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Tying balloons to deer carcasses is apparently a thing

By Howard B. Owens

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A State trooper is out with a vehicle on Route 33 just outside of the city and reports there is a person there tying balloons to deer carcasses.

A dispatcher chimes in, "I've seen a lot of that on social media."

UPDATE 4:18 p.m.: The trooper asks that somebody come out and remove the carcasses. "These deer have become quite the spectacle," the trooper said. He said school buses have stopped and other cars stop and look. The person he talked to wasn't there placing balloons but taking pictures.

UPDATE 5:48 p.m.: Photos added.

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Justin Burger

That car that was pulled over was mine. My fiance and I had seen the deer on 33 late this morning, on our way to Buffalo. We stopped on the way back to get a picture of it, because it was funny (it had a "Get well" balloon and a bouquet of flowers next to it). The officer pulled up behind us with his flashers on, and proceeded to question us about it. He claimed he had been driving up and down 33 all day and hadn't seen it until he saw us there, and didn't think it was very funny...a very non-observant and humorless officer.

Jun 6, 2018, 5:04pm Permalink
Debra Nanni

I drive by those deer almost every day when I am out that way, there were 3 on that stretch this morning, none had balloons on them yet unfortunately . I don't think anyone is responsible for clearing them away like they used to. Personally I think it is funny. What is it hurting? People could be doing a lot worse things. I wish people would lighten up and laugh a little. I don't enjoy seeing any animal dead, but the fact that someone would put a Get Well balloon on it is just plain funny

Jun 6, 2018, 6:21pm Permalink
Roberta White

My fiance pulled over on route 33, on public-esque land, for me to take a funny photo. We were just about to leave when state trooper C.M. Bea pulled up behind our vehicle. I was the passenger, but the driver and I remained there because the officer was walking towards my passenger window. We obliged, although we were not stopped. I asked him what was up. He asked for our I.D.'S. I told him I was there to take a funny photo of what I saw and that was it. He suggested that we had desecrated a dead animal. I told him it had been there for hours. He said he had been patrolling that road for hours and had not seen the deer in that state, with a balloon and flowers. I was fully prepared to give him my name and whatever other information he wanted, but he could not have my I.D. I simply refused to be disrespected without cause and have my rights violated because he was "having a rough day", or whatever reason. I would never disrespect a kind person or officer of the law. He wouldn't let us leave until we both handed them over. I had done nothing illegal or suspicious. Finally, as I was forced and my rights were violated, I handed over my I.D. and he wrote our information down and then handed them back, said bye, and high tailed it to his car. I even offered him proof of texts showing that I had seen the deer hours ago before he illegally forced me to become part of his investigation. I filed a complaint with the state troopers and I was told that he was watching the road for whoever was doing that for several hours. Busted in lie number 1. He said I was not under investigation but it was suspicious, and then forced me to show paperwork for no legal purpose. He told me that someone had committed a crime, when in fact no desecration had occurred, no illegal act, no purpose for investigation. I am waiting for the trooper supervisor to get back to me as I have filed a complaint. I always cooperate with officers, but this guy was being disrespectful from the moment he opened his mouth.

Jun 6, 2018, 6:47pm Permalink
Roberta White

I took a funny photo, I complied with the law, I was under no obligation to identify myself with documentation, and now I am likely under investigation for deer ballooning or some legal hilarious thing someone did. I have to deal with THAT anxiety now, and I broke my cigarette free streak because of an overload of stress. Was it worth it to harass my 30 year old butt? Catch your criminal? Hope so.

Jun 6, 2018, 6:50pm Permalink
Kyle Slocum

1) FFS. Welcome to the internet. This gag is ancient.

2) Roberta, you have the absolute right to remain silent. I was told that by a lawyer named Chuck a long time ago. That includes a right to not produce identification. However, if you are operating a motor vehicle you ARE required to do so or be arrested for unlicensed operation. If you are a suspect or identified witness in a crime that triggers a requirement to identify as well, for obvious reasons.

The corollary to that right to remain silent is that you may be inconvenienced by being dragged in front of a judge to identify yourself because the officer feels he is justified in making that inquiry. That is where the issue of his justification will be adjudicated. And likely appealed and adjudicated once again.

But, realistically, you do want the cop to identify the people present at the scene of an incident, right? I mean, if you aren't actually involved that makes sense, right?

This is an issue not that is not discussed enough. You have rights only if you exercise them. And only if you KNOW them. And only if you can articulate them in the language of the law. AND only if you are willing to be inconvenienced to exercise them. Our schools are failing us, to be honest about it.

Rights are precious. They are granted by our creator, and even if you refuse to acknowledge a creator, let's agree that they are inalienable because human dignity requires them.

The claim that government grants rights is obscene: What they "give" they can "take". Is that a deal you want to accept? Really? NAZI Germany ring a bell? The Soviet Union ring a bell? Pol Pot ring a bell?

What saddens me is that so many entitled asses want to claim their rights without understanding that EVERYONE else has those very same rights, too. That means they would have to act like grown human beings, even when that hurts.

Jun 6, 2018, 8:29pm Permalink
Roberta White

I was not operating a vehicle, nor was I a suspect in any crime, did you not read what I said? Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union would and did police its citizens in a way that they had no rights at all, which is why I refused to be identified for a non-existent non-crime?!?!?! I have the right entirely, and after being accused of "desecrating" an animal with a balloon, I didn't trust the officer to have any sense whatsoever. It wasn't going to end well either way when he came in swinging over a "balooning" that he very well knew was not something I did. He was just being a jerk and I don't comply with that.

Jun 6, 2018, 10:05pm Permalink
Roberta White

I think it's fantastic. What is the point of life and death without humor? I hope that someone is making a point about the recent complaints about deer being cleaned up, there are dozens of them around here. Recently, those few girls had to get together in our town to clean up the roadways because they were disgusting. The city does nothing about it. Is there no budget? Is no one in charge? I do care a lot about animals. Just today, I made my neighbor take a bird that his dog attacked to a local DEC animal care volunteer. It had a broken wing. There is time for responsibility and time for a good laugh. You save a bird and you get your head chewed off by some cop who thinks he's "God" and needs some 30 y/o with a sense of humor to bully. Hopefully not in the same day, but I wasn't so lucky. Do you feel more comfortable that cops are protecting you from people who actually have a sense of humor or that they violate those people's rights for no reason?

Jun 6, 2018, 10:52pm Permalink
Mary Finnegan

Roberta, I love you. I have some stories for you...you sound just like me and I am Matriarch of the Eire. Some of us are awaking to a higher consciousness and spirituality where universal connection to each other takes us to the understanding that we are ONE. We don't even experience the evil of power, governments, corporations nations and laws. F$$$ the rules.
Anyway, like you too, nobody thinks I am funny. But the Leroy cops have been called on me so many times, they are my good buds now and even bring me pizza and dog food. The young ones, who are starting to feel the enlightenment. Was this an old guy?

Jun 6, 2018, 11:20pm Permalink
Roberta White

He was grey-ing. If I had to guess.... mid to late 40's or possibly early 50's? He looked really good for his grey, so possibly younger.... Definitely "trained by an establishment", like a dog...

Jun 7, 2018, 12:34am Permalink
Roberta White

I would have let him haul me to jail, good luck, but there was another person's health and safety dependant upon my actions. Otherwise, I wouldn't have caved. There will be much stink about it and many complaints have been filed, all the way up to the NYS Attorney General. I have to waste their offices time, unfortunately. Maybe having treated me like the decent human being that I am... he would have saved himself a lot of trouble. We face repercussions for how we treat the police and they will have to claim responsibility for their crimes.

Jun 7, 2018, 12:32am Permalink
Ed Hartgrove

Good for you, Roberta. And, while I'm at it, shame on Kyle Slocum (for part of what he wrote).

Kyle, of all people, should know that police need REASONABLE, ARTICULABLE SUSPICION (RAS) that someone is committing, has committed, or, is about to commit, a crime, to be "forced, under intimidation/threat of arrest" for not ID'ing themselves.

If what Roberta said was true (and, I have no reason to believe differently), neither she nor her fiancé had committed a crime, so, the state trooper had no RAS. Period ● In my opinion, the trooper had a badge, a gun, an inflated ego of his "authority", and, a bully's attitude. In my opinion, he, most likely, is the "type" that believes that most people will ask "How high?" when he says, "Jump!"

I've been following a "movement" (for lack of a better name) of basic civil rights activists since 2011. I've watched multiple hundreds (probably well into the thousands, by now) of videos of people harassed/intimidated/ detained/handcuffed, and/or arrested, merely for taking pictures in public.

Just imagine yourself standing on the PUBLIC sidewalk in Le Roy, taking pictures of the police station, or of the Public Works Department, and ending up in handcuffs. Try walking alongside West Saile Drive, on the public "easement" (there are no sidewalks there) and take pictures of the NYS Trooper's Barracks. See if some trooper doesn't come out and tell you that you can't do that. Think it can't/doesn't happen? Think again. And, God forbid, you should want a video of your "alma mater". FROM A PUBLIC STREET. See if you aren't, at the very least, told to "Go away", and, more than likely, asked for ID (and, probably threatened with "obstruction" if you don't produce it). For doing nothing illegal.

Here's one for you. In Texas, by Texas law, you have to be ARRESTED for a crime BEFORE you are required to ID yourself (Texas Penal Code 38.02).
In "laymans terms", in Texas, you can't (legally) be arrested for merely not providing your ID. But, for any non-believers, I can provide a YouTube link showing a young man who WAS (illegally) arrested for just not providing his ID. Then, while he was in jail, the jail personnel ILLEGALLY removed his vehicle ignition "fob" from the evidence locker, drove around the city "clicking" the key fob, until they eventually located his vehicle (NOTE: When he was initially arrested, his friend videotaped the arrest. Not knowing when/if the man arrested would be released, the "friend" eventually returned to the parking lot where the vehicle was. When the jail personnel showed up, "clicking" the key fob, the "friend" videotaped that, too. AND, the vehicle had front and rear, motion-activated cameras - which also videoed the whole incident).
Sound kind of shady? Well, it gets MUCH worse. The jail personnel not only ILLEGALLY removed the key fob from the evidence locker, but, once they located the vehicle, they (again, ILLEGALLY) broke into it, removed the owner's wallet from underneath the driver's seat, and returned to the jail - where they gleefully gloated to the man in the jail cell, "This is what happens when you don't give us your ID!".

So, you'd think, it couldn't get any worse, right? WRONG! When the man who was arrested, Phillip Turner (who had broken NO law) tried to have the jail personnel arrested for "breaking and entering", the judge (I can't bring myself to call him a "justice") said that, because the officer who broke into Mr. Turner's car, and took his wallet from it, had kept one foot on the parking lot, it didn't constitute "breaking and entering".
There's corrupt justice, at its finest.

Any-hoo, thank you, Roberta. I certainly hope you file a formal written complaint on that trooper. It sounds like he's earned one.

Jun 7, 2018, 3:16am Permalink
Ed Hartgrove

To Kyle Slocum: I want to publicly apologize to Kyle. I totally misunderstood the 2nd paragraph of your (#5) comment, Kyle, and that is MY mistake. Your comment was spot-on!

As for the "thumbs-down's" that my (#14) comment has gotten (so far), I certainly hope they were given because of my poor reading comprehension concerning Kyle's 2nd paragraph. For that, those were well-deserved negative "votes".

As it's not a good practice to assume, I don't know, for sure, why those negative "votes" were given. As I (and, many others) have pointed out, it seems that, all too often, people like/dislike some comments, but, never take the time to explain why. I suppose there could be a myriad of reasons.
(1) It's just easier to hit one or the other icon and be done.
(2) People are afraid that commenting will bring "attention" to themselves.
(3) Lack of time.
There's probably other reasons, too.
If I DO "rate" a comment negatively, I usually will explain why. That's because I think the original commenter should know the reason for it. But, that's just my personal thought on that.

Jun 7, 2018, 1:31pm Permalink
Mary Finnegan

OK you force me to share one story that illustrates my point that all power is evil and must be redistributed so we are universally equal.

At this very moment I am watching a handcuffed man beaten by the cops. I have been harrassed by the law, arrested a few times for Obstruction of Government Justice, which translates to "Stop beatig that handcuffed person!"

Many women, including myself have been raped by police. Not one of them was prosecuted.. In my case, the Chief of Police and Mayor were both in jail, but no civil rights agency would touch it.
Crystal Drake was a beautiful, sexy woman with the mind of a small child. She had Huntington's disease, had watched her father die of it. Handcuffed behind her back, I watched the Holley cop, who had kicked out her friend, and thought he was alone with Crystal, until I demanded to be let in. I witnessed it. She stood, he knocked her face down, kicked her in the ribs and tazed her. And guess who they arrested? The cop was investigated.

You know what power does. Corrupts. Power is evil.

Jun 7, 2018, 7:44pm Permalink
Mary Finnegan

NEEDED: Deer hide tanners/butchers/ meat processers/dead deer reporters/transporters and any who bless dead deer. Save their antlers, claim you hunted and killed this mighty creature with a bow and arrow, or simply decorate them if they are departed.
For Sale: Donation
Decorate a dead deer kit just in time for young bucks to peak. Includes four Get Well helium balloons, two stakes in the form of a cross, a floral arrangement of assorted lilies, and glitter spray paint in the color of your choice. Fireworks display included 90% off with DD coupon, not sold on state lines, legally.

Jun 11, 2018, 12:06pm Permalink
Ed Hartgrove

Mary.
Who decorated a dead deer?
I'm assuming you must know, because you wrote, "Keep in mind that she did decorate the dead deer". Or, did you just see some random female do it, but, don't know her name?

Just wondering.

Jun 12, 2018, 1:18am Permalink
Ed Hartgrove

Roberta White: ● I recently re-watched the video at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0L9kRUZx9VU , and, immediately thought of your New York State Trooper experience.

While I could almost (almost, but, not quite) overlook such treatment from a "one-horse village" police officer, to see a member of the state's preeminent law enforcement agency act with such disregard for BASIC laws is disgusting. As if that isn't bad enough, to have a cadre of Sheriff's deputies be complicit in the illegality is beyond comprehension.

I do hope you followed through with a formal complaint concerning your "encounter". Even then, I highly doubt anything would come from it. Sad! :(

Jun 23, 2018, 9:05pm Permalink

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