When last we checked in on Ravalli County, just south of Missoula, citizens were circulating a petition asking county officials to-among other things-forbid federal employees from talking to them without permission from the sheriff.
One county resident, who also happens to work for the federal government, recently wrote to the Missoulian: “Do I need a daily letter from the sheriff to enter my home and talk to my wife, or will there be provision for some sort of blanket authorization?”
Now, another Ravalli County resident wants to change the Montana constitution.
“Cathy Hackett of Stevensville this week launched a proposed constitutional initiative campaign to put the boundaries from Montana’s original 1889 constitution into the state’s 1972 constitution. These boundaries spell out, in latitudes and longitudes, where Montana is situated.
“I really think that places our state sovereignty in jeopardy if we don’t have official boundaries in our constitution,” Hackett said Tuesday.”
Hackett, who describes herself as “a bit of a rebel,” is worried that-without the state’s boundaries spelled out in the state constitution-“if you get charged with breaking a Montana law, you could very well use that as a defense and get off.”
I don’t know if this is correct or not, but then, neither does Hackett. Stating the obvious, the reporter advises us that Hackett “is not a lawyer.”
Then there’s this:
“Qualifying a constitutional initiative for the November 2010 ballot is no easy task. To do so requires the signatures of nearly 49,000 registered Montana voters, including 10 percent of the voters in 40 of the 100 state House districts. The signatures must be turned by June 18.
“There’s people all over the state I believe can help me,” Hackett said. “I was part of the Ron Paul thing when he was running for president. We still e-mail each other. I’m counting on those people. I’m confident that they’ll agree with me.”
In other words, Hackett finds it safe to assume that a Ron Paul supporter can be engaged in a quixotic and time-consuming effort to rectify a problem that no state legislator, legal scholar, defense attorney, or jailhouse lawyer has yet noticed and that mainly sounds problematic only if one has just recently begun learning about the subject in a relative vacuum.
I’m not saying this doesn’t sound possible, but-if I were among these Ron Paul supporters-I wouldn’t take the nature of Hackett’s faith in them as a compliment.
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