Email from the VCDL.

[Norm357]

Check it. The highlighted part is most interesting.

I was interviewed about the recent Roanoke Times debacle by Kyung Lah of CNN on Friday at Vinney's Italian Restaurant in Midlothian. The restaurant was very hospitable, setting us up in a large corner so that all the camera equipment could be spread out.

The interview went very well and was done professionally. Ms. Lah asked some of the questions that were posed by Mr. Trejbal in his article - such as, "Don't I have a right to know if you are carrying a gun?"

I had been standing up talking to Ms. Lah for couple of minutes after I arrived. She looked at me and said, "Since you have a concealed handgun permit, aren't you allowed to transport a handgun?"

I said, "Yes."

She said, "Er, do you have one in the car then?"

I said, "No, but I have one on my hip."

A little embarrassed for not having noticed, she then looked down and saw that I was open carrying.

I explained Virginia Law to her about having to open carry in restaurants that have a license to sell and serve alcoholic beverages for on-premises consumption.

THE ROANOKE TIMES AND CHRISTIAN TREJBAL ARE HYPOCRITES!

This is TOO good! I asked Ms. Lah if someone was going to interview the Roanoke Times management and Christian Trejbal (the columnist who wrote the story about Virginia 'sunshine' laws, and who obtained and helped publish the CHP holder list).

Ms. Lah said that BOTH Mr. Trejbal AND the Roanoke Times Management are REFUSING TO BE INTERVIEWED!!!!!!!!

What about all that 'sunshine,' you were celebrating Mr. Trejbal?
What about it Roanoke Times? Surely you would want to lead the way by letting a little light shine on the damage that you did by publishing the CHP holder list?

I got a real chuckle when she told me about their refusal.

I guess I have been doing this too long as I wasn't surprised. I have dealt with people like Mr. Trejbal many times before.

ANOTHER VCDL MEMBER TO BE INTERVIEWED

Ms. Lah is also going to interview a parole officer who had THREE parolees show up at his residence, one while only his wife and child were at home! All three admitted to getting his address from the list published on the Internet by the Roanoke Times.

THANKS TO THOSE OF YOU WHO VOLUNTEER THEIR STORIES

Thanks to those who volunteered to be interviewed. I shared your stories with Ms. Lah and some of your emails will probably be used in the story. Ms. Lah assured me that your name and other private or identifying information will be redacted when emails are shown on screen. Only the part of the email that talks about how your life has been endangered will be highlighted and visible to make the point.

WATCH THE PAULA ZAHN SHOW ON MONDAY AT 8 PM!

The story is going to air THIS Monday at 8 PM EST on the Paula Zahn show on CNN.



Lets just hope they don't do a hatchet job in the editing room...

mk

[Super Six 5]

This is in response to publishing the CCW information in the newspaper, right Norm?

[Norm357]

This is in response to publishing the CCW information in the newspaper, right Norm?

Yes it is.

[ChesCopPodz]

Just a little plug, Vinny's is a GREAT restaurant. Good food, good service, good prices.

[Creeker]

WATCH THE PAULA ZAHN SHOW ON MONDAY AT 8 PM!

The story is going to air THIS Monday at 8 PM EST on the Paula Zahn show on CNN.

I guess you are going to force me to miss Oreilly? I don't even have the Commie News Net programmed into my tuner.... :D

[chaser266]

The VCDL is an organization that would ruin the reputation of a cop, or a whole agency, if they thought it would help their cause. But don't take my word for it, just check out this link... http://www.vcdl.org/Tonys/mcpd.html

In summary, these guys were open carrying at a restaurant and somebody called the police. The cops did not arrest anybody, disarm anybody, or attempt to charge anybody with a crime. That was not good enough for the VCDL and their agenda. They decided to file a FOIA against the police, to publicize e-mails and MDT communications that are generally (and incorrectly) regarded as private.

I generally agree with preserving 2nd amendment rights, but after they trampled those officers in an attempt to push their agenda -- they lost a lot of credibility with me.

[Norm357]

The VCDL is an organization that would ruin the reputation of a cop, or a whole agency, if they thought it would help their cause. But don't take my word for it, just check out this link... http://www.vcdl.org/Tonys/mcpd.html

In summary, these guys were open carrying at a restaurant and somebody called the police. The cops did not arrest anybody, disarm anybody, or attempt to charge anybody with a crime. That was not good enough for the VCDL and their agenda. They decided to file a FOIA against the police, to publicize e-mails and MDT communications that are generally (and incorrectly) regarded as private.

I generally agree with preserving 2nd amendment rights, but after they trampled those officers in an attempt to push their agenda -- they lost a lot of credibility with me.

In the internal police communciations, the citizens were refered to as "*** clowns", "tards", and "f'ing retards".

Maybe the officers in question should not call law abiding citizens names on their MDTs. ;) Dont defend an officers bad behaviour just because they are a cop. Im a law abiding armed citizen, and I would be pissed if I was treated like a criminal.

I posted about this when it happened.

[mxwelch]

The VCDL is an organization that would ruin the reputation of a cop, or a whole agency, if they thought it would help their cause. But don't take my word for it, just check out this link... http://www.vcdl.org/Tonys/mcpd.html

In summary, these guys were open carrying at a restaurant and somebody called the police. The cops did not arrest anybody, disarm anybody, or attempt to charge anybody with a crime. That was not good enough for the VCDL and their agenda. They decided to file a FOIA against the police, to publicize e-mails and MDT communications that are generally (and incorrectly) regarded as private.

I generally agree with preserving 2nd amendment rights, but after they trampled those officers in an attempt to push their agenda -- they lost a lot of credibility with me.

After the conduct of a few officers there they should feel the heat. When a citizen isn't breaking any law, in fact they're obeying the law to the letter, and experience the harrasment, yes I'll call it harrasment, they did there's a problem. The police officers basicly had the owner of the resturant kick these people out after they found out there was nothing wrong, just for spite. You can defend this undefenable position if you wish but it doesn't make it right. The info the VCDL obtained showed the conduct unbecoming and reinforced the case that these people were harrased.

Once outside, one of our party retrieved a copy of the ABC letter explaining the legality of open carry and a copy of the Virginia State Police web page from his car. When approached, one of the group of officers said, "don't come over here and fight us" and that he "didn't need to see our damn letters". His supervisor, wasn't interested in talking either.

Real professional. Remember that these weren't "skateboard punks" or dopers. They were regular law abiding citizens. Maybe you should also consider that some in the VCDL are retired LEOs who have no agenda against the police, despite your unfounded claims.

[chaser266]

Maybe the officers in question should not call law abiding citizens names on their MDTs. ;) Dont defend an officers bad behaviour just because they are a cop. Im a law abiding armed citizen, and I would be pissed if I was treated like a criminal.

I posted about this when it happened.

VCDL went public with an embarrassing error in judgment by one or more officers. Publicizing this type of thing chips away at the credibility and respect of law enforcement officers as a whole. This issue could have quietly been resolved through an internal investigation. My beef with VCDL is that VCDL apparently feels that it okay to publicize information that damages the reputation of police, if it promotes the VCDL agenda.

[chaser266]

The police officers basicly had the owner of the resturant kick these people out after they found out there was nothing wrong, just for spite. You can defend this undefenable position if you wish but it doesn't make it right. The info the VCDL obtained showed the conduct unbecoming and reinforced the case that these people were harrased.

Real professional. Remember that these weren't "skateboard punks" or dopers. They were regular law abiding citizens. Maybe you should also consider that some in the VCDL are retired LEOs who have no agenda against the police, despite your unfounded claims.

The owner of a restaurant has a fundamental right to control access to his property. The police apparently informed him that somebody was concerned enough to call in a complaint, and I guess the owner decided he did not want to scare away business. The owner was within his rights to make a decision that he felt was in the best interest of his business.

My claim in a nutshell, that VCDL will publicly embarrass police in furtherance of their agenda, is obviously not unfounded; I can't give you a better example than the one we're discussing.

[Creeker]

VCDL went public with an embarrassing error in judgment by one or more officers. Publicizing this type of thing chips away at the credibility and respect of law enforcement officers as a whole. This issue could have quietly been resolved through an internal investigation. My beef with VCDL is that VCDL apparently feels that it okay to publicize information that damages the reputation of police, if it promotes the VCDL agenda.

My problem with this whole thing is that initially the cops were apparently disrespectful, and the VCDL apparently felt...possibly rightly so... they would get just as far with any internal investigation as they got with the first line supervisor.

This way they were able to educate other LEO's, even those that didn't want to be educated... that at the very least not all people who carry are criminals and they should be treated with respect until they show they shouldn't be.

Chief's and cops who have the "seize-a-gun" mentality do enough damage to Law Enforcement credibility on their own so that most of them need a little system re-set to their own media driven prejudices.

Also, filing a FOIA request is in no way a punitive thing to do, nor should it be seen as one. If there is something embarrassing to be found there, it is not the fault of the filer.

No one is accusing the LEO's involved of being bad cops I don't think, but it didn't appear... to me, anyhow... they were the most professional in the field.

[mxwelch]

The owner of a restaurant has a fundamental right to control access to his property. The police apparently informed him that somebody was concerned enough to call in a complaint, and I guess the owner decided he did not want to scare away business. The owner was within his rights to make a decision that he felt was in the best interest of his business.

My claim in a nutshell, that VCDL will publicly embarrass police in furtherance of their agenda, is obviously not unfounded; I can't give you a better example than the one we're discussing.

I agree, the owner does have a right to refuse service, however these people came into the resturant carrying open and were served. The resturant served these people even though they were armed but that's not my point. My point centers around the conduct of the officers. Everyone here knows I'm very pro police. The 2+ years I've posted here, I believe, proves that but I can't excuse inappropriate behavior just because a police officer is the culprit. This is by NO means a smear on that department. I believe they have some very fine people there but once again...when you get on your MDT and brag about getting these people kicked out of a resturant then you've crossed the line.

I'm a member of the VCDL and of all the emails I've received I've never detected a hint of anti-police sentiment but when conduct like this happens they won't lie down and take it either. Thet addressed the city council on their worries. Their intent was to air their grienvances, not smear police officers. You state that they love to smear officers but that is how it's going to look when you critize an officer.

Here's the vid of the VCDL president addressing the Manassas city council.
http://www.vcdl.org/Tonys/VCDL_Manassas.wmv

[Creeker]

The owner of a restaurant has a fundamental right to control access to his property. The police apparently informed him that somebody was concerned enough to call in a complaint, and I guess the owner decided he did not want to scare away business. The owner was within his rights to make a decision that he felt was in the best interest of his business..

I've been on the law side of a conversation like that. It wasn't about carrying, it was about handicapped parking. Someone complained to me that there were cars parked in the handicapped spot which were not placarded. In SC, handicapped laws couldn't be enforced on private, unposted property. When I told my complainant that as much as I wanted to, I couldn't do a thing unless the Manager requested it, the complainant wasted no time in finding the Mgr, who quickly requested the vehicles be removed and with all of the attention being generated, the owners quickly got the message and departed prior to any registration checks coming back.

I have no doubt that gun seizing LEO's made the Manager feel uncomfortable enough about allowing legal carry into the restaurant that he asked the carriers to depart.

I can even hear that conversation in my head.

There's no friggin wonder this fiasco went public.

My claim in a nutshell, that VCDL will publicly embarrass police in furtherance of their agenda, is obviously not unfounded; I can't give you a better example than the one we're discussing.

Hmm...

A quick substitution for the word "educate" for the word "embarrass" and I think that sums it up a little more accurately.

"My claim in a nutshell, that VCDL will publicly educate police in furtherance of their agenda, is obviously not unfounded; I can't give you a better example than the one we're discussing."

Why would active and retired LEO's, who I am sure are members of the VCDL, want to embarrass other LEO's if there were another way around it? Unfortunately, if this Restaurant now puts up a "no CCW" sign, even retired or out of state active Cops won't be legally allowed to carry in there.

[ChesCopPodz]

Back on track, the VCDL has a good point on this case. I hope that the newspaper and reporter both lose everything if one single person is hurt because of that moron's column

[mxwelch]

Back on track, the VCDL has a good point on this case. I hope that the newspaper and reporter both lose everything if one single person is hurt because of that moron's column

The reporter is unbelievable. Different topic but same arrogance. This guy HATES VA and bitches constantly but...well read it for yourself. What a pinko commie &^%$

http://www.roanoke.com/editorials/tr...b/wb/xp-110226

Make sure you read some of the comments.

Here's one for starters.:D

A Yugo or Dodge Dart with Global Warming bumperstickers refuses to yield to my Explorer with
"W" stickers on it?

Let's just say I like my chances.