher-ups are taking counsel of their fears.

Apparently? Based on what?

I am not sure why they expect bad publicity when the majority of people in this country are exasperated over the fact that the Browns have been sticking their finger in the eye of the courts.

The vast majority of people in this country have never heard of the Browns.

I would think that besieging the Browns would only garner positive publicity.

Until someone gets shot or pics of a big ball of fire hits page one.

While the vast majority of people have never heard of the Browns, they have heard of Attorney General Gonzalez' recent problems and the AUSA firing nonsense. A whole lot of Democrats are waiting for even the tiniest mistake in order to get his ass canned.

[The Observer]

Somehow I got the impression that with recent articles in newspapers (such as the Los Angeles Times) that more people would be aware of what is happening. But I will agree that I spoke in error by stating "the majority of the people in this country." What I should have said is that the majority of people, when hearing about the Brown situation, support the government.

The Observer wrote:
Apparently the higher-ups are taking counsel of their fears.


Apparently? Based on what?

While the vast majority of people have never heard of the Browns, they have heard of Attorney General Gonzalez' recent problems and the AUSA firing nonsense. A whole lot of Democrats are waiting for even the tiniest mistake in order to get his ass canned.

It would seem that you provided the answer.

Until someone gets shot or pics of a big ball of fire hits page one.

And it doesn't necessarily have to end that way. Simply cutting access to the property and keeping the Browns from receiving outside support is more than enough to show that the government is enforcing the law and showing restraint. Should Ed Brown decide to sally forth and start taking potshots at the marshals, I doubt that the general population is going to suddenly develop sympathy for him.