Vermont has agreed to pay $175,000 to settle a lawsuit on behalf of a man who was charged with a crime for giving a state trooper the middle finger in 2018, the state chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union said Wednesday.
The lawsuit was filed in 2021 by the ACLU of Vermont on behalf of Gregory Bombard, of St. Albans. It says Bombard’s First Amendment rights were violated after an unnecessary traffic stop and retaliatory arrest in 2018.
Trooper Jay Riggen stopped Bombard’s vehicle in St. Albans on Feb. 9, 2018, because he believed Bombard had shown him the middle finger, according to the lawsuit. Bombard denied that but says he did curse and display the middle finger once the initial stop was concluded.
He was a white evangelical (but never preachy) Republican from Indiana who was born in 1931. So not even a boomer, someone who had kids who were boomers. He died loving cops. He didn’t even hold it against that guy because he assumed he’d broken the law and was glad the nice cop let him off with a warning.
He was an old man and had some very archaic ideas about the world. When he was home, he watched old Westerns, sports, or Fox News. I assume he voted for Trump in 2016. But he was also super nice to everyone no matter who they were. He was just not a judgmental sort of guy on an individual level. He was the sort of person who would would have a friendly conversation to find out when the restaurant waiter got off their shift and what they were planning to do that day and said he hoped they had a good time doing it.
So he probably (I never asked) believed in the “gay agenda,” but would also be happy to have a friendly chat with some people hanging outside a gay bar if he happened to walked by and saw that people were standing there. Even if he knew it was a gay bar.
[It’s his birthday today, so he’s been on my mind.]
That’s really nice.
We’ve also lost a lot of this, which is a shame.
I’d love to be part of bringing back being able to disagree with people on issues but still treat each other well. Like people.
I do try to remember to try. We all should.
That’s the biggest thing this country is missing right now. It’s OK to disagree with other people, but for some reason, people seem to think they are enemies because they disagree. We are all individuals, with our own views on everything. There isn’t a single person in the world that I agree with 100% on everything. To assume that anyone I disagree with is somehow evil, or my enemy, is insane.
Definitely one major reason has been that there’s been an incredibly effective propaganda machine constantly telling people that’s the case. It started taking off in the 90s.
Part of the problem, and I don’t remember who summed it up this way but it’s as accurate a description as I’ve ever seen, is that the conservative mindset is exactly this: “I’m allowed to tell you what to do, but you are not allowed to tell me what to do.”
You mean the conservatives trying to make me and others illegal and shined from society? I should just agree to disagree?
Happy Birthday, Flying Squid Sr (in-law). 🎂
In-law. Not my dad. Although they were both born in 1931 coincidentally. Both no longer with us unfortunately.