By Joel Thurtell
So there is justice, after all.
An Oakland County judge today listened to a lawyer for Oakland Township argue for a $7,500 fine to teach Rochester Cider Mill owner Tom Barkham a lesson.
The lesson?
Don’t sell Christmas trees on our turf.
According to The Detroit News, the homunculus who passes for a municipal manager in Oakland Township admitted government officials “got an earful” after press reports about how the factotums were abusing a tax-paying business man.
Okay, okay, The Detroit News didn’t call him a homunculus.
They left that job to me.
Now, I gotta ask ya: Where the hell is the Tea Party when you need them?
I heard that so-called grass-roots movement was all about getting government off people’s backs.
Well, why don’t they call out the Minute Men and run those Oakland Township functionaries out of office?
I know, I know: The Tea Party isn’t about getting government off our backs. They’re all about grabbing power and goodies.
I have to give Oakland Circuit Judge Michael Warren credit. He saw through the township’s smear.
Yes, Tom Barkham, his wife, Ruth and son, Trevor violated the township’s zoning ordinance by selling Christmas trees, firewood and tickets to a corn maze.
But a $7,500 fine? And yes, I detected the threat of jail time, too.
They weren’t kidding.
The judge brought the focus back on reality. The township went to battle over nothing of consequence except officials’ own overweening egos.
Oakland Township is a local government that supposedly represents the interests of its residents.
How can township officials justify prosecuting someone for selling Christmas trees?
Tom, Ruth and Trevor Barkham each must pay a $1 fine.
No doubt, they have some legal costs to pay, also.
But I wonder how much money the township blew in this misguided attempt at teaching the Barkhams a lesson?
And just what was the lesson we learned?
That power corrupts.
That idiots get elected to public office.
That it took a court to stop the nonsense.
That the ballot box, either at a general or special recall election, could finish the job by flushing these sorry creatures out of office.
It shouldn’t have to go that far.
Now that they’ve taught the Barkhams their lesson, how about township muck-a-mucks fixing their zoning law so the Rochester Cider Mill can sell a full range of products?
Somebody should tell Pres. Obama about this.
Here he’s encouraging Americans to become entrepreneurs and to start and expand their small businesses — and this happens. And Gov. Snyder wants to do away with Michigan’s archaic and outdated laws — seems to me Oakland Township ought to follow his lead and do away with the Draconian applications of their zoning ordinance.
Dickens’ Mr. Bumble said, “The law is a ass — a idiot.” Well, it is frequently, but thank goodness for some sensible judges here and there, who manage to remain untainted by the system and retain and apply the common sense their Maker gave them.
I suggest that all of us stop in at the Rochester Cider Mill and buy enough of their products to repay the Barkhams for their legal fees — and to honor them for standing up against idiocy. It’s the American way. The Oakland Township idiots should remember one of the flags that our ancestors fought under for independence: It said DON’T TREAD ON ME.