When will people read…and comprehend?

ECWd’s – Garden City, NY

I came across this story on TheBlaze.com a couple days ago and was shocked by several factors.

The video of the incident shows the person minding his own business on private property has a much better grasp of common sense, as well as the meaning of words found in the Village Code than does the cop that is spreading ignorance.

For starters, is anyone else shocked by the fact that by all indications this police officer actually thinks in his own village ordinance a person can’t wash their car because it can be seen by the public.   He actually reads it and “thinks” these guys are violating the law.

The second issue I took with this story was the lack of background on the matter by those reporting it.  It took all of 5 minutes to look up and prove that the cop was way out of line and the citizen was correct.

From the Village Code: “no person shall wash or cause to be washed any motor vehicle or like conveyance upon any public street, highway or public place.” 

With a little common sense one question can be figured out that needs to be answered.  What is the definition of a public place, which was referenced by the cop.

“Public Place” defined, from the Village Code: “Any public street, road or highway, alley, lane, sidewalk, crosswalk or other public way, or any public resort, place of amusement, park, playground, public building or grounds appurtenant thereto, school building or school grounds, public parking lot or any vacant lot.”

Anyone see private driveway in that definition?

Now had this cop taken the time to learn his job, not unlike so many other cops and public officials, the taxpayers money would have never been wasted by driving out to respond to the neighbors complaint.  It could have been handled with one phone call advising the complaining party that there were no laws violated and then tell the person what the law says so they don’t get the call again.

If the reporter who wrote the article I came across would have done a little homework they could have educated their readers on what the law was so that they are not contributing to a massive disinformation campaign.  You see you only have to read all the comments found in the original story to realize a huge number of people are upset by what they think is a stupid law, thanks to the dumb cop and lack of background reporting, when in fact its not the law at all.

The truth has no agenda and when you report the truth, backed with statutes and supporting documents, the people become informed.  When you just report from a YouTube story you find and throw it out there without any accountability you end up with ignorance flourishing, much like it does in Paris, Illinois!

If we would all start asking two questions and demanding an answer to them, you might be surprised how many lies you’re being told.

Says Who and With What Proof?

Those two questions will prove to eliminate the vast majority of misinformation being spread from coffee shop to burger joint.