By Major Van Harl USAF Ret
Wisconsin –-(Ammoland.com)- I was watching reports of abuse by the IRS on TV when the Colonel, returning from the library, walked into the room and handed me the new C.J. Box book Breaking Point (CJBox.net).
Mr. Box is an author from Wyoming who has written a series of books about his main character Joe Pickett, a Wyoming game warden who always finds himself investigating serious crimes far beyond the confines of unlicensed fishermen and elk poaching hunters.
While the story is fiction, it is in fact based on a true situation (Sackett vs EPA). The EPA and all it stands for are the bad guys in this new C.J. Box book. The official procedures that the EPA enforcement agents in the book use to harass and intimidate a blue collar, working class man and his family are quiet scary when you realize the tactics described in Breaking Point are the actual tactics the EPA uses in the real world of overzealous enforcement.
An EPA agent decides that you as a land owner have violated some part of a clean air, water or land point of contention with the EPA and demands you stop what you are doing with your own land. You are told you will restore your land to the way it was before you started any modifications to your land. You are also told that you will incur $75,000 a day fines until you fix everything the EPA alleges you broke on your own land.
The kicker is you have no recourse in a court of law to challenge the EPA.
“Bully” is a word that comes to mind. We all know about school yard bullies and the bullies who thrive in your workplace. You can get away from these types of bullies; you just leave. You cannot get away from bullies who have federal law enforcement badges and EPA SWAT teams that can move in and destroy your lives.
In the book, the blue collar citizen is pushed to the breaking point by the EPA, and two enforcement agents are found dead and buried on the man’s property. A man hunt conducted by EPA-SWAT (yes, they have their own SWAT) guided by game warden Joe Pickett heads into the Wyoming mountains to track down an American who would dare to allegedly protect himself under the 2nd Amendment. The book does not give you a warm positive feeling toward your federal government or its enforcement branches such as the FBI or EPA.
The book came out number five on the New York Times best sellers list. It would appear there are a frightening number of Americans who have run afoul of the EPA. Mr. Box told me he was very surprised by the volume of readers who have contacted him about their personal run-ins with the EPA and other federal regulatory agencies that have SWAT teams.
He also told me he was a little surprised by the lack of blow-back that he has not received from any regulatory agencies who failed to look stellar in his book. I had a friend from Wyoming visiting us in Milwaukee the day I got my hands on Breaking Point. He confirmed many of the negative feelings in Wyoming and other western states (in which the Feds own so much land) towards Federal and State enforcement agencies who have, on occasion, stepped beyond the rule of law to enforce agendas that appeared to be driven more by political issues than by the good of the people or the land.
I must admit the Colonel and I are Joe Pickett fans and have read all of Mr. Box’s books. I tell everyone, if you start reading the Pickett books, read them in order. But you do not need to do this with Breaking Point. It truly stands on its own, and it will grab your sense of the need for fair play in the opening chapter.
It is kind of timely that Breaking Point (Amazon: https://tiny.cc/5meyxw ) had come out just as multiple federal agencies are under extreme public media scrutiny for their alleged targeted abuse and failures to perform. As a military officer, I swore to defend the Constitution of the United States, not the elected and, worst yet appointed senior leadership figures in our many government departments and agencies.
We the People will always need good and honest government to protect and serve this Nation and its people, but the People have to be prepared to remove those in power who exploit and deliberately break our laws for their own personal gain.
It is a shame that Joe Pickett is not a real person. This country could use men of his talents and honest strengths to lead and defend. Mr. Box advised me that in the non-fiction world the US Supreme Court ruled in favor of the Sacketts getting due process from the EPA in a 9-0 decision.
Breaking Point again is scary but a fascinating and entertaining read.
Major Van Harl USAF Ret[email protected]
About Major Van Harl USAF Ret.:
Major Van E. Harl USAF Ret. , is a career Police Officer in the U.S. Air Force was born in Burlington, Iowa, USA, in 1955. He was the Deputy Chief of police at two Air Force Bases and the Commander of Law Enforcement Operations at another. Now retired, these days he enjoys camping, traveling, volunteering with the Girl Scouts and writing. [email protected]
I don’t trust the gov at all, but the EPA is a necessary evil because corporate polluters will stop at nothing to make a quick buck.
Should I just because they say so? Royalty says they are royalty just because they say so. Stupid humans believe it.
DO I trust the government? Hell NO! Look at how they fail the disabled servicemen. Look at all the benefits promised and taken away. Look at what really amounts to broken contracts.
Look at the disrespect OBAMA alone has committed.