Aug. 31, 2008
Hey friends, we need your help! Our Earth Activist Training Sustainable
Skills Bus has been seized without cause by the police. Below is an account
from the Wilsons, who have been travelling in the bus for the last seven months
doing trainings in permaculture and sustainability, including ways you can help.
My own accounts from the action can be found on www.starhawk.org and I’ll
be posting daily as long as I can—or sign on to my own list by emailing
starhawk-subscribe@lists.riseup.net. If you’re on that list, my
own account follows. Please support these folks who have been doing such
good work for us all. Thanks! -- Starhawk
POLICE SEIZE PERMIBUS
Please Post Far and Wide including any Media Contacts You May Have
At approximately 6:25 pm on August 30, 2008 Minneapolis Police, Minnesota State
Troopers, Ramsey County Sheriffs, Saint Paul Police, and University of Minnesota
Police pulled over the Earth Activist Training Permaculture Demonstration Bus
(Permibus) by exit 237 on Interstate 94. Initially the police told the people
on the bus to exit. When the people on the bus asked if they were being detained
they were told that they were but police wereunable to provide justification.
When asked why they pulled the bus over they refused to answer. After repeated
requests to explain why the bus had been stopped Officer Honican of the Minneapolis
Police explained that this was just a routine traffic stop though he did not
explain the reason for the traffic stop. The police then told Stan Wilson, the
driver and registered owner of the Permibus, that they were going to impound
the bus in case they wanted to execute a search warrant later. After more than
an hour of being questioned by Stan and Delyla Wilson as to the legalities of
their detainment and the impoundment of the Permibus, the police then informed
Stan that the bus, which is legally registered as a passenger vehicle in the
state of Montana, was being impounded for a commercial vehicle inspection. Shortly
afterward Sergeant Paul Davis, a commercial vehicle inspector arrived on scene.
Despite the polices insistence that the reason for impoundment was for a commercial
vehicle inspection the Permibus crew were not allowed to remove anything from
the bus including computers, toiletries, and 17-year-old Megan Wilson's shoes.
The police finally allowed the animals to be removed from the Permibus before
it was towed, leaving the Permibus family standing beside their chickens and
dogs, homeless on the highway.
The Permibus was relocating from the Bedlam Theatre in Minneapolis, where they
had spent the day teaching Urban Permaculture, to a friend's house in Saint
Paul for a well deserved break. The Permibus has been in the Minneapolis area
since August 2nd when the crew appeared at the Midtown Farmers Market for a
morning of Permaculture education including Permaculture 101, chicken care,
seed ball making for kids, and the Permi-puppet show. During the past month
the Permibus has parked at several local businesses and, as a neighborly gesture
of respect for local police, Mr. Wilson contacted the appropriate precincts
just to let them know the Permibus was in the area and had permission from the
business owners to be parked on their lot. Through this, as well as other casual
discussions with Minneapolis and Saint Paul police officers, the Permibus crew
found the local police to be interested and respectful. However on August 30th
all that changed when, for no apparent valid reason the police pulled over and
seized the Permibus. After the incident Stan Wilson said, "If the combined
law enforcement of Minneapolis, Saint Paul, Ramsey County, and the State of
Minnesota can pull over and impound a vehicle and home used to teach organic
gardening and sustainability, one has to wonder what it is our government really
fears. After all, we seek to teach people that the real meaning of homeland
security is local food, fuel and energy production. For that we have had our
lives stolen by government men with guns."
As of now, after repeated requests to be present at any vehicle inspection,
with an list of what they are inspecting for, as well as requests to be served
any warrants for searches of the vehicles prior to a search and to be present
during the search the Permi-family has been unable to ascertain the current
status of the Permibus. On site Mr. Wilson was told that Officer Palmerranky
was the inspector in charge of the case and would determine if the Permi-family's
rights protecting them from unreasonable search and seizure would be respected.
Neither Officer Palmerranky nor his supervisor has yet to return Mr. Wilson's
calls. The loss of her home and possessions is particularly difficult on seventeen-year-old
Megan Wilson. Megan, a shining example of what this country asks of today's
youth, has dedicated herself to making positive changes in the world. She was
the youth keynote speaker at the Local to Global conference in Phoenix AZ, has
taught conflict resolution at youth shelters and is the outreach coordinator
for the Skills for a New Millennium Tour, the family traveling educational project.
Megan believes that, "While I understand that the world we live in is not
as it should be I strive to live and teach in a way that shows the world how
life could be. What I don't understand is why I can't get dressed for an evening
out with friends in my own home without armed men stealing my life out from
under me." The Permi-family, along with their dogs and Permaculture super-hero
chickens are currently being housed by folks in the Twin Cities.
The Skills for a New Millennium Tour is a family education project
that travels around the United States teaching homesteading, citizenship, and
life skills at farmers markets, community gardens, churches, intentional communities,
schools, and in people's living rooms. The Skills Tour is a donation
supported project dedicated to providing tools for sustainable living, including
Permaculture, to anyone who is interested, regardless of income. "We believe
that any solution that is not accessible to the poor and urban areas is not
a real solution for the future," states Delyla Wilson. Permaculture is
a design system with ethics and principles that can be applied to food production,
home design, and community building in order to increase sustainability in food
production, energy production, and social systems. The Permibus is a rolling
demonstration of small scale sustainable living with three people, three dogs,
three chickens, and a box of worms as permanent residence. The chickens and
worms are part of a closed-loop food productions composting system that supports
the Permibus's traveling garden. For more information on the seizure of
the Permibus, the Skills for the New Millennium Tour, or Permaculture,
the Wilson's can be reached at 406-721-8427 or through email at skillstour@gmail.com.
You can also see pictures and read stories about the last six months of their
educational adventures at permibus.livejournal.com.
To our supporters:
First we ask that as many people as possible contact precinct one in Minneapolis,
MN at 612-673-5701 and Mayor Rybak at
Phone: (612) 673-2100 or
call 311 or call (612) 673-3000 outside Minneapolis.
Also call the Ramsey County Sheriff
Sheriff - Bob Fletcher 651-266-9300
and demand the immediate release of the Permibus.
We are also in desperate
need of donations. Though we do not yet know the full cost of getting the permibus
returned we know that it will include tow fee, impound fees, and legal fees.
To donate contact us directly for a local address or...
Donate On-line:
Go to: www.earthactivisttraining.org/donate.html
Click on: Donate Now!
Under "Gift Information" write: Permibus
Under "Please send acknowledgment of this gift to" write: skillstour@gmail.com
Donate by Mail:
Make check payable to: A.C.T.
On the "For" line write: Permibus
Send check to: A.C.T. 1405 Hillmount St. Austin, TX 78704
Copyright (2008)
by Starhawk. All rights reserved.
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