Subject: [starhawk] Permaculture Education Bus Seized by Twin Cities Police
at RNC
Hey friends, we need your help! Our Earth Activist Training Sustainable
Skills Bus has been seized without cause by the police. Below is an account
from the Wilsons, who have been travelling in the bus for the last seven
months doing trainings in permaculture and sustainability, including ways
you can help. My own accounts from the action can be found on
www.starhawk.org and I'll be posting daily as long as I can-or sign on to my
own list by emailing starhawk-subscribe@lists.riseup.net. If you're on that
list, my own account follows. Please support these folks who have been
doing such good work for us all. Thanks!
POLICE SEIZE PERMIBUS
Please Post Far and Wide including any Media Contacts You May Have
At approximately 6:25 pm on August 30, 2008 Minneapolis Police, Minnesota
State Troopers, Ramsey County Sheriffs, Saint Paul Police, and University of
Minnesota Police pulled over the Earth Activist Training Permaculture
Demonstration Bus (Permibus) by exit 237 on Interstate 94. Initially the
police told the people on the bus to exit. When the people on the bus asked
if they were being detained they were told that they were but police
wereunable to provide justification. When asked why they pulled the bus over
they refused to answer. After repeated requests to explain why the bus had
been stopped Officer Honican of the Minneapolis Police explained that this
was just a routine traffic stop though he did not explain the reason for the
traffic stop. The police then told Stan Wilson, the driver and registered
owner of the Permibus, that they were going to impound the bus in case they
wanted to execute a search warrant later. After more than an hour of being
questioned by Stan and Delyla Wilson as to the legalities of their
detainment and the impoundment of the Permibus, the police then informed
Stan that the bus, which is legally registered as a passenger vehicle in the
state of Montana, was being impounded for a commercial vehicle inspection.
Shortly afterward Sergeant Paul Davis, a commercial vehicle inspector
arrived on scene. Despite the polices insistence that the reason for
impoundment was for a commercial vehicle inspection the Permibus crew were
not allowed to remove anything from the bus including computers, toiletries,
and 17-year-old Megan Wilson's shoes. The police finally allowed the animals
to be removed from the Permibus before it was towed, leaving the Permibus
family standing beside their chickens and dogs, homeless on the highway.
The Permibus was relocating from the Bedlam Theatre in Minneapolis, where
they had spent the day teaching Urban Permaculture, to a friend's house in
Saint Paul for a well deserved break. The Permibus has been in the
Minneapolis area since August 2nd when the crew appeared at the Midtown
Farmers Market for a morning of Permaculture education including
Permaculture 101, chicken care, seed ball making for kids, and the
Permi-puppet show. During the past month the Permibus has parked at several
local businesses and, as a neighborly gesture of respect for local police,
Mr. Wilson contacted the appropriate precincts just to let them know the
Permibus was in the area and had permission from the business owners to be
parked on their lot. Through this, as well as other casual discussions with
Minneapolis and Saint Paul police officers, the Permibus crew found the
local police to be interested and respectful. However on August 30th all
that changed when, for no apparent valid reason the police pulled over and
seized the Permibus. After the incident Stan Wilson said, "If the combined
law enforcement of Minneapolis, Saint Paul, Ramsey County, and the State of
Minnesota can pull over and impound a vehicle and home used to teach organic
gardening and sustainability, one has to wonder what it is our government
really fears. After all, we seek to teach people that the real meaning of
homeland security is local food, fuel and energy production. For that we
have had our lives stolen by government men with guns."
As of now, after repeated requests to be present at any vehicle inspection,
with an list of what they are inspecting for, as well as requests to be
served any warrants for searches of the vehicles prior to a search and to be
present during the search the Permi-family has been unable to ascertain the
current status of the Permibus. On site Mr. Wilson was told that Officer
Palmerranky was the inspector in charge of the case and would determine if
the Permi-family's rights protecting them from unreasonable search and
seizure would be respected. Neither Officer Palmerranky nor his supervisor
has yet to return Mr. Wilson's calls. The loss of her home and possessions
is particularly difficult on seventeen-year-old Megan Wilson. Megan, a
shining example of what this country asks of today's youth, has dedicated
herself to making positive changes in the world. She was the youth keynote
speaker at the Local to Global conference in Phoenix AZ, has taught conflict
resolution at youth shelters and is the outreach coordinator for the Skills
for a New Millennium Tour, the family traveling educational project. Megan
believes that, "While I understand that the world we live in is not as it
should be I strive to live and teach in a way that shows the world how life
could be. What I don't understand is why I can't get dressed for an evening
out with friends in my own home without armed men stealing my life out from
under me." The Permi-family, along with their dogs and Permaculture
super-hero chickens are currently being housed by folks in the Twin Cities.
The Skills for a New Millennium Tour is a family education project that
travels around the United States teaching homesteading, citizenship, and
life skills at farmers markets, community gardens, churches, intentional
communities, schools, and in people's living rooms. The Skills Tour is a
donation supported project dedicated to providing tools for sustainable
living, including Permaculture, to anyone who is interested, regardless of
income. "We believe that any solution that is not accessible to the poor and
urban areas is not a real solution for the future," states Delyla Wilson.
Permaculture is a design system with ethics and principles that can be
applied to food production, home design, and community building in order to
increase sustainability in food production, energy production, and social
systems. The Permibus is a rolling demonstration of small scale sustainable
living with three people, three dogs, three chickens, and a box of worms as
permanent residence. The chickens and worms are part of a closed-loop food
productions composting system that supports the Permibus's traveling garden.
For more information on the seizure of the Permibus, the Skills for the New
Millennium Tour, or Permaculture, the Wilson's can be reached at
406-721-8427 or through email at skillstour@gmail.com. You can also see
pictures and read stories about the last six months of their educational
adventures at permibus.livejournal.com.
To our supporters: First we ask that as many people as possible contact
precinct one in Minneapolis, MN at 612-673-5701 and Mayor Rybak at
Phone: (612) 673-2100 or
call 311 or call (612) 673-3000 outside Minneapolis.
Also call the Ramsey County Sheriff
Sheriff - Bob Fletcher 651-266-9300
and demand the immediate release of the Permibus.
We are also in desperate need of donations. Though we do not yet know the
full cost of getting the permibus returned we know that it will include tow
fee, impound fees, and legal fees. To donate contact us directly for a local
address or...
Donate On-line:
Go to: www.earthactivisttraining.org/donate.htm
Click on: Donate Now!
Under "Gift Information" write: Permibus
Under "Please send acknowledgment of this gift to" write:
skillstour@gmail.com
Donate by Mail:
Make check payable to: A.C.T.
On the "For" line write: Permibus
Send check to: A.C.T. 1405 Hillmount St. Austin, TX 78704
