The Kingdom of the Emerald Hills

The Saturday night issue at Banner Wars was between two individuals, Ego and Snake Eyes, and was not condoned or supported by the Emerald Hills or the Corsairs. The Corsairs, as autocrats, became involved afterwards in an effort to curtail further violence. Snake Eyes refused that the police be called three times and in Amtgard we try to make calling the authorities an absolute last resort. However, due to the escalation of this issue I have decided to submit an item for an emergency Allthing to change the Corpora in regards to Tanglewood making it a "no tolerance camp ground" and the authorities will be called in the event of a physical altercation, no questions asked. The Emerald Hills as a Kingdom, and the Corsairs as a company, do not endorse mundane violence of any sort and I will be taking all necessary and appropriate actions once all the information is available and any mundane legal issues have been resolved.

Allthing item wording and placement in corpora will be submitted by Friday Oct 20th and the Emergency Allthing will be called and held at Midnight Sun on Oct 28th.

Regards,

Queen Reine Von Doom
EH Monarch

Huzzah!!!

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[align=center]Sirrakhis Larethian of the Emerald Hills
G R E E N D R A G O N S
House Larethian-Got Newbs?[/align]

Holy fucking shit !?!? Did you just fucking cheer a Corsair?

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Arch-Duke
Arch-Count
Sir Falamar LaCrane

HAHAH

Dude, I cheer certain ones all the time, just not the group as a whole...too much chaos.

Regarding the zero-tolerance policy, at some point in the past, our reluctance to having to involve the authorities (long standing tradition) has surpassed our ability to maintain a safe environment in the eyes of the campers.

Reine's actions here should have been adopted during McFadden's Reign to insure that we wouldnt have to be concerned about the issues we now face.

Thank you Reine. You rock.

Now, for my next campaign...

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[align=center]Sirrakhis Larethian of the Emerald Hills
G R E E N D R A G O N S
House Larethian-Got Newbs?[/align]

LOL BS. Dude we/everyone allways want issues to be resolved without police incident if it can be avoided. Just like at sporting events[not proffesional] When people get into fights, the cops are not called, people are asked to leave. I personally belive that calling the cops for such crap is bullshit. This isn't a case of someone being assaulted. this is a case of some dumb fuck deciding he wanted to push someone around and got his ass whooped for it. If he had won the fight he damn sure would not have wanted the cops called.

This has been happening for years..... This isn't new...... This won't be the last.....
This happened at every event site we have ever had. You think your creating a safe enviroment? That's BS. Your just creating a policed enviroment.

And when you draw BLOOD as you say for a fist fight. It will be recorded on these forums that you said such. And you can guarrenty you will do prison time for that blood letting.

I have nothing against the law being called in certain cirumstances.
But most the time it is a situation that can be handled without it.
And to blanket this situation will start cops being called for all situations and that is BS aswell.

You can't put hundreds of people togather in a space that are drinking and engaging in aggressive sports and not have attitudes fly.
That is the reason most charges are dropped in cases like this.

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Arch-Duke
Arch-Count
Sir Falamar LaCrane

I believe that the wording of the Allthing item should be to the effect that appropriate authorities will be notified in the event of the witness, apparent evidence, or allegation of any criminal offense, including but not limited to physical altercations, underage drinking, possession of controlled substances, discovery of controlled substances, etcetera, etcetera.

There are many reasons for this, most notably the following:

The fact that our Corpora - which doubles as our bylaws of incorporation in the State of Texas, makes each reeve-qualified person responsible for the safety of all participants and bystanders; Anyone in elected office is by definition Reeve-qualified, and is therefore - as a mundane civil legal matter - responsible for the safety of participants and bystanders;

It is the duty of any citizen of the State of Texas and the United States of America to report to the appropriate authorities any actual criminal offense they witness or have firsthand factual knowledge of - failure to do so is also a criminal offense, known in most states as "Accessory" and at one time referred to widely as "Accessory after the fact". Being on private land in a private function does not change this.

Officers, Reeves, and B.O.D. members are not functionaries of the criminal legal system and cannot make a determination on questions of fact, questions of law, etcetera and so cannot legally make their own determinations as to the degree, applicability, etcetera of the law in any arbitrary event. To do so is illegal.

Our waiver contracts specifically disclaim civil litigation proceedings against the corporation and individuals arising from occurrences during an Amtgard-sponsored event; It does not and cannot disclaim or absolve the corporation nor individuals from criminal liability.

In short: All the things that the law expects individuals and corporations to do in public or in their own homes - report crimes, summon authorities, provide investigators with eyewitness accounts and all apparent and discovered evidence - still applies to both individuals and to the corporation (as a legal entity) while an Amtgard event is ongoing, even while on private land (tanglewood). On top of that, our corpora - which are our mundane, legal articles of incorporation - makes reeve-qualified individuals responsible for ensuring the safety of participants and bystanders. This creates a real, civil legal responsibility of due diligence to safety above and beyond mere self-interest.

I am not a lawyer. This is not legal advice. However, I feel confident that similar advice would be provided by a qualified legal professional.

Separately, I would add that I advocate - as a matter of the corporation fulfilling due diligence under the articles of incorporation, specifically in regards the responsibility of the reeve-qualified individuals to the safety of participants and bystanders - to formulate and enact an amendment to the bylaws to the effect of creating a set of qualifying events for the removal and permanent or qualified bar from office - be that office Reeve, B.O.D., Monarch, etcetera - for individuals who are legally charged, tried, and convicted of any non-trivial criminal matter, especially all forms of assault, D.U.I., possession of controlled substances, etcetera, anything that goes to safety or ability to carry out a responsibility to ensure the safety of participants and bystanders or - as well as anyone who intentionally creates and brings to an Amtgard-sponsored event any item meant to be a physical facsimile of an Amtgard-legal boffer weapon, shield, etcetera so as to be visually indistinguishable from an actual Amtgard-legal boffer weapon but which is not (intentionally made with a dowel core, intentionally has too little padding, metal core, small pommel, etcetera) and who fails to label the item(s) as such (non-amtgard-legal) and who uses and/or facilitates the use by others, through action or negligence, the item(s) as if they were actually Amtgard-legal (i.e., knowingly bringing an illegal boffer item to be used, knowingly circumventing safety checks, running or sponsoring "tournaments of weapons of questionable legality"). Such an occurence amounts to criminal assault, as it goes beyond the express consent of interaction that participants make.

The responsibility of the Reeve - meaning anyone reeve-qualified - is to ensure the safety of participants and bystanders, and intentional actions or inactions that ignore or discard safety demonstrate a breach of that responsibility. Some people should not be in charge of running a roleplaying game where safety is the first and foremost priority, and for the corporation to allow those people to take up the ultimate position of responsibility (reeve-qualified) in the corporation regardless of their intent or demonstrable history is corporate irresponsibility, IMNSHO.

Full disclosure: I am currently unable to attend Amtgard functions due to concerns for my safety and a to-date unsatisfactory remedy to those concerns on the part of Amtgard, Inc. Kingdom of the Emerald Hills as a Texas Corporation. Certain remarks made above reference the unresolved matter and this communication shall in no way be construed as applicable to those unresolved matters unless specifically noted here or elsewhere.

So what happens when neither side wants to press charges as is usually the case? The cops show and seperate the two to their campsites (or off site) and leave. Isn't that what we as a group would have done anyways? Why bring outsiders into this?

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I have centuries to discover the things that make you whimper and millennia to make you enjoy them.

Because there is eyewitness and physical evidence of a criminal matter - being assault - and it is the duty of every citizen of the State of Texas and of the United States of America to report witnessed or apparent criminal actions to the appropriate authorities - in such an occurrence, the police are not "outsiders". Playing Amtgard does not make participants outside the laws of the State of Texas nor of the United States of America.

Police will attend domestic and public disturbance reports, however unless they personally witness the assault or have before them /prima facie/ evidence of a criminal matter, they generally will not - as a matter of process - arrest or charge people (because we once upon a time had a right to appeal to a notion called /habeas corpus/ and false arrest was once a serious crime and civil matter), and will only leave once they are reasonably assured of the safety of the people present and a lack of ongoing criminal proceedings. Knowledge of this probable behaviour of the police, however, does not waive the legal responsibility of witnesses to contact the authorities.

This is just my opinion. I am not a lawyer, and this is not legal advice. I am confident that any qualified legal professional would provide advice consonant with my opinion.

This is BS

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Arch-Duke
Arch-Count
Sir Falamar LaCrane

Mostly what I'm saying is that if neither party wants to press charges (and they probably won't) calling the police is a pointless action. I was informed recently of a wonderful thing in texas known as mutual combat (gods bless this state). From what I understand if both participants are not willing to press charges it is no longer a criminal act and therefore out of police hands.

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I have centuries to discover the things that make you whimper and millennia to make you enjoy them.

We all know that people will get out of hand...thats not in question here. Our response to this violence has not been adequate to protect us from our own legal system if we continue to act as if we have the right to determine what is and isnt worthy of reporting to the authorities. Rather than beg the system to burn us later, lets set a standard that doesnt indemnify us to being liable for fights we arent involved in past being in the same campground at the time of the event. The only way to do this is to being anal and give the problem children to the authorities to deal with.



Creating a safe environment is taking reasonable action to prevent future issues just as importantly as is setting an example for the people that feel they shouldnt get in trouble for said infractions. You dont want to involve cops, and I dont feel that anyone in our kingdom is qualified to play judge on every violent activity we have to deal with out here. Our BOD Pres is an attourney, I trust her opinion and that of the Monarch on fears and concerns on making moves like this. What i dont trust is a bunch of people with no intention of involving themselves in a positive role outside of being indifferent when their friends continually and repeatedly set a horrible example for conduct in our events. Call it what you want, but it doesnt change the fact that this kingdom and it's administration has proven continually that it is incapable of taking action and enforcing it.



You've said blood alot more than I have, and i simply said what i would have done X in the situation I heard occured after speaking with about 20 people regarding what transpired, which wasn't exactly what occurred, but close enough for me to be plenty mad without having to get concerned about my own friends and loved ones to boot. Keep your facts straight, I amight even be a violent person, however that doesnt mean that everything I say is a threat of violence, or even that anything I post is intended to be offensive, its only that this whole crappy situation is making me tired of trying so damn hard. Your consistent insinuation that I am on some kind of warpath notwithstanding, I just want to see more action taken demonstrating this organizations willingness to maintain a safe environment.



handled..sure. Handled appropriately...puuuleeeaaasssse. So you dont support Reine taking action so that it future incidents dont force 20+ people to spend their night running damage control, so players affiliated with those involved dont feel unsafe continueing to play, and most importantly so potential campers know that our Kingdom is concerned about their safety to some degree.



You cant say most cases like this when we've made sure to not involve the police as a rule of thumb in all matters. THAT is the problem...we're not in a position to asume that kind of responsibility.

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[align=center]Sirrakhis Larethian of the Emerald Hills
G R E E N D R A G O N S
House Larethian-Got Newbs?[/align]

This statute seems abridged, and is in no manner consistent with how I've seen cases of assault (mutual or not) handled both in person and in court. I'm hardly an attourney, but I can definitely say from experience that a I've never seen anyone get away from the law on assault.

Anyhow, if its for real, coolness, I will have to remember to get consent before entering a fight.

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[align=center]Sirrakhis Larethian of the Emerald Hills
G R E E N D R A G O N S
House Larethian-Got Newbs?[/align]

Your so full of shit dude

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Arch-Duke
Arch-Count
Sir Falamar LaCrane

To be honest, what bothers me is M(a)cFadden's drunken response, and his continued inability to deal with any problem as they arrive.

IMHO, that is bullshit. If the landlord is unwilling to act then perhaps we should consider other avenues?

I personally don't want the Landlord to act on our behalf unless there is no official rep of the Kingdom availible.

In other words, it should be in the hands of our officers and autocrats to make these decisions. McFadden's role should be to aid in enforcing those decisions to have someone removed from site.

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Forest Evergreen

Puppet Master of the EH

"Of course you are Forest. You're like the Mr. Burns of EH." - Finn

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