This section is dedicated to area news based on actual events and thoughts raised from these events. Any comments are welcome!

Running Legal Blues by Jeff Head

 "Running Legal Blues tells of his journey towards running compliant and the costs he has paid to do so; those of losing friends from blowing the whistle on a gas tanker company who thought drivers were a dime a dozen and why he got into a lease purchase program to get his first truck among other stories of his life as both an outlaw and compliant driver."

On a Personal Note, I have known Jeff for a few years and I have heard some of his stories and I believe this book will make you see trucking and life for that matter from a different point of view! A "must read" in my opinion! - Sam Mechling

 

Ohio Constitution Stops Obamacare In Its Tracks!

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Lorri Anderson 1-11-13  Obamacare has heated this nation into an inferno. Debates, complaints, lawsuits challenging its unconstitutionality, and igniting a fury over many citizens loosing their vital lifesaving healthcare coverage. Many people, whether they be individuals, businesses, or doctors, are feeling overwhelmed and trapped by this detrimental monstrosity. People from all walks of life are being harmed by loss of insurance, life saving healthcare, loss of jobs, loss of hours on their jobs forcing them into part-time work, companies are being broken, and doctors are leaving the healthcare field in mass numbers due to this outrageous “law” enacted by political pundits in Washington that either can’t or refuse to read.

While the federal government would love nothing more to make people believe they are “all powerful” or “what they say goes” or “what they say trumps the power of the states,” it simply is not true. The federal government (Washington) derives all its power from the people. The federal government would have you believe the power structure is as follows: Federal, State, Cities, Towns, and then the people. When in fact as a republic the real structure of our country since its inception has always been: We the people, Towns, Cities, States, and then the Federal Government. The federal government has NO power to enforce their “rules, regulation, laws” on the states unless the states and people allow it. Thus, the reason your state constitution trumps “federal law.” An example of that can be seen in: Mack/Printz vs United States, saying that the States are not “political subdivisions of the Federal Government” and that the feds cannot “compel the states to enforce federal laws.” The Mack/Printz ruling makes it clear that the states do not have to accept orders from the feds! You can find other examples here, here, and here.

I now turn your attention to the state of Ohio. According to the Ohio State Constitution no one can be forced or fined to sign up for healthcare. This includes, but is not limited to individuals, businesses, doctors, no one! Nor can they be fined, taxed, penalized, or forced to pay by wage withholding. Whether intentional or not, the state of Ohio has given every person, business, hospital, doctor in that state the legal basis for not having to engage, nor be involved with the Affordable Care Act, aka Obamacare.

According to the Ohio State Constitution Article 1 Section 21 “Preservation Of The Freedom To Choose Health Care and Health Care Coverage” located on page 9.

“21 (A) No federal, state, or local law or rule shall compel, directly or indirectly, any person, employer, or health care provider to participate in a health care system. (emphasis mine)
(B) No federal, state, or local law or rule shall prohibit the purchase or sale of health care or health insurance.
(C) No federal, state, or local law or rule shall impose a penalty or fine for the sale or purchase of health care or health insurance.
(D) This section does not affect laws or rules in effect as of March 19, 2010; affect which services a health care provider or hospital is required to perform or provide; affect terms and conditions of government employment; or affect any laws calculated to deter fraud or punish wrongdoing int he health care industry.

Paying attention to section (D) under Article 1 Section 21 “Preservation Of The Freedom To Choose Health Care And Health Care Coverage” it states: “This section does not affect laws or rules in effect as of March 19, 2010″ (emphasis mine). This means anything that was law prior to the date of March 19, 2010 is not subject to Article 1 Section 21, but any law enacted after that date is subject to Article 1 Section 21. This is great news for all Ohio citizens, business owners, doctors, hospitals etc.. Why? I will answer that in just a moment.

As you know, in order for any bill to become law it requires three very important factors. It must pass the Senate, the House of Representatives, and it then must be signed by the president of the United States for it to become a “law.” Until the President has signed the legislation, it has not become law. I point out this very important fact because President Obama signed the Affordable Care Act, aka Obamacare, on March 23, 2010. That was four days after the cut off date located in Article 1 Section 21 section (D) of the Ohio State Constitution. Thus, the Ohio Constitution grants every person, doctor, hospital, and business the choice not to be forced to sign up for Obamacare, nor fined for failing to sign up for it.

The Good news is if your business does not wish to sign onto this monstrosity it doesn’t have to. If you as an individual do not want to sign onto the ACA, aka Obamacare, you don’t have to pursuant to YOUR Ohio Constitution. Better yet, according to the Ohio State Constitution Article 1 Section 21 Section (E), you can not be fined, taxed, penalized, or any wage withholding allowed due to your refusal to sign onto a “health care law, mandate, or rule.”

Article 1 Section 21 Section (E) states as follows:

(E) As used in this Section,
(1) “Compel” includes the levying of penalties or fines.
(2) “Health care system” means any public or private entity or program whose function or purpose includes the management of, processing of, enrollment of individuals for, or payment for, in full or in part, health care services, health care data, or health care information for its participants.
(3) “Penalty or fine” means any civil or criminal penalty or fine, tax, salary or wage withholding or surcharge or any named fee established by law or rule by a government established, created, or controlled agency that is used to punish or discourage the exercise of rights protected under this section.

While the IRS, and federal government “claim” they can “tax” and penalize you for refusing to sign up via the “opt out” provision in the “law,” the Ohio State Constitution expressly forbids it, and thus it is illegal in the state of Ohio to impose such fines. You are not subject to the “opt out” penalties, nor do you have to sign up for coverage nor the “opt out” provision.

While I am thankful to know that Ohio has protected its citizens and businesses from federal intrusion and the destruction of their economy, one does have to wonder why this information has not been made known to the public, or why the Ohio Main stream media has not covered this extremely important and vital information. Could it be they have a larger “agenda”? Could it be they are afraid that when the people are informed of the truth that they will refuse to sign onto the Affordable Care Act and their plans of ultimate control will come crashing down on their heads? Either way, you now know in the State of Ohio you are protected and can not be forced, fined, taxed, or penalized for refusing to sign onto Obamacare whether you are an individual or a business.

What you choose to do with this information is now up to you. You now have the ability, armed with facts and your constitution, to annihilate this horrific attack upon your businesses, individuals, hospitals, and doctors. Now is the time to spread the information to your neighbors, businesses, doctors, attorneys, etc…. arming them with truth and giving them the ability to stop Obamacare, as well as its destruction right in its tracks. While I am not an attorney nor do I profess to be one, I can read dates. For any legal advice on this matter I would suggest you contact an attorney.

God Bless America and all who fight for her with truth.

The right to bare arms?

The Second Amendment states: A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.

The meaning of the Second Amendment depends upon who you talk to.  The National Rifle Association, which has the Second Amendment (minus the militia clause) engraved on its headquarters building in Washington, insists that the Amendment guarantees the right of individuals to possess and carry a wide variety of firearms.  Advocates of gun control contend that the Amendment was only meant to guarantee to States the right to operate militias.  For almost seventy years following its cryptic decision of U. S. vs. Miller in 1939, the Court ducked the issue, finally to resolve the question in its much anticipated 2008 decision, District of Columbia v Heller. 

Miller was subject to two possible interpretations.  One, that the Second Amendment is an individual right, but that the right only extends to weapons commonly used in militias (the defendants in Miller were transporting sawed-off shotguns).  The second--broader--view of Miller is that the Amendment guarantees no rights to individuals at all, and the defendants lost the case as soon as it was obvious that they were not members of a state militia. 

There is also a second open question concerning the Second Amendment: If it does create a right of individuals to own firearms, is the right enforceable against state regulation as well as against federal regulation?  In 1876, the Supreme Court said the right--if it existed--was enforceable only against the federal government, but there's been a wholesale incorporation of Bill of Rights provisions into the 14th Amendment since then, and it's not clear that the Court would come to the same conclusion today.  In Quilici vs. Morton Grove, a case involving a challenge to a Chicago suburb's ban on the possession of handguns, the Seventh Circuit concluded that the right was not enforceable against the states.  The Second Circuit, in its  2009 decision in Maloney v Cuomo, also concluded that the Second Amendment does not apply to state firearms bans.  The Second Circuit said that the U. S. Supreme Court's 1886 Presser v Illinois decision, holding the Second Amendment limits only the federal government, was still good law until overturned by the High Court.  The U. S. Supreme Court is likely to finally decide the issue, and most commentators are betting the Court will reach a different conclusion than did the Seventh and Second Circuits.

In 2008, the U. S. Supreme Court, in District of Columbia vs. Heller, struck down a Washington, D.C. ban on individuals having handguns in their homes.  Writing for a 5 to 4 majority, Justice Scalia found the right to bear arms to be an individual right consistent with the overriding purpose of the 2nd Amendment, to maintain strong state militias.  Scalia wrote that it was essential that the operative clause be consistent with the prefatory clause, but that the prefatory clause did not limit the operative clause.  The Court easily found the D. C. law to violate the 2nd Amendment's command, but refused to announce a standard of review to apply in future challenges to gun regulations.  The Court did say that its decision should not "cast doubt" on laws restricting gun ownership of felons or the mentally ill, and that bands on especially dangerous or unusual weapons would most likely also be upheld.  In the 2008 presidential campaign, both major candidates said that they approved of the Court's decision.

Now all of that being said, does this give just anyone the right to own firearms? Unfortunately, in most cases yes. The exception being felons and children. It is my opinion that there are always individuals who own firearms and just shouldn't because they react first and think second. This is how the media gets everyone all worked up into a frenzy about the issue because an individual shoots someone before knowing who or why they are there. I am not saying bad things don't happen in the world, but this is Ashland, Ohio people. There aren't serial murderers running around the area. There is no need to shoot first and ask questions later?

Part of owning a firearm is being a responsible owner with a level head to know when that kind of "force" is necessary and when just walking outside your country home to actually "look around" is better judgment. 

Recently, a farmer pulled a gun on a 17 year-old boy. The setting was Jeromesville (no mass murderers there), it was 6pm, and the young man was doing  routine work on a tower (something done at all hours over the last year or two). Much to that young mans surprise, he was greeted with a gun in his face, not a man with a flashlight LOOKING to see what was going on or to offer help. Acceptable behavior? NO..... this isn't the Bronx, this is Jeromesville. Fortunately, no one was hurt, this time.

Is this what we have become? Are we now just part of the mass flow and not our own community? Is our community that blind to follow the media that doesn't even report locally to that area? Wake up people, this is Ashland County not some big city crime scene! Don't let the media make you forget where you live. It may not be perfect, but it is far from what you see portrayed elsewhere in the bigger cities!