Mark Fischenich: Ask Us: Sovereign citizen likely to see standard citation (or a tow)
Sep. 11—Q: Hey, Ask Us Guy:
I have on occasion this summer seen a vehicle parked on a street in my neighborhood bearing license plates proclaiming it to be "United States of America Republic" and "DOT Exempt." A cursory Google search suggests that this is one of those "sovereign citizen" scams that essentially deny the legitimacy of our government.
I am not asking about the validity of these plates. I am wondering what the policy of local law enforcement is when they spot a vehicle that is so obviously unregistered.
I'll hang up and listen.
A: Ask Us Guy looked at the United States of America Republic website and, to be honest, couldn't make a lot of sense out of it. Its president — Christopher Cannon: Bey — has issued some complex executive orders that seem to have, among other things, nationalized all utility companies and invalidated vaccine and mask mandates.
The USAR is made up of 10 provinces that encompass the states and territories of what most other folks call "The United States of America." Minnesota is part of "Province 3," which also includes the Dakotas, Nebraska, Iowa, Missouri and Arkansas.
Province IDs, driver's licenses, passports and license plates are offered by the USAR. It appeared at one point that the license plates were priced at $285, but it's hard to tell for sure because the websites where the items were being sold seem to have been shut down.
So, anyway, what does local law enforcement do when they see a vehicle with USAR plates or those from similar organizations that claim its members are exempt from the laws of the United States?
"Mankato law enforcement would initiate an investigation into any vehicle that appears unregistered on a city street," said Public Safety Director Amy Vokal in a written response. "The investigation would include verifying if the vehicle is actually not registered (it could be just displaying non-legal plates), identifying an owner and handling it as we would any other unregistered vehicle on a city street."
The options range from issuing one or more citations to towing the vehicle.
"I know this seems simplistic, but we deal with vehicles that are not registered for many different reasons," Vokal said.
Q: Several weeks ago, you reported on the installation of new playground equipment at Hoover Elementary after the old equipment had been destroyed in a fire. I've never seen any reports on whether the people that did it were ever caught and prosecuted. What's up?
A: The fire happened just before noon on Sunday, Nov. 21. When police officers and firefighters arrived, they found two sections of playground equipment, rubberized ground mats and wood chips on fire on the grounds of the upper North Mankato grade school.
Both pieces of playground equipment were so heavily damaged they needed to be replaced.
Police were initially uncertain what caused the blaze, and the State Fire Marshal's Office was asked to investigate. About three weeks later, it apparently had been determined that the fire had been intentionally set. A reward of up to $5,000 was being offered by the Minnesota Chapter of the International Association of Arson Investigators for information on who was responsible.
Tipsters, who were given the option of remaining anonymous, were asked to call 1-800-723-2020.
But it seems no viable tips were received.
"The case is still open, and a reward is still being offered to anyone that leads to the arrest and conviction of the suspect," North Mankato Police Chief Ross Gullickson said.
Contact Ask Us at The Free Press, 418 S. Second St., Mankato, MN 56001. Call Mark Fischenich at 344-6321 or email your question to mfischenich@mankatofreepress.com; put Ask Us in the subject line.
