Consensual encounter at the Highland County Fair with an officer and the police chief
I open carried at the Highland County Fair this morning. Sometime after noon I was walking past a Hillsboro City officer that I know. He motioned me over to another area to talk. The Hillsboro City Police Chief was with him. They were cordial and nice but told me that the fair grounds is not owned by the county and the group that owns it can tell me to change my shirt even if they wanted to and I'd have to do it. They claimed that only a small portion of the grounds are owned by the county. But, I know that the complete fair grounds ARE owned by the county. I pointed that out and told them that I would leave. They told me that I didn't need to leave and they didn't WANT me to leave but I would have to cover up. (They do support CHL and have been pro-rights for as long as I've lived here.)
They have the fences posted with old, faded signs which I've been trying to get the county to remove for over a year. A County Commissioner had previously told me in a telephone conversation to just cover up like everyone else and I could go into the buildings... nobody would say a word. This afternoon, the officers said the same thing. I told them that I obey postings when they are lawful and that it's not necessarily clearly lawful for me to carry in the buildings so I will not be doing that. The buildings aren't posted, BTW.
I went out to the car and got a cover shirt. After getting my children set with money for the rest of the day, I went to the auditor's office and they gave me the documents showing that the county owns all of the fairgrounds. I asked them to put their seal on the documents and they did. I then went to the County Commissioners' office and got the issue on the agenda for the public meeting after next. I then went to the Chief of Police's office and showed him that the county did indeed own the entire fairgrounds. He defers to the law director/city prosecutor(?) on the matter but conceded that what the law director had told him didn't seem correct.
I have this all recorded. When the officers spoke to me at the fair, they said that they were wondering when I'd be back around so they could speak with me. Apparently, there had been quite a buzz on telephones this morning as to what to do about me open carrying at the fairgrounds. Thankfully, they decided on their game plan before they approached me. No guns were drawn, I wasn't asked for my ID, I wasn't disarmed, and they didn't follow me around making sure that I left the fair grounds to get a shirt. They were chilling by a building waiting for me to circulate by and they left when we were done speaking.
On a good note, I had reminded they Chief of Police that I'd be open carrying in the city and hoped that there would be no issues. He assured me that there would not be. At my later meeting with him at his office, I reminded him that open carry alone is not RAS and he understood. I had sent him an email earlier in the week with the July 2012 Cincinnati Police Department Staff Notes, the Ohio Attorney General's 2005 opinion about posting county owned fairgrounds, and a copy of ORC 9.68. In both conversations he acknowledged that he received, read, and understands the email.
This was not intended to be a "Am I being detained? Am I free to go?" type of encounter unless they got investigative in a LE fashion. They did not. They were wrong but it is correctable, I think. I'm trying to go easy on my local area here as they have been so pro-rights in the past. They obviously are trying to treat me with kid gloves as well.
I'll have to record off the audio from my recorder to MP3 when I can find my cable and my free MP3 recording software. Then I guess I'll post it to youtube unless someone knows of a good free host for it.
They want to allow concealed carry at the county fair, on county property, but prohibit open carry. That ain't gonna work...
(Remember, some of these guys are my friends and I'm torn on this very much. If the Commissioner would've just removed the signs, I would have probably just chilled out until someone ran into legal trouble carrying there.)
I open carried at the Highland County Fair this morning. Sometime after noon I was walking past a Hillsboro City officer that I know. He motioned me over to another area to talk. The Hillsboro City Police Chief was with him. They were cordial and nice but told me that the fair grounds is not owned by the county and the group that owns it can tell me to change my shirt even if they wanted to and I'd have to do it. They claimed that only a small portion of the grounds are owned by the county. But, I know that the complete fair grounds ARE owned by the county. I pointed that out and told them that I would leave. They told me that I didn't need to leave and they didn't WANT me to leave but I would have to cover up. (They do support CHL and have been pro-rights for as long as I've lived here.)
They have the fences posted with old, faded signs which I've been trying to get the county to remove for over a year. A County Commissioner had previously told me in a telephone conversation to just cover up like everyone else and I could go into the buildings... nobody would say a word. This afternoon, the officers said the same thing. I told them that I obey postings when they are lawful and that it's not necessarily clearly lawful for me to carry in the buildings so I will not be doing that. The buildings aren't posted, BTW.
I went out to the car and got a cover shirt. After getting my children set with money for the rest of the day, I went to the auditor's office and they gave me the documents showing that the county owns all of the fairgrounds. I asked them to put their seal on the documents and they did. I then went to the County Commissioners' office and got the issue on the agenda for the public meeting after next. I then went to the Chief of Police's office and showed him that the county did indeed own the entire fairgrounds. He defers to the law director/city prosecutor(?) on the matter but conceded that what the law director had told him didn't seem correct.
I have this all recorded. When the officers spoke to me at the fair, they said that they were wondering when I'd be back around so they could speak with me. Apparently, there had been quite a buzz on telephones this morning as to what to do about me open carrying at the fairgrounds. Thankfully, they decided on their game plan before they approached me. No guns were drawn, I wasn't asked for my ID, I wasn't disarmed, and they didn't follow me around making sure that I left the fair grounds to get a shirt. They were chilling by a building waiting for me to circulate by and they left when we were done speaking.
On a good note, I had reminded they Chief of Police that I'd be open carrying in the city and hoped that there would be no issues. He assured me that there would not be. At my later meeting with him at his office, I reminded him that open carry alone is not RAS and he understood. I had sent him an email earlier in the week with the July 2012 Cincinnati Police Department Staff Notes, the Ohio Attorney General's 2005 opinion about posting county owned fairgrounds, and a copy of ORC 9.68. In both conversations he acknowledged that he received, read, and understands the email.
This was not intended to be a "Am I being detained? Am I free to go?" type of encounter unless they got investigative in a LE fashion. They did not. They were wrong but it is correctable, I think. I'm trying to go easy on my local area here as they have been so pro-rights in the past. They obviously are trying to treat me with kid gloves as well.
I'll have to record off the audio from my recorder to MP3 when I can find my cable and my free MP3 recording software. Then I guess I'll post it to youtube unless someone knows of a good free host for it.
They want to allow concealed carry at the county fair, on county property, but prohibit open carry. That ain't gonna work...
(Remember, some of these guys are my friends and I'm torn on this very much. If the Commissioner would've just removed the signs, I would have probably just chilled out until someone ran into legal trouble carrying there.)
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