Reader says sheriff got it right

Aug 6, 2013


To The Editor:

Sheriff Levorchick correctly understands the real issue, which is our fundamental right to be free of unreasonable search and seizure on our persons and property.

No doubt these plate scanners save time and effort for our law enforcement, and the appeal of new technology is understandable; but these “gifts” from DHS come with strings attached.

Recall the Trojan Horse from Greek mythology.

I for one, am delighted to partially opt-out of the NSA billion-dollar database center slated to open this fall in Utah; at least as a resident of Ottawa County, Ohio.

Militarization of local police was expressly prohibited following the Civil War; and reiterated in 1981. The Ottawa County Sheriff  “gets it” and has made a gutsy call; and the correct one.

Let's hope other Ohio Sheriff and Police Departments will follow suit and not succumb to a phony trade-off of security for privacy.

This is a most welcome turn of events. Notwithstanding recent passage of Boater Freedom Act on Ohio waterways, our Federal agencies (DHS, Border Patrol) should also be required to observe maritime due process.

Dan Clemons
Port Clinton, OH

Editor's note: The Ottawa and Erie County sheriff office's and other local police agencies all received federal Homeland Security grants for license plate readers. The Department of Homeland Security installed cameras on police cruisers, telling local officials the readers would provide operational assistance to deputies. The cameras provide a feed of license plate and GPS information to the DHS but don't provide operational assistance. Sheriff Levorchick, Erie County Sheriff Paul Sigsworth and some other local police commanders subsequently removed the cameras from the vehicles.



County Sheriff Stev Levorchik and Erie C



With everyone so interested in personal privacy, how many and what type of "tracking cookies" does this newspaper use on their website and blogs?


If you use Firefox as a browser (and if you don't, you're missing out), download the Ghostery add-on. While Firefox lets you choose whether or not to accept cookies (or to ask authorization for each cookie), Ghostery lets you block various and sundry data collectors present on almost all Websites.

According to my Ghostery app, the Register site employs four tracking devices (all of which I've got disabled).

Licorice Schtick

The latest version of Firefox appears to no longer allow disabling of JavaScript. The Ghostery plug-in is pretty good, but I'm not sure it plays nice with the NoScript plug-in.

But why should you need plug-ins at all? The anti- government crowd pimps for "private enterprise," but the corporatocracy is the real enemy of freedom. Ordinary people are defenseless against corporations. The government needs to be pried from their grip so it can again represent The People. We gotta get big money out of government.

Stop It

Why are you letting firefox decide if you turn on javascript or not?

It's a computer. Not a TV with cable or satellite. You make it show you what you want, not what someone else gives you.