James Ian Tyson wants the people of Charlotte to know: “I’m a local Charlottean, I’m a farmer, I’m a carpenter, I’m a family member and a community member. I am not a terrorist.”
The 27-year-old was arrested Sunday and charged with driving with a revoked license. He was jailed on a $10,000 cash bond.
The police officer who arrested him wanted Tyson to remain behind bars during the Democratic National Convention, according to a court document.
The officer informed the magistrate that Tyson was on a terrorist watch list.
Tyson told the Observer Tuesday he was shocked to learn that he was on a terrorist watch list…“They have no reason to have me on that list,” Tyson said. “I haven’t done anything remotely criminal involving politics.
“No one knows how you get on this list … or the accountability process or, most importantly, how they get off this list…”
The U.S. government does not reveal the names of people on the watch list, according to the Department of Homeland Security…A 2009 audit, conducted by the U.S. Department of Justice’s Office of Inspector General, found a high error rate among the FBI’s terrorist watch list…
Tyson said he believes his arrest was intended to keep him from speaking out against climate change during the Democratic National Convention in Charlotte.
In North Carolina, I imagine you still can get on such a list for insisting on universal suffrage. Or saying mean things about tobacco.
“I’m a local Charlottean, I’m a farmer, I’m a carpenter, I’m a family member and a community member. I am not a terrorist.”
That guy that who shot Gabby Giffords and the Batman theater shooter on the surface seemed like normal guys too I imagine.
$10,000 bond for driving with a revoked license?
We don’t know the whole story about this guy, a few details about his criminal history seem to be missing, but he was not jailed for terrorist activity.
How did he get on the terrorist watch list?
Is he involved with some group we don’t know about?
Without knowing these things, nobody can make a judgment.
“but he was not jailed for terrorist activity.”
No but they want to keep him in jail for no good reason (being on an highly inaccurate watch list).
“How did he get on the terrorist watch list?”
RTFA No one knows and no one will tell you. They have kids on the terror watch list.
“Is he involved with some group we don’t know about?”
Does that matter? As long as their not doing anything illegal. We do have a thing called freedom of association.
“Without knowing these things, nobody can make a judgment.”
The authorities are familiar with him. And one has to wonder a bit about what “actions” the “Rainforest Action Network” has in mind.
I have no idea what that is, but as noted by someone else the radical environmental groups often have methods that aren’t entirely compatible with “the laws” (vandalism, trespassing, sabotage, etc.)
We do know. Just look at what he said.
‘I’m a charlatan.’
‘I’m a farmer.’ Read the post below this about antibiotics in meat.
‘I’m a carpenter.’ He’s working with cutting down the environment. Plus they just took God out of the Democratic platform.
‘I’m a family member and a community member.’ Government comes first, not second.
‘I’m not a terrorist.’ First sign of being a terrorist.
“‘I’m not a terrorist.’ First sign of being a terrorist.”
Of course …
Not sure about the batman shooter, but the guy who killed Giffords was crazy and most likely schizophrenic and nobody would ever peg him as normal.
Giffords was killed? Hmmm..who knew?
You thinking what I’m thinking?
Ghola!
Sounds like a good reason to install cameras in every home. Then the enforcers for those who rule over us can keep tabs on our daily activities. After all, what do you have to hide? If you do protest, it’s probably because you want to harm someone or break the law in some way.
Must those Apple ID’s the FBI has on file.
He must have Googled how to make a homemade bomb.
Great. I’m probably on this now too.
I can’t say about the lunatic who shot Gabby Giffords, but the Aurora, CO Theater shooter James Holmes was always a bit of a nut job. Almost everyone who lived near him or worked with him have said so too.
So when it comes to Mr. Tyson, it’s probably too incomplete to say but, I’d say Mr. Tyson may also be a bit of a nut job. Just looking at his picture with his pony tail hair suggests he’s probably one of those “herbal” farmers with all natural – everything. But then that’s just my first impression!
Until Mr. Tyson actually DOES something against the law then there’s no reason to detain him any further than the cops already have – or single him out with any groundless “list” either.
Mr. Tyson was at least suspected of some crime. Right?! Driving without a license is definitely a crime but what I’d like to know is how the cop knew that Mr. Tyson didn’t have his license in the first place. HUH?!
The cop had to have “probable cause” to suspect Mr. Tyson of doing something wrong in order to pull Mr. Tyson over. But what was it?! This crappy reporting doesn’t tell us.
The very story “Eideard” is re-reporting here may also be quite biased! Selectively omitting certain facts like what the original offense was or original reasons for suspicion are very critical in order to make a better judgement on just exactly what happened. As it is, Eideard’s reporting has only told us PART of the entire story. (Care to guess why a lot of people think of the “press” the same way as politicians?)
About the only thing I can comment on is the use of some terror “list” that people may or may not be on. The fact that any such list is even taken into consideration by any judge for any reason should be grounds for recusal if not an outright Constitutional Rights violation (like the right face one’s accuser). But then, there has been quite a bit of Constitution erosion lately and some rather bad activist judges too.
The article said driving with a revoked license, so at one point he had a license before the court took it away. Therefore he was in the system and if he was driving a vehicle registered to his household, there would be the probable cause to pull him over.
Plus, NC law enforcement can set up roadblocks to check everybody for seat-belts, drivers for a license, cars for inspection stickers, etc. Due to the high security in Charlotte for the convention, I’d bet many of these roadblocks are being used all around Uptown Charlotte.
You have to be careful of these carpenters
One minute they are happily making small nests of tables- next minute they are blatantly breaking licensing laws by making and distributing their own wine, disturbing bankers and practicing healing without a license.
If you don’t stamp down on them quickly their followers get everywhere.
I got it.
OMG Jesus!
People worried about climate change have a certain likelihood to be terrorists. James Hansen has called the trains carrying coal to be worse than the trains carrying Jews to concentration camps, and has gotten arrested at a coal mine, in an attempt to shut it down. Wouldn’t be surprised if such people had plans to blow up the tracks.
People who squeeze the toothpaste tube from the middle have a certain likelihood to be terrorists – that’s what “likelihood” means.
I hate having to fix it when people squeeze the tube from the middle.
Judging from your other posts it seems like you buy into the fear and choose to live under it so its not surprising that you would make the giant leap in logic.
100% of all terrorists drank milk as children.
And I have to add, of all of the crackpots on this blog, you are the crackest, with the leastest sense.
It’s time to end the bigotry of lactose intolerance
Sounds like this terrorist watch list is really the enemies list of corporate america..
the biggest terrorists are corporate america. they’ve practiced economic terrorism against americans for years
I think that’s an over generalization.
It also includes lots of people who were political enemies of Nixon; 5 year old boys who have the same name as dead journalists who were political enemies of Nixon; people who had an affair with a TSA officers wife; people who refused to have an affair with a TSA officer; people who reported TSA officers for baggage theft; people who refused to cooperate with police;
and probably more than a few spelling errors.
An updated story has these details:
North Carolina criminal records show Tyson was found guilty of fishing trout water in closed season in 2007 and fined $145. Last May, he pleaded guilty to driving while impaired. Tyson was sentenced to one year of unsupervised probation and paid $293 in fines and court costs.
Mecklenburg County’s suggested range for bond for driving with a revoked license is $100 to $2,500, county documents show. Jail records show other drivers arrested Sunday for the same charge had much lower bonds, ranging from $350 to $500.
Tyson’s Facebook profile says he graduated from Warren Wilson College, in Swannanoa, in 2007, with a degree in environmental studies and environmental chemistry. He graduated from Northwest School of the Arts in Charlotte in 2003. He lists his occupation as a self-employed farmer and carpenter: “Remodeling homes and building an organic veggie farm.”
The Rainforest Action Network is a nonprofit organization that works to preserve rainforests. The group hung a banner reading “Bank of Coal” on Bank of America Stadium in May, before the bank’s annual meeting of shareholders. Five members of the group were arrested. Tyson was not among them.
There were under 400,000 individuals on the government’s consolidated terrorist watch list in 2011, according to the federal government.
A 2009 audit found that the FBI’s terrorist watch list had a high error rate, with some subjects wrongly kept on the roster and many others kept on the list too long.
The audit, conducted by the U.S. Department of Justice’s Office of Inspector General, found that in 8 percent of closed cases reviewed, the FBI failed to remove subjects from the watch list as required by the agency’s policy. In many more cases, the auditors found, the FBI failed to remove the subjects in a timely manner.
Fishing for trout when they are out of season seems hypocritical for an environmentalist, but that shouldn’t get someone on the terror watch list.
Driving while impaired is stupid, but not an act of terror.
There it is. Hanging a protest banner at a Bank of America shareholder meeting. That will get you on the terror watch list.
You got it!
Not to mention being a part of the Rainforest Action Network, which was instrumental in obtaining an $18 BILLION dollar judgement against Chevron.
And he was going to protest at the DNC.
You can be a terrorist (environmentalist??) too!!
He belongs to the government. Barack Obama did not attend the 2012 Rio+20 summit, and thus climate change is no longer an issue. His owners decided it was better to keep him away from the venue as it would make it easier for them to be reelected as owners of the people.
Kids in diapers have ended up on the list however they usually tend to leave of liberal activist. Looks like the Dems are starting to eat their own. Please note this guy was almost certain to vote for Obama. The question is after spending the convention in jail because his government is afraid of him will he vote for Obama or just stay home of vote for a Libertarian?
You seem to imply there is some correlation between the current occupant of the Whitehouse and the “government”?
That might have been true in Washington’s time – but it hasn’t been since.
Update: you need the update: http://charlotteobserver.com/2012/09/04/3501463/police-sought-to-keep-charlotte.html
This is a question. I watched the blonde who heads the DNC last night open the Democrat gathering say that the Democrat party is 200 years old? I know she’s as big a ditz as Biden but do any of you have a clue why she’d make that mistake?
Okay I got it. An on line search cleared it up. What became both parties was founded in 1792 by Jefferson, not that Jefferson would have approved of the current version of either party. The current Democrat party was put together in the 1830s though the current party platform would have made their heads spin. The majority of the members for a rather long time lived in the South and were pro slavery and after the civil war passed Jim Crow laws. Just a little revisionist history.
The DNC website has some paragraphs about how their party was a leader in civil rights for 200 years. It starts with Jefferson and jumps from there to the 1920s.
Its future crime prevention in action. In a total vacuum, seems to me incorrect but acceptable action if its only 1 guy? “There must be reasons?” But next time, if its 10, then 100 and so forth?….
Everything starts this way……. small.
You can blame this on our politicians enthusiastic support for the NDAA.
Expect much more of this. Vote every politician who supported this out of office, start at the top.
Holly Shit! $10k bond for driving without a license? Gee…I guess you ‘mericans live in the land of the free eh?
We come down hard on people that drive with a revoked license.
As soon as we start letting criminals get away with the little things, next thing you know, they start protesting and speaking their minds and acting like terrorists.
And what business does “climate change protester” have driving in the first place? Isn’t the automobile one of (if not the) greatest contributor of carbon to the atmosphere. Particularly if you count the CO2 released from making the steel!
Oh, and the article says a “revoked” license. Which is different from an “expired” license. Revoked means they took away his driving privilege. Usually, that is for repeated drunk driving, multiple accidents, multiple violations, etc. Maybe $10,000 isn’t so out of line after all. Depends on lots of stuff that we don’t know.
His license was not even suspended. It was revoked.
There is something the articles do not mention or do not know.
The whole story has not been told.
SOITAINLY!
You bullshit and bitch and nothing changes, but then again you’ve got a great choice don’t you?
One self-selected black millionaire or one self-selected white millionaire, and that’s it!
The problem is that they’re both millionaires and they both want to leave richer than when they came in.
The only elected officials that did not leave that way were carried off and buried, leaving wealthy widows.
They’ll murder their children, never mind yours, sell their mothers and rent out their wives to achieve it … What chance have you got?
Jesus was just a carpenter and look what the establishment did to him!
“In North Carolina, I imagine you still can get on such a list for insisting on universal suffrage. Or saying mean things about tobacco.” – Eideard
The universal suffrage thing is South Carolina, not North Carolina. And the tobacco thing used could get you strung up east of Raleigh along Tobacco Road years ago, but Charlotte has nothing in that fight.
Now if he got into an argument about Eastern vs Western North Carolina barbecue, yeah, he could easily end up on some government terrorist list. If he mention South Carolina’s mustard-based barbecue, he might just “disappear”.
Book em Danno!
All terrorists breathe air, and in fact, they breathe air while they are committing acts of terror. There is a strong correlation between air breathing and killing innocent people. Watch out for the air breathers.
First they came for the environmentalists…