Tag: Freedom Center of Missouri

Categories
crime and punishment general freedom individual achievement U.S. Constitution

The Man from Freedom

David Roland, Freedom Center of Missouri, Girl Scouts, Jennifer

In the Show-​Me State, an attorney is showing us government held accountable.

He leaves folks inspired about their freedom, wondering … who was that masked attorney?

Well, no. Against my advice, he won’t wear a mask to court, nor leave behind silver bullets. (He says they’re too expensive.)

David Roland is the Man from Freedom — er, the Freedom Center of Missouri, co-​founded with his wife Jenifer in 2010. Every day, they defend “individual liberty and constitutionally limited government.”

I first heard about the Center when Dave Roland defended two Girl Scouts being harassed by the City of Hazelwood. “People would assume you have the right to have a lemonade or cookie stand in your yard,” he explained. “Here we have a city that says not only is it illegal, but you can’t even get a permit to do it.”

Last January, Roland won a verdict preventing St. Louis County officials from banning third party and independent candidates from special election ballots.

Earlier this month, our crusader* achieved another big victory, this time against the East Missouri [Drug] Task Force, which had been violating the open records law by blocking public attendance at its public meetings.

Yet, the judge failed to award the Center attorney’s fees. Hey, even super-​heroes and super-​lawyers have to pay the rent.

Let’s form “a posse”: click here† to support the work of the Freedom Center of Missouri with our own silver bullets, coins … or just pull out your plastic. Please.

The Man and Woman from Freedom will thank you (and so do I).

This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.

 

* Darn it, if Dave doesn’t refuse to don the cape, too.

† This link goes to the Freedom Center’s main page — the PayPal donation button is at right.

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David Roland, Freedom Center of Missouri, Girl Scouts, Jennifer

 

Categories
ballot access

Answering Liberty’s Call

Our rights are guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution. But words alone don’t defend those rights; people do.

Every day our First Amendment rights to speak out and to petition are put to the test.

A little over a week ago, Dave Roland, the Director of Litigation for the Freedom Center of Missouri, got a phone call at 1:00 am. Two volunteers circulating a petition on a public street in St. Charles had been detained by police, cited for “soliciting without a permit.” The ballot measure they were petitioning for was to legalize marijuana — and tax and regulate it like alcohol and tobacco. Some of their petitions were confiscated.Dave Roland fields a question.

Roland and his wife Jenifer Ziegler Roland, the center’s executive director, went to bat for these two citizens and their constitutional rights, contacting St. Charles City Attorney Mike Valenti.

Faced with the prospect of a lawsuit, Valenti quickly dismissed the charge against the two petitioners.

“Police officers should know that this right may be freely exercised on public sidewalks,” said Mrs. Roland, “but if the police make a mistake, municipal attorneys ought to follow Mr. Valenti’s lead and correct the constitutional violation as quickly as possible.”

When a woman outside Philadelphia’s Constitutional Convention asked Ben Franklin what kind of government had been created, Franklin famously replied, “A Republic, madam, if we can keep it.”

We can keep it. Thanks to people such as the Rolands at Missouri’s Freedom Center.

This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.

Categories
general freedom too much government

The War Against an Infant Industry

In The Addams Family, young Wednesday sets up a sidewalk lemonade stand. A Girl Scout comes by and asks her if there are real lemons in her lemonade. After double assurances, the girl says she’ll buy Wednesday’s lemonade if Wednesday buys her cookies. Then comes the kicker: “Are they made from real Girl Scouts?”

The line works, in part, because of the historical setting. There is nothing more “American” than a kid selling lemonade by her home on a sunny day.

And yet, somehow, this traditional right of American life — a rite of passage — is under attack across the nation. Selling lemonade is a “business,” you see, which requires a license, and one may only engage in commercial enterprise in areas zoned for that, and … well, you get the idea.

Bureaucrats and over-​policers feel it’s their duty to instruct the kiddies that they may only engage in nasty things like business with special permission.

Children must never see it as a right.

I know, there are problems (even in common law) about setting up a business in your home and stinking up the neighborhood or bringing in dangerous traffic. But, well, come on. Get real.

We’re talking lemonade stands!

So, a shout-​out to Dave and Jenifer Roland and their Freedom Center of Missouri, for defending lemonade stands in their neck of the woods. 

The issue may be more important than the size of the industry would suggest.

This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.