A reader of my article "Police Biker Gangs" thought I was advocating giving state legislators (politicians) a free ride, because of my comment that even state legislators were stopped and harassed at "safety" checkpoints operated by various "law enforcement officials" during the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally. Far from it! I was just reporting a simple fact - a fact that runs contrary to most experience, both in South Dakota and Wyoming (the two states I discussed in the article).

Both states, South Dakota in particular, are well-known for the "preferential treatment" certain motorists (even if they are on bikes) are given by the state patrol and other law enforcement agencies. In South Dakota, for example, records were recently made public that indicate former governor, former congress-crittur, and former jail-bird William Janklow was stopped by twelve different state highway patrolmen sixteen times (don't quote me, as I'm pulling the numbers from a bad memory and may not recall them exactly) during his time in office, without receiving a single citation. It is common for state patrolmen to extend "professional courtesy" to various people: local police and sheriffs officers and possemen, members of the state law enforcement association, and state legislators. Therefore, harassment of a serving state legislator during Rally Week is a newsworthy and unusual event.

Now there might be several reasons for such stops, and for something other than an immediate, "Sorry, sir, please proceed, and have a nice day." The legislators may be political enemies of the governor (the one mentioned above was well-known for his years-long hatreds, and for a lot of appointees who had the same attitude as Henry II's courtiers did towards Thomas a'Beckett), or they might have voted the wrong way on the last state patrol appropriations bill. Or it might be that the state patrol is so into the power thing and the benefits of asset forfeiture that they get carried away with things.

The point is, in a land of freedom and liberty, the ONLY reason ANYONE, legislator or not, should be stopped by a roadside checkpoint at ANY time, is if the vehicle they are driving has been clearly identified as stolen or very recently used in the commission of a felony involving violence against someone. And frankly, those kinds of stops don't require a checkpoint - just citizens and peace officers with an eye for detail and a clear description (including plate number and other key identifying characteristics of the vehicle being sought. It is not that legislators should be treated better than everyone else -rather, you could say that everyone else should be treated as legislators: who are, after all, only hirelings of the only true sovereigns in any land of freedom: the people, answerable to their God for their actions.