Coming into the City of Irvine this morning, the Mules met some Irvine Police Department police officers. They stopped their vehicle, came out to meet us, and told us we were breaking a city ordinance by walking on the sidewalk.
The Mules told the officers that all streets, city, state and county roads in this country are public thoroughfares. They are not for the exclusive use of a high-speed machine called an automobile. The Mules informed the officers if the sidewalk was the safest place for us to be that’s where we would be walking not down the road, facing drivers moving at more than safe speeds, distracted by God only knows what hiding behind tinted glass. We then left and told the officers to have a nice day.
Five minutes or so later, the officers passes by, pulled out around the corner, stopped their vehicle and we observed them taking our picture. The Mules took their picture. About another 10 minutes or so went by and the City Animal Control vehicle passed us by, pulled up in front of us in a parking lot and observed us walking up the street. We stopped and took their picture.
For some reason unbeknownst to us, the city of Irvine has something to fear from a weak little man walking two mules down the public thoroughfare.
Is it really us they fear? I think not. What the City of Irvine doesn’t like is a weak little man and two mules walking freely how they choose, when they choose, down the public thoroughfare. The City of Irvine does not like Freedom being expressed in its most basic down to the bone way. But that’s unfortunate because the Mules will never stop walking freely on this Earth in the most basic and down to the bone way, a constitutional guaranteed right of ALL United States citizens.
In regards to our phone being stolen on Friday December 21, 2018 around 11pm, the Mules want to make it clear that we weren’t strong armed. The phone was taken while we were asleep. This is the third time that this has happened. I wake up at night and I turn my phone on to listen to music, news, etc. and then I fall asleep with the phone next to me and somebody will come by, see it and take it while I’m asleep.
This is a photo of the place the Mules spent the night. We had previously spent the night here before and never had any problems. There weren’t any camps or people around so my guard was down and the phone was stolen.
A lot of comments are being made about certain cities and towns that the Mules should not go through. We don’t make any real plans on which cities and towns that we are going to pass. Because of that we have the opportunity to enjoy the varied cities and towns and the various residents of those towns in which we have passed. The Mules don’t intend to stop using the energy of the Nation, the Three Mules Nation, to visit and experience all the various people and citizens of this state because of one person who saw an opportunity to get a free phone.
The Mules will be walking through the Christmas holidays enjoying the guaranteed freedom to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness as it is guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution, the supreme law of the land, as it is to all its citizens within its borders and the Mules will be having a Merry Christmas holiday season because of it.
The Mules
NOTE: In regards to the picture of where we slept that night. It is extremely dirty full of trash, but this is indicative of the state in general. It is everywhere and it can hardly be blamed on any one city. The cities that may be cleaner is because they have the tax base to hire people to clean it. #LEAVENOTRACE
The Mules spent Wednesday night on the outskirts of Temecula on the top of the pass. On Thursday morning (April 12th), we got up ate oatmeal, packed Little Girl, headed in to Temecula, crossed the river and secured Little Girl in the parking lot outside Starbucks. An animal control officer arrived, came into Starbucks and told me they received a call about Little Girl, but it was okay and then left. Shortly thereafter, I also left Starbucks and headed for WinCo Foods (5 miles away) to buy groceries.
We were across the street from WinCo at the stop light when two Temecula police officers stopped, got out of their car. The female officer started to question me…. “Where are you going? Where are you from?” I told her that I did not have to answer her questions and I wasn’t going to. Then she started messing with Little Girl by trying to touch Little Girl’s head and face. Little Girl didn’t like the officer reaching for her face and was annoyed by the officer’s actions. I asked the officer to stop. The officer didn’t want to stop and continued to irritate Little Girl. I told the officer if she didn’t stop, the Mules would arrest her and take her to jail.
Then the other officer started asking me similar questions…”Where are you going? What are you doing?” I told him that we are waiting for the signal light to change so that we can go to WinCo, and that’s what we did when the light changed.
We got to the WinCo parking lot, secured Little Girl to a tree, went into WinCo, bought groceries, came back out, unpacked Little Girl. We stayed there 45 minutes to eat our lunch and take a short break from walking. As we were packing up, another Temecula police officer drove up and started asking the same questions as the prior two Temecula officers…”Where are you going? Where are you from? What are you doing walking around Temecula?”
I responded, “I am not going to talk to you.” I said that the Mules have the right to walk around Temecula and have the same right as he does or anyone else. He said he was not so sure we could walk around Temecula with a horse. I responded I was sure that the Mules could without question. I requested him to go away and leave us alone. The officer wouldn’t leave. We told him if he didn’t leave us alone, the Mules would arrest him and take him to jail.
I continued to pack up Little Girl when two Riverside County sheriff officers showed up. Once again, they started asking me the same questions. I gave them the same answers. The previous officer went over to talk to them and then they all left. Shortly after, we left as well.
In this country, the United States of America, the Mules have the same right to walk around town peacefully going about our business whether to the supermarket to buy food, the hardware store to buy supplies, the doctor or dentist for medical care, the post office to send and receive mail, the gas station to buy gas, or a shady tree to eat our lunch and listen to the birds sing. There is no reason for police to constantly ask us where we’re going, where we are from, what we are doing.
I asked the officers why they were here. They said that they got a call. We asked who called and they responded that they didn’t know. The police are letting trolls dictate their policy and/or using the guise of “a call” to stop and question us. Anonymous people are calling and stating things that aren’t true and making unsubstantiated claims about the Mules as these trolls also do on the internet. The police are letting these trolls operate their department.
All human beings and animals on earth require four bare and basic necessities to survive and sustain life…Air, Water, Food, Rest. Restricting access to these basic necessities of life to only those who travel by automobile is illegal and unconstitutional. A person traveling by foot with his/her animal companion must also have access to food, water, and rest. A state, county or town denying a pedestrian/equestrian access to these basic necessities is illegal, unconstitutional and inhumane.
The Public Thoroughfare is not a place for the exclusive use of the high speed automobile. The Public Thoroughfare is a place for all and many varied uses. People trading goods, ideas, talking freely to each other outside in the open air, making friends, stopping to rest/sleep, using their freedom to go where they want, when they want, how they want, trading stories with fellow travelers. The Public Thoroughfare was never intended to be a place exclusively for a high speed deadly machine. Less than 100 years ago before paved roads became prevalent throughout the United States, most Americans traveled by foot, mule, and horse.
The Mules live this nomadic way of life because it is in our bones. This way of life goes back thousands of years. It’s where we want to be. Being anywhere else makes no sense to us. So we stay with the mules and way of life that we have been living for over 31 years. As you walk in this place with these mules, you spread the awareness that this beautiful earth, like no other, can only be protected by the way we live one day at a time.
Last night the Mules stopped in Diamond Bar at one of its city parks to sleep for the night. We found an out of the way bare piece of ground next to the maintenance yard to spend the night, so we did for less than a 12 hour period. Upon awakening in the morning, I fixed my breakfast and proceeded to pack up Little Girl when three Los Angeles County sheriff deputies appeared answering a call that there was a horse in the park.
I responded that we had stopped here for the night and were now on our way.
They said fine, no problem, we just got a call and we were checking things out. They looked at our website and were very interested. We talked while I was packing up. They then wished us a safe journey and left. We then left ourselves.
Area of Occupancy
Pictured are examples showing the amount of space the Mules use for less than a twelve hour period during the night. Sleep and rest is essential for all living beings health and wellbeing.
We use the Fresno No Camping Ordinance as an example for the cities passing No Sleeping/No Camping ordinances. They are all using the same argument to justify their passage.
Section 10-1700: Purpose “Streets and public areas should be readily accessible to residents and public at large.” The Mules are a part of that public.
“Use of these areas for camping or storage of personal property interferes with the rights of others to use the areas for which they were intended.” The Mules don’t store anything. When people store their personal property, they lock it up, hide it with the expectation that it will still be there on their return be it one day, one week, one year.
The Mules unload their belongings off their mule, fix dinner, then go to sleep for less than a twelve hour period during the night, never leaving their belongings. This is not storing personal property. The Mules leave in the morning, leaving the space they occupied cleaner than it was when they arrived.
Do the Mules practice proper sanitary measures? Absolutely. We throw a nylon tarp over us so we can’t be seen. The result is the same as a park user going into a urinal and covered by four walls. The Mules urinate in a plastic bottle, crap in a bag, then carry our waste until a proper place for disposal is found.
Public Safety The Mules have been migrating north and south in this state for over five and a half years. We have never hurt a soul. The automobile however has killed and maimed thousands for that same period of time. For any municipality to infer the Mules are a public safety hazard is to turn basic common sense on its ear.
Per the National Safety Council, the number of motor-vehicle deaths in 2016 totaled 40,200, up 6% from 2015 and the first time the annual fatality total has exceeded 40,000 since 2007. Medially consulted motor-vehicle injuries in 2016 are estimated to be about 4.6 million, an increase of 7% from the 2016 rate. The estimated cost of motor-vehicle deaths, injuries and property damage in 2016 was $432.5 billion, an increase of 12% from 2015. The costs include wage and productivity losses, medical expenses, administrative expenses, employer costs and property damage.
Last night on January 6, 2018, we slept in Castaic. Upon awakening this morning, we packed up, got on the Old Road and headed south. The Old Road is a frontage road that parallels Interstate 5.
After walking for about an hour down the sidewalk, we were approached by a California Highway Patrol Officer (CHP) informing us that he had been getting calls that the Mules were walking in the middle of the road. No, we never walk in the middle of the road. We either walk on the sidewalk when it’s available, on the shoulder when it’s available, or in the lane of traffic when neither of the two are available. We have an absolute right to do so.
Anybody riding a bicycle, riding a horse, pulling a horse-drawn wagon, riding in a wheelchair, or walking has the right to use the public thoroughfare. These are public roads. The roads are not exclusive for the high speed machine called an automobile. The freeways are. Nobody has the right to be on the freeway except the high speed machine. The other roads – city, county, state – are all open to all other venues, be it a bicycle, an equestrian, a squirrel or a frog.
California Vehicle Code requires high speed motorists to slow down or stop to proceed in safety when meeting these other venues. The high speed motorist refuses to do so. Instead they come at us at full speed, never taking their foot off the gas pedal, picking up their cell phone, calling the CHP and claiming that we’re walking in the middle of the road. The CHP responds, comes out, and tells us if they catch us walking in the middle of the road or get calls to that affect, we would be arrested and the mule would be impounded. Totally illegal. Completely illegal.
As we proceeded walking south about two hours later we were approached by another CHP officer claiming he saw us walking in the middle of the road. WHAT AN OUTRAGEOUS assertion. Pictured is where we were walking. We have every right to walk on the public thoroughfare, we have every right to walk on the shoulder of the public thoroughfare, we have every right to walk in the lane of traffic if there is no place else to walk, such as bridges, such as areas cordoned off for construction. We have the same right to passage as the high speed automobile.
After that contact with the CHP we continued south and stopped at Starbucks to charge our smartphone and get a cup of coffee. We were in there for about an hour. I had secured Little Girl to a pole in the parking lot. I could see through the window that police officers were pulling up to where Little Girl was tied. I then went outside to talk to the officers and told them that the mule belonged to me. They said okay that’s fine. They said that they had gotten calls that someone was concerned about the mule and that they needed to respond, and that was that.
We got back on the road, proceeded south, stopped at Walmart to buy a canister of oatmeal, got back on the road until we found a place to sleep for the night.
When somebody leaves their house, gets in their car, gets on the public thoroughfare with the intent of going to a store to buy food or supplies for themselves and their family, they fully expect that when they leave the public thoroughfare to enter the parking lot, they will be able to park their car, walk into the store, buy their groceries and supplies, walk into a coffee shop and enjoy their cup of coffee, return to their car, put their groceries and supplies in their car, and leave to go home.
To have people constantly call the police simply because a person arrives by horse or mule and not in an automobile is outrageous. To have officers or security guards stop and interrogate a person simply because they arrived by mule because the person didn’t arrive in a high speed automobile is ridiculous.
This is not 1817 where you load up your six-shooter and go out to shoot some deer for dinner. This is 2018 where one must proceed on the public thoroughfare, enter a parking lot and go into a grocery store or a big box store, which controls the food and supplies. That’s where you get it. If you don’t get it there, you’re not going to get it.
I have known my mule Little Girl since she was born in 1990 and she has been by my side and full-time care since I bought her in 1993. While she may not technically fit the official federal designation of a service animal, she is my service animal and is an integral part of our nomadic way of life that’s been here for hundreds of thousands of years. She is in service to this place. Any common sense mind would come to the conclusion that she is without a doubt a service animal.
The Mules know that much of our contact with law enforcement agencies, CHP, local police, county sheriff, and animal control is instigated by trolls. These trolls will call enforcement agencies complaining there is a homeless man walking in the middle of the road with a horse. There is a man leading an injured horse past my house. There is a horse tied in the Starbucks parking lot with no water. It looks emaciated, etc., etc.
Their intention of course is to keep the Mules under a constant state of harassment, wear us down and keep the Mules from doing this most important job of using their constitutional right as well as everybody else’s to move freely and spontaneously in this country. The Mules have never been charged or cited for anything other than our God given right to stop and sleep at night, such as our arrest on National parks land in Thousand Oaks, CA. The Mules will never be worn down as we have access to endless amounts of energy harbored in the nation, the 3 Mules nation, from which we come. When one Monk falls another Monk appears brought forth by the force of energy accumulated and acquired throughout our history dating back hundreds of thousands of years living with respect and reverence for this sparkling jewel suspended in the mist of time we call Earth.
Pictured is Bill B-40 Ordinance No. 2017-40. This law was passed by the Fresno City Council on August 24, 2017. This law is typical of the no camping laws being passed throughout the state and country. We will use it as an example to show why it is illegal and unconstitutional to use this law and others like it against the Mules and our nomadic way of life.
Note: The Mules have not as yet in our many passages through Fresno had this law used against us. But the threat has clearly been made and stated by the Fresno City Council with the passage of this law.
Section 10-1700 states: The streets and public areas should be accessible and available to the Public. The use of these areas for camping interferes with the rights of others to use these areas for which they were intended.
Pictured is a typical example of the amount of space the Mules require to rest for a twelve hour period in the night-time hours in a public area such as a park or open area. This kind of use entering the park at night, leaving in the early morning hours does not interfere with the right of others to use a public space. The space at night for the most part has been vacated.
Section 10-1700 also states the storage of personal property interferes with the right of others.
The Mules are not storing anything. When a person stores property, they hide it behind a bush, lock it up in a box, etc., then leave it assuming it will be there on their return. That’s the circumstance of storage Section 10-1700 is referring to. The Mules do not leave their belongings. We unpack our mules, place our belongings on the ground, fix dinner, lay down our bedroll, sleep for a twelve hour period during night-time hours, awake in the early morning, and leave.
The Mules again are not interfering with the right of anybody in the use of a park (public space).
Section 10-1700 also states camping (stopping to rest for a twelve hour period during the night) constitutes a public health and safety hazard. The Mules challenge anybody to prove that the Nomadic Way of Life we practice is or has ever been a safety health hazard to anyone of the many communities we have traveled through for so many years.
The Mules have become aware of Bill No. 40 and Ordinance 2017-40 entitled, Adding Article 17 to Chapter 10 of the Fresno Municipal Code relating to Unlawful Camping, which was passed by the Fresno City Council on August 24, 2017.
Section 10-1700 clearly states the purpose/reasons for the passage of this ordinance (2017-40).
REASON #1: The use of Public areas within the city of Fresno should be accessible and available to residents and the PUBLIC. The use of public areas to store personal property interferes with the rights of others to use PUBLIC areas.
3 Mules Response #1: Pictured are our belongings set on the ground demonstrating the use public space we take on any given night. There is 24 hours in a day. The Mules only claim space for approximately 8 hours during the night when most people are in their homes. This can hardly be construed as interfering with the rights of others to use a public area.
REASON #2: Health and Safety.
3 Mules Response #2: This law is casting a large net dragging the Mules into an area which we don’t belong. The law clearly states its purpose in being passed is to address the problem of people congregating in large numbers, pitching tents, and creating unhealthy conditions, such as accumulation of trash, defecation and urination, drugs, alcoholism, etc. The Mules travel alone, stay only for an 8 hour period at night in any one place, dispose of their waste in the most sanitary of ways practiced throughout the ages for thousands of years.
The Monk throws a tarp over himself, squats down, will defecate on the surface of the ground, dig a four-inch hole, and bury it if it’s applicable to do so; or, place in a bag, carry until an appropriate place is found to dispose. The Monk urinates in a plastic bottle then disposes contents in an appropriate place. Our method is similar to the suburban citizen who places their dog’s poop in a bag and disposes of it in an appropriate place.
The Monk carries a scoop, places the mule’s droppings into a bag and carries and disposes in an appropriate place. The Mules methods of waste disposal is by far superior in terms of health, efficiency and costs than the suburban model.
A citizen of the suburban model goes down the hall, turns to the left, enters an expensive, elaborate space surrounded by four walls, closes the door, sits down on a toilet defecates into a pipe that goes under the ground where it travels accumulating disease and toxicity as it makes its way to the sewage treatment plant, where it is treated with many chemicals that are toxic, then is released into the environment via creeks, rivers, etc.
The Mules and their response to public safety. The Mules threaten nobody. We’ve traveled the Western United States for the past 33 years and consecutively in California for the past five years. We’ve walked through San Francisco, San Diego, Los Angeles and the towns in between and never hurt a soul. Our use of public areas has in no way ever created a public safety issue. We have a proven track record of 33 years living our nomadic way of life and bringing the value of that life to all the areas that we have passed though in our endless journey.
The above being understood, the Mules believe that no common sense mind could come to the conclusion that the Mules are a threat to Public Health and Safety or interfere with the rights of others to use public areas. The Mules have received nothing but positive energy from the people of Fresno as we have passed through many times before on our annual migratory journey. The Mules find it hard to believe that the 552,000 people who live in Fresno would see the Mules as a PUBLIC Nuisance, and would not want the Mules cited, taken to jail, heavily fined and the Monk and the Mule separated.
To use 2017-40 against the Mules and this ages old Nomadic way of life for things we do not do and things we are not is illegal. The Mules live under and have the same protections afforded by the Constitution guaranteeing the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness as the council members of Fresno. The right to life includes the basic function of sleeping and eating.
This past Monday, the Mules met with the Northridge Mall general manager Susan Causey to discuss last Saturday’s events. We had a good conversation.
I first explained that I travel with my mule who carries all my belongings. We live together and have travelled all over the western United States for over 30 years, migrating with the seasons. We explained that we were passing through Salinas and had to go to Best Buy to return an item. While attempting to secure Little Girl in the parking lot, we were approached by Salinas Police who said I couldn’t be in the parking lot. The officers called security who ordered me off and said that I would be arrested for trespassing if I didn’t leave when I clearly stated that I was there to go to Best Buy.
Ms. Causey said that she was off work on Saturday, but did hear about what happened. It was her understanding that Salinas Police said that they saw a transient with a mule on the property and that there is a livestock code in the city and county that prohibit livestock from being on private property without a permit. She said that Salinas Police called shopping center security. When she heard about this after the fact, she informed the security team that if a person is at the shopping center legitimately to conduct business, the person needs to be able to conduct business. If it was a safety issue, security could have had a guard stand by Little Girl while I was in Best Buy making my return.
We responded that to claim safety to have a mule in the remote area of the parking lot is nonsense. There is a degree of safety for everything you do. You walk out your front door, you could fall down and hurt yourself. But do we suspend our right to do that? Of course not. A motorist driving in a parking lot has potential to hit a pedestrian walking through the parking lot to the store.
The degree that the mule presents of not being safe is far, far less than the degree of safety which the high speed or distracted motorist in an automobile presents. The automobile is a heavy machine moving about 5-15 miles per hour in a parking lot. When it strikes somebody, the consequences can potentially be deadly. The mules moving at 2-3 miles per hour are not going to strike anybody. Very unlikely because mules are take flight animals. They don’t go towards people, they go the opposite direction. The safety contention is very flaky. To deny us the right to enter a shopping center on the guise of safety is outrageous.
Ms. Causey also brought up a hypothetical situation where security guard may have been concerned about safety of a child going up and startling the mule. This is also a ridiculous reason. We were in a remote section. The parent is responsible for what their children do. If a child purposely pesters the mule, the parent is responsible for their child’s actions. If refusing the mules access to the parking is due to a safety issue, then all automobiles should be banned from parking lots, because a child might run between cars and get hit by a motorist. Or, should children be banned from parking lots to prevent a safety incident from occurring?
The Mules thank Ms. Causey from Northridge Mall for taking the time to meet with us. At the end of our conversation, we were on the same page that any person entering their parking lot with a horse or mule has the right to access their shopping center to do business. We ended by taking a photo of Little Girl with her and her team.
The shopping center caper in the Northridge Mall parking lot is a perfect example of how city and county codes and ordinances conflict with state and federal law for equestrians’ right to travel on the public thoroughfare. These parking lots are connected to the public thoroughfare.
When somebody leaves their house, gets in their car, gets on the public thoroughfare with the intent of going to a store to buy food or supplies for themselves and their family, they fully expect that when they leave the public thoroughfare to enter the parking lot, they will be able to park their car, walk into the store, buy their groceries and supplies, return to their car, put their groceries and supplies in their car, and leave to go home.
To have that denied simply because a person arrives by horse or mule and not in an automobile is outrageous. To have officers or security guards stop and interrogate a person simply because they arrived by mule and not allow them to park because the person didn’t arrive in a high speed automobile is ridiculous.
This is not 1817 where you load up your six-shooter and go out to shoot some deer for dinner. This is 2017. You start up your car, proceed on the public thoroughfare, enter a parking lot and go into a grocery store or a big box store, which controls the food and supplies. That’s where you get it. If you don’t get it there, you’re not going to get it.
For a police officer or security guard to arbitrarily decide who gets to eat or get supplies and who doesn’t is an outrageous situation. The Mules on that particular day were a perfect example about how outrageous things will get. It certainly showed that those limits must be thoroughly watched and constrained.
Big box shopping centers and grocery stores should have a small area set aside for equestrians as they have parking spaces for motorists and bike racks for cyclists.
Thank you to Andre Domine who sent us this photo taken at a New York Walmart parking lot, where they have space set aside for equestrians.
Thank you to Maurice Braden who sent us this other photo of horse parking at his local grocery store in Pennsylvania.
SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 23, 2017 EVENTS AS THEY OCCURRED
Yesterday we awoke in San Juan Bautista where we spent the night here in the outskirts. I got up, check Little Girl, went back to my pack boxes and fixed breakfast. Then I went and caught Little Girl and took her down the street to get some water. Then brought her back up, tied her to the fence and ate my breakfast.
Upon finishing my breakfast, I gathered up my stuff, saddled Little Girl and packed up. We left approximately 9:30am. We got on the Juan Bautista de Anza National Historic Trail and headed for Salinas.
We walked about 16 miles and got to the outskirts of Salinas and stopped at the Walmart. I tied Little Girl to the tree at the parking lot, went into Walmart, bought two cans of black beans, three cans of diced tomatoes, one can of chick peas, and one can of green beans, went outside, and untied Little Girl. We then walked around in back of Walmart, tied Little Girl to a tree, unpacked her for she was in need of a rest after walking 16 miles.
We been there about an hour when two Salinas Police Department officers in a car showed up and presented a friendly demeanor. I was on my smartphone doing stuff. They kept peppering me with questions. It was obvious they were interrupting me and wouldn’t let me proceed with my business. A little while later, another officer, pulled up in a car behind them, got out of his car, walked up to the other officer’s car, said something to them, and then they all left. I stayed there about another 30-45 minutes, at this point I decided to repack Little Girl and leave.
I then proceeded to Best Buy to return a product that I had bought that wasn’t performing as it was promoted to. We got to the Best Buy parking lot, walking back towards the store, stopped under a tree where there was a bunch of dandelion weeds growing. I was letting Little Girl eat them when two Salinas Police officers pulled up and started asking me the usual questions in a friendly demeanor but I was not interested in talking to them. I had plenty to do and wanted to get Little Girl secured in the parking lot and go into Best Buy to return the product.
When I started to move away, the two officers got out of their car, and put me in detainment by stating that I cannot go anywhere. I asked them why, and they said because you wouldn’t talk to us. When the conversation started, it was a friendly conversation, they admitted that, I wasn’t being detained, I wasn’t doing anything wrong, but because I wouldn’t talk to them anymore, they decided that they would put me in detainment. From that point, they informed me that I was trespassing. I told them that I was at Best Buy to return a product that I bought previously. They refused to let me to go into Best Buy, called the shopping center security, who turned up shortly, told me I was trespassing and demanded I leave.The Salinas Police officer said if I didn’t leave immediately, I would be arrested, taken to jail, and Little Girl would be taken. So, I left.
I walked over to the next parking lot that was connected to the other stores, they shortly turned up once again, and repeated the same process over again. From that point, I left. I then found myself on the street.
We are posting copies of our receipts to prove our purpose for entering the Walmart and Best Buy shopping centers. An automobile has the right to go into a parking lot, park their car and walk into a store. But somehow a man with a mule or a horse, does not have the right to go into a parking lot, tie up their horse and go into the store. We are doing the same exact same thing, except instead of using an automobile, we are using an animal for transportation. We have the same rights in this country as anybody in an automobile that uses that machine for transportation in this state in this country to use our horse for transportation. To deny us the use of a parking lot is discrimination plain and clear. It is illegal.
When a person wants food in 2017, they have to go to a grocery store to get it. The days of going out with your bow and arrow and hunting deer and game are over. Making these parking lots subject to no trespassing laws and allowing a security company to arbitrarily say in effect “I like you, the guy in red hat, but I don’t like the guy in the blue hat. Therefore, I am going to deny the guy in the blue hat the right to park his car, park his horse, and not allow him to enter the store to buy food for himself and his family.” We will be in Salinas until Monday because we want to talk to the shopping center management to get an understanding why they had us evicted from the Best Buy parking lot for doing nothing other than tying Little Girl to a tree in the safest place we can find, to go into Best Buy and return a product we had bought previously that wasn’t functioning as promoted. We were arbitrarily evicted by the security company that works for the shopping center ownership.
People that support us, please don’t call the police. The best method is to call the shopping center who owns the parking lot and their security company that evicted us. For the police could not have done it without the consent of the security company that works for the shopping center ownership. Call them and ask them the same thing that we’re going to ask them Monday morning. Why the discriminatory policy to allow an automobile to do business and refusing a person on a horse from entry. It is unconstitutional to deny a person on a horse that is their livelihood from being able to function on a day to day basis that allows us to survive.
The Mules living in this sacred place of one human being with his or her animal companions, traveled by many throughout the ages, are claiming our rightful use of public space be it city, county, state or federal land.
The Mules will no longer wade through piles of garbage, broken glass, cans, batteries, dirty clothes, chemicals, etc., etc., looking for a place to cook our dinner then lay down amongst garbage and filth to sleep the night. Nor will we try to hide from law enforcement so we don’t get cited as happened in Castro Valley, Alameda County, spending two and a half days in jail, $10,000.00 bail for nothing more than stopping to rest for the night on state land (public space) for there was no place else to go.
Sleeping on the sidewalk with a mule wouldn’t work. Sleeping with a mule in the street also wouldn’t work.
By default, city, county, state, and federal governments must make public space available to all those traveling in this country under their own power be they equestrians, cyclists, pedestrians. The Mules will no longer be forced to sleep or cook our meals amongst garbage and filth. We no longer have to and we won’t.
