After Handy threw in a dozen temporary barricades in the road median, in front of parking lots and the police troop staging area, the dang post office looked like it was in Bagdad!

Despite Handy's extreme overreaction, over 120 citizens found distant parking and hiked to the tax protest. We donned `Recall Dillon' T-shirts, chanted, waved signs at passing motorists who honked in support, and did what we came to do - demonstrate peacefully. WDIV Channel 4 and Fox 2 News Detroit covered our protest, as did The Detroit News (article here: http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2008804160384) and the Detroit Free Press (article here: http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=200880415075)

Check out the Freep article. In it, Handy actually threatens to, well, here is his actual quote:

"We plan to send them (the taxpayer groups) a bill for orchestrating an event and costing Redford Township precious resources."

Yes, Handy thinks that a group of 60 protesting business owners and seniors (120 attended the protest, but many came at different times, so about 60 was the average group size) not only requires Olympic-sized police mobilization, but that the protesters should be forced to pay for the efforts to intimidate them! Handy appears dully unaware that the U.S. Supreme Court has already ruled that threats to force citizens to pay for exorbitant police "protection" costs constitutes a chilling effect on First Amendment free speech rights and is, therefore, unconstitutional. Supervisor Miles Handy may not have turned on the water cannons and unleashed savage police dogs but, hey, he is with Bull Conner in spirit, if not in the extremity of the intimidation tactics. (Note to lefty bloggers pounced to attack: No, I don't really think that what we tax protesters went through yesterday is anywhere close to what civil rights protesters were confronted with during the 1960s civil rights movement. Those brave activists faced prison, bodily harm and possibly worse. We merely faced a bumbling ass who disrespects citizens rights and abuses his position.)  

It is important that I mention that the Redford police officers acted under the order of Supervisor Handy and are not to blame. In fact, with only one exception, the Redford police were complete professionals and were quite civil. Although their presence was meant to be intimidating, they did their best to direct traffic and such.

Oh, where was Speaker Andy Dillon during the tax protest? Not far away, it turns out. Seems his buddy Handy reserved the pavilion at a nearby park to host a pro-Dillon pig roast. The pig roast turned out to be quite a success, actually. Several politicians drove all the way from Lansing to attend, along with some union leaders and state government bureaucrats. Handy is no fool. He knows that if you want lots of Lansing politicians and bureaucrats to come to a pro-Dillon rally, all you have to do is offer them a lot of pork!

Two weeks of signature gathering left. Stay tuned.

Leon Drolet
www.MichiganRecalls.com