Elderly man fined for "wrong" political views

This story more or less begins at the 2008 Trigg County Ham Festival in Cadiz, Kentucky.

A Democratic activist - who was going on 80 years old - had been granted a permit to include a wagon with Democratic stickers in the parade. This wagon had appeared in the festival in previous years.

When the elderly man showed up at the parade wearing an Obama t-shirt, one of the parade organizers allegedly used a racial slur and called the police on the man to remove him from the parade. Someone else reportedly told the man, "Get the fucking thing on the trailer and get out."

Cops promptly showed up, arrested the Democratic activist, and refused to tell him what he was charged with. The police even shackled him in ankle chains.

He was charged with disorderly conduct. The city refused to dismiss the charges. Trigg County has one of the highest unemployment rates in the state, yet the city of Cadiz forced the prosecutor to squander an entire day on this bogus case just because city officials disagreed with an activist's political views.

Now the man has been fined $250 after being convicted.

The way Kentucky has gone lately, one always suspects he could have been walking down the street without any political gear at all and been hauled to jail. Clearly, however, the city pursued this case solely because of his political views.

And that's even more indicative of the way this state has gone in recent years. I was arrested for my political views at NKU, and I was nearly arrested for my politics during the Devou Park rally (before I darted out of the park). Local government in Kentucky has often become not just Republican, but Nazi.

(Source: http://www.kypost.com/content/news/commonwealth/story/Man-Convicted-After-Dispute-Over-Parade-Float/ge8ap3HM7kuJIKBsGZsfcg.cspx)