Living outside, being outside is now being put forth by the Megatropolis (the man-made world) and its agencies of enforcement as a criminal offense. Anybody doing so is subject to being cited with mandatory appearance in criminal court before a judge and heavily fined with possible jail time.
The Megatropolis is hiding this fact, keeping it under the table for now, but the laws are in place, and ready to be used on anybody exercising their God given and constitutional right to do so.
The Megatropolis is working to shape public opinion to accept the idea that the only legitimate way to be outside is in a recreational type venue and nothing else. Unless you are willing to conform to the blue print put forward by the Megatropolis of automobile use and living within the constraints of four walls, you will be declared a public nuisance, as I was classified in San Luis Obispo by the city manager, city council, police chief and San Luis Obispo Tribune.
As the Mules wander and roam outside in the Natural World, the inevitable consequences of doing so is to shed light and focus attention on exactly what is happening to our freedom and our connection to nature. The Mules show people on Facebook and the 3mules.com website in a real way what is being done and how it works, so that you become aware and can contemplate the consequences for yourself and your children.
For the 3 Mules, every day is Earth Day.
Lady and Little Girl – where we stopped to restWho Dee Doo, Lady and Little Girl
A few days ago, a California Highway Patrol (CHP) officer stopped across the highway (Hwy 150) from the Mules and told us that CHP was getting a number of calls about us being in the middle of the road. We said when there is no other place to go but on the road, we are going to use the road. He said you can’t be on the road. We said Highway 150 is a public thoroughfare that all venues have the right to use it be they bicycles, pedestrians, equestrians or somebody in a wheelchair. He said if he gets any more calls about the Mules being on the road and he has to come back, there will be issues. We said that we have the same right to the public thoroughfare as any high speed motorist.
It seems the high-speed motorist and the CHP have made an unholy alliance. First the CHP collects a number of calls from the high-speed motorist claiming there is somebody with horses on the road, then comes out using those calls as a justification to remove the Mules from the public thoroughfare.
2015 California Department of Motor Vehicle handbook page 62 andCalifornia Vehicle Code 21759 Caution in Passing Animalsclearly states “riders of horses or other animals are entitled to share the road with motor vehicles. It is a traffic offense to scare horses or stampede livestock. Slow down or stop, if necessary, or when requested to do so by the riders or herders.” The vehicle handbook does not say to call and scream to the CHP that there are horses in the road, come and get rid of them, they slowed me up.
Lady and Little Girl at one of many roadside memorials that we encounter while walking
The high speed motorist is clearly breaking the law. The crosses (memorials) we see along the highways are not there because of The Mules. The crosses are there because of speed by the high-speed motorist. For the CHP and its ally, the high-speed motorist, to try and shift the responsibility of its deadly excessive speed over to the Mules moving at three miles per hour doesn’t work. It can’t pass the test of basic common sense.
These pictures attest to the fact that there is often no choice but to be on the road, which in this kind of circumstance, the high-speed motorist must slow down, obey the California Vehicle Code 21759, share the road, and not call the CHP to demand removal of the Mules from the road.
You see the “Share the Road” bicycle sign occasionally. A feeble acknowledgement by the state of California’s Department of Transportation and California Highway Patrol, that yes, the Public Thoroughfare is not for the exclusive use of the High Speed Motorist (HSM). It must be shared by all venues. We saw the sign once on Hwy 150, and not at all on Hwy 33.
The sign on the left should look more like the sign that I drew, placed at the entrance to any and all dangerous blind curves and constricted passage ways! Keeping the HSM aware that it must reduce his/her speed and be ready to slow down or stop in these most dangerous areas. “You must share road with Bicycles, Pedestrians, Equestrians, Raccoons, Skunks, Deer and all others. Be read to stop or slow down.”
The HSM screaming to the CHP will not save anybody’s life. A concerted effort by the Department of Transportation to properly sign many of these and most dangerous roads traveled by the HSM will save many lives.
Getting rid of the Mules will not stop the carnage of the HSM. The crosses on the sides of the roads were there before the Mules and will continue to appear until the HSM is reigned in and made to obey the law.
Synopsis: On March 16, 2015, after buying a soda at Big Lots, Mule was eating lunch with the mules in a quiet, shady area of the Big Lots parking lot when five Ventura Police cars surrounded them. Ventura Police issued a $132 administrative citation for “Control of Domesticated Animals – Running at Large”. The Mules were not running at large. The Mules followed procedures to contest the citation. This contest was rejected by the Ventura Police Administrative Review Officer, after which the Mules contacted attorney Steven X. Schwenk who requested an Administrative Hearing. On June 15, 2015, Ventura Police Department sent a follow-up letter stating that the “Animals at Large” citation will be vacated, stating “This Department’s investigation has determined that there is insufficient evidence you were responsible for violation of the SBMC section as cited.”
March 16, 2015
The Mules were peacefully taking a break in a shady spot yesterday when five Ventura Police cars surrounded us. Ventura Police issued a $132 administrative citation for walking in their city.
“San Buenaventura Municipal Code Chapter 8.050, Article 6 Control of Domesticated Animals Other than Household Pets, Section 8.050.660. – Running at large:
It shall be unlawful for any person owning or having control of any animals, rabbits, poultry or domestic fowl, other than household pets, to permit the same to run or go or be at large upon the premises of any other person, without permission so to do, or on the street or public places within the city.”
March 18, 2015 The Mules researched how to contest this citation. This is what is written on the Ventura website. The information on the website conflicts with what is written on the citation. However, we will meet the earlier deadline and hand deliver our paperwork to contest the citation.
March 19, 2015 Ventura County Star published an article today about Monday’s incident in Ventura. Article states that “Police said the managers of Wendy’s and Big Lots called to complain”. Mule went into Big Lots to buy a soda. While inside Big Lots as a customer, Mule was never told that he was not allowed to shop in the store. Big Lots accepted money for the soda.
Big Lots shopping receipt
After buying the soda, Mule returned to the parking lot to eat his lunch and was never approached by Big Lots or Wendy’s managers they could not be there. The mules were hitched in Big Lots back parking lot in an empty, quiet section to keep the mules safe from cars and not near Wendy’s. Google satellite image of where mules were at in parking lot as well as photos that Mule took in parking lot of location.) No sign in the parking lot posted that horses and mules are not permitted.
Article also states that “mules were leaving traces of their visit in the parking lot.” The police witnessed Mule clean up the droppings immediately after it happened.
Article quotes Brian Brennan, former Ventura City Council member, “In the city of Ventura, you can still tie up horses on Main Street – an old law never taken off the books.”
Mules were given an administrative citation for San Buenaventura Municipal Code Chapter 8.050, Article 6 Control of Domesticated Animals Other than Household Pets, Section 8.050.660. – Running at large: It shall be unlawful for any person owning or having control of any animals, rabbits, poultry or domestic fowl, other than household pets, to permit the same to run or go or be at large upon the premises of any other person, without permission so to do, or on the street or public places within the city.”
March 25, 2015
We the Mules left Montecito this morning on our way to Ventura, California to deliver our completed contest form and additional letter of evidence to Ventura Police Department, and Ventura City Mayor contesting the citation that was written against us the Mules for animals running at Large (SBMC) 8.050.660. We will probably arrive there Thursday. Below is what we sent.
Note: Not publicly sharing pages 5-7 to keep witness accounts private.
Ventura City Hall
March 27, 2015 The Mules arrived at Ventura City Hall in the afternoon and presented the DOE, MCL and the Request Review Form (contesting the citation (SBMC 8.050.660 Running at Large written against us by the law enforcement arm of the Ventura Megatropolis) to the city manager Mark D. Walkins, who happened to be passing through and said he would see to it the Mayor, police chief and the Administrative Review Officer, each get a copy delivered to them that we provided in three envelopes. The Mules said thank you then left, got back onto the public thoroughfare (all city, county and state roads) and proceeded to travel north on our ages old migratory journey north.
The public thoroughfare in this country belongs to the Public. It is our freedom – the right to wake up in the morning and choose where you go, how you go, when you go – must be held sacrasank. It is the basis on which so many have given life and limb to protect and preserve. For any Megatropolis and its official, Ventura and others who make and pass laws, codes, ordinances that restrict any by denying the use of the public thoroughfare to any one of the citizenry are engaged in a blatant act of illegality.
While everybody is distracted and worried about issues that the officials tell the media to put in front of the public, the Megatropolis is sneaking through the backdoor using ordinances and codes to destroy the public access to the public thoroughfare. Watch the Mules. The Public Thoroughfare is our life blood for to lose it is our death we know this, so we will resist this all day, every day, one step at a time.
May 12, 2015
Ventura Police Department sent letter that our request to contest the citation was rejected.
Upon receiving this rejection letter, we contacted attorney Steven X. Schwenk located in Mill Valley, CA to represent The Mules.
Mr. Schwenk agreed and sent a letter as well as spoke with Ventura City Clerk requesting an Administrative Hearing to discuss the rejected initial Administrative Review
June 15, 2015 Ventura Police Department sent a follow-up letter stating that the “Animals at Large” citation will be vacated, stating “This Department’s investigation has determined that there is insufficient evidence you were responsible for violation of the SBMC section as cited.” Thus, no in person Administrative Hearing was required.
Thank you Attorney Steven X. Schwenk for stepping up to represent The Mules pro bono with willingness to travel from Mill Valley to Ventura to defend us in court for this citation that we did not believe was valid in the first place.
As the 3 Mules and the monk live outside all day every day, wild mustard greens is an integral part of our food source.
When we were walking the other day through the Megatropolis (the man-made world), we saw this bit of wild mustard green growing through the crack between the sidewalk and the wall.
We took a picture of this image because it symbolizes our life.
The wall is the Megatropolis and the ever increasing space it is taking for its use only – designing and building that space for nothing else but its high speed machines. The mustard greens broke through a crack in the wall and established a foothold in creating a new home for themselves like they could never before have imagined. The crack in the wall is a space to be alive and exist.
The 3 Mules are creating their own space in a space that is being claimed by the Megatropolis, in which regulators create laws and codes to de-legitimize us mules living outside.
For the past thirty years, the 3 Mules have been on a true journey challenging us to give all our faith, hope and energy to a cause that will bring our survival to a level we can only now imagine.
Little Girl in front of Rancho Cucamonga City Hall
When we went to Rancho Cucamonga to deliver the Declaration of Emergency (DOE) to City Hall, we went to the mayor’s reception desk and gave the DOE to the receptionist. She said she would see that the mayor would get the document (DOE). Upon returning to my mules, a police officer and a lady approached us (very friendly) with the DOE in their hands, which I was assured would be delivered to the mayor. They handed us this pamphlet offering us many varied kinds of assistance.
From the above said, it said to us that the City of Rancho Cucamonga is not willing to recognize the legitimate right of a horseman/horsewoman traveling through Rancho Cucamonga to stop and rest for a night. Instead, we are seen and treated and put into the category of homelessness.
The Mules being a part of and belonging to this ages old and sacred relationship between man and horse traveling peacefully across this beautiful earth will never accept or legitimize this kind of treatment.
On March 5, 2015, city of Norco’s Mayor Herb Higgins e-mailed 3 Mules, stating: “We read your letter last night at the Norco City Council. We as an animal loving community take pride in the fact you stayed with us on your journey. It is with hope you do accomplish your mission. We in Norco salute you on your journey and wish you much success. Herb Higgins, Mayor of Norco”
This morning the San Bernardino county sheriff woke us up that we were trespassing. We were resting along the canal trail (here) that many people jog on it all the time. It is getting very hard for us to go to sleep. We were informed that if we were caught sleeping again anywhere in San Bernardino county on private or city land, we would be subject to trespassing charges. Running off to the remote mountains is not an option for us either because we are also woken up in the mountains and told we can’t sleep for the night.
The mules are out here sleeping in a big vacant lot onE. Foothill and Laurel in Fontana. The police came by at 12:15AM and informed us that if we didn’t leave by the time they came back, we would be arrested for trespassing. I’ve decided not to leave as it is past midnight and dark with three mules to pack up. Police didn’t come back. We left shortly after sunrise.
For over a year, we’ve only been two mules (Lady and Little Girl) and the monk. Originally, Pepper, the third mule, traveled with us for 14 years, and did a very good job. Her tendon in one of her legs broke down and she was not able to do the job anymore. She had to be retired and currently lives as a pet on a property in Malibu with other horses and donkeys that she has for company. When Pepper retired, we were given another mule named Fred, who was injured and had to be put down. Thus for over a year, there has only been the three of us.
Who-dee-doo
This past weekend, we got a third mule in a magical, mystical sort of way after we were invited to spend a few days at the horse arena in Norco. While grazing up in the hills above the arena, it started to rain. Then all of a sudden, some ladies appeared coming up from down below asking a few questions and we gave them a few answers. Then they said, “Do you want a mule?” We said sure, even though we really didn’t. Moving and living in the Megatropolis with two mules is enough. Denise had originally bought the mule to be a riding mule, but found that he was a follower and didn’t like to lead. As well, the mule doesn’t have a left eye and only sees on his right side.
We considered the complexity in adding a third mule to the pack (need to find a place to stay, food, water, more horseshoes, and the new inter mule dynamics to name a few things). As well, we considered the dangers of the Megatropolis of having a mule blind on one side by not being able to see cars, light poles, and other obstacles. At 11 years old, the mule is strong, healthy and full grown. We thought that we’d give him a try and see what happens. We renamed the mule Who-dee-doo (original name was 9-to-5).
We take Who-dee-doo back to the corrals and start having second thoughts. Why are we taking a mule that has only one eye? It is hard enough to move through the Megatropolis with mules that have both eyes! Well, we got him now, so we better find out what he can do even though the negative voice within says no way will never be able to do the job.
Little Girl with Julie
While in Norco, Julie introduced herself to us and wanted to learn more about 3 Mules. During our stay, she got gasoline for our stove. As Who-dee-doo was being prepared for our next journey, Julie asked where we were going. We responded that we had to go to Thousand Oaks to get a saddle. Julie said that she had a saddle for us and brought it back with cinches, saddle blankets, straps, and a brand new proofer. Another gentleman approached us on his horse and joined the conversation. Asked if I needed anything. More horseshoes. He brought back horseshoes with nails. Unfortunately, I didn’t get his name or picture.
Tuesday morning, we left Norco on a bright sunny day filled with lots of energy acquired from the hospitality, kindness, and generosity of so many people, which we are very thankful. We met many people and we can’t remember everybody’s name to give them proper credit. We proceeded into the belly of the Megatropolis.
The Mules deliver the Declaration of Emergency to Riverside City Hall
We walked along the river before arriving in Riverside where Who-dee-doo clipped a telephone pole and scraped a fence. Since those two occurrences, Who-dee-doo has been moving around getting around as well as you could expect from any two-eyed mule. So how is this possible? We didn’t know. The Monk was setting up and Little Girl was grazing a vacant lot taking a break when all of a sudden Pepper and Fred, the two mules that are no longer with us, appeared in our minds’ eye together.
So there’s the answer as to why Who-dee-doo is moving around and getting around so well. Pepper and Fred have come from the energy to be Who-dee-doo’s blind side. So when you see this place of one human being and three mules (3mules.com) walking through your neighborhood, Who-dee-doo the one-eyed mule has brought a whole new dimension to 3mules.com.
While eating breakfast in Oceanside, the Mules (kids) and myself (the monk) were greeted by Oceanside police officers informing us that they received a call about two horses next to the railroad tracks. We had a cordial respectful conversation. Oceanside police concluded that the kids were a safe distance from the tracks. The officers bid us farewell and went about their most necessary job of law enforcement.
After finishing breakfast, the Mules packed up, left, and went about their most necessary job of walking and moving freely in one of all four directions, the most basic identifier of human freedom. It must not be lost, given away, or compromised under any guise or scheme. The Mules know this so they do this one step at a time all day every day.
