evolution

Shawnee County — you know, the unified government you yokels not living in Topeka were supposed to be all for, to hear Governor Sebelius and Speaker Mays tell it in the thousands of radio ads that ran to that effect — had a Kansas Libertarian Party fundraiser at a nudist camp stopped, and a Shawnee County judge agreed.

The camp, called Lake Edun — which, incidentally, is on private property — has been battling with the county for a decade or more.

Here’s the lame justification for the county action against the property owners:

The county insisted Lake Edun (nude spelled backward) was being run as a commercial, recreational facility, even though the property was zoned agricultural. Garlinghouse insisted the camp was focusing on harvesting fish and planting native grasses and trees.

In January 2001, the county gave the Garlinghouses a two-year, conditional-use permit, with the stipulation that they could not try to renew it.

In September 2006, Bullock issued a restraining order banning the Garlinghouses from using the camp for recreation or commercial activities without a conditional-use permit. According to court records, the Garlinhouses’ appeal is pending.

Is a political fundraiser “recreational” or “commercial”? And even if it is, what business is it of anyone’s what goes on at private property, provided no one’s rights are being violated (and, I’m sorry, but no one has the right not to be offended)?

Let me translate the above passage for you: Some tight-assed county official, basically appointed to his post for life by the too-busy or too-apathetic citizens of Topeka and the city’s legendary “good-ole-boy” network decided to make it his mission to shut Lake Edun down, and Judge Terry Bullock’s hands (remember, he was the one who ordered the Legislature to add money to the state education budget) were basically tied by precedent. That, or he’s equally-tight-assed himself.

Either way, I don’t see what the problem is.

Outside the problems created by bureaucrats, that is.

UPDATE: The Captial-Journal reports that the event went on at another location — also on private property, no doubt with a dozen Shawnee County sheriff’s deputies parked outside.

This might be fun to hear about. If you were there or know anyone who was, let me know.

This entry was posted on Saturday, July 8th, 2006 at 20:50 and is filed under freedom, kansas. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.