Operation Amped board member Todd Gould trying to reason with the unsympathetic officer who sought to end the event. Photo: @joeljitsu
Today, we honor veterans of every U.S. war for their sacrifice and willingness to serve our nation when their compatriots called. We revere our troops not only for what they have already sacrificed, but also for what they are willing to sacrifice. So you can imagine our concern when we came across a post from Joel Tudor on Instagram this evening claiming local officials disrupted Operation Amped (a non-profit organization for wounded veterans seeking to surf as a form of rehabilitation) and deemed their congregation an illegal gathering. Joel Tudor, one of surfing’s most prominent ambassadors, took to social media to express his discontent for the local law enforcer who shut down the beach cleanup/surf gathering in honor of our vets. The scene he painted was vivid:
A woman with no leg crawled through the dirt behind this guy to the waves…. Talk about zero sympathy or respect for his country and it’s (sic) vets!
According to Joel, the local law enforcer said that they would need a permit to be at Cardiff – due to a public post that was made on Facebook. Made on Facebook, y’all.
Tudor continued:
In all my years of being a surfer and being hassled by the state parks, I’ve never seen such a asshole as this officer here! Today on Veterans Day of all days— this piece of shit had the audacity to tell the wounded warriors ( a none profit for wounded veterans who want to surf as a form of medication to their souls!) that they would need a permit to be at Cardiff due to a public post on Facebook— the post was made so that people could volunteer time and take a vet for a slide! Mind you that every vet there today had already payed the 15$ parking fee— at one point as the wanna be cop was hassling the organizer…Please repost this pic in hopes of this getting to this jerks boss! What a douche!
This incident in San Diego begs several questions. What if the organizer had called up each attendee by phone? What if they publicized their event on Instagram or other social media platforms? Furthermore, what city ordinance was the gathering in violation of? As you can imagine, finding a local law contingent on a damn Facebook post is like finding a needle in a hay stack.
Truthfully, I am not a lawyer. My understanding and respect for the law, however, is right where it should be. Despite the likelihood that the officer was operating within his legal jurisdiction, it is still an unfortunate occurrence – especially due to the fact that it occurred on the day that we pay homage to these national heroes. We could spend all day reading the fine print of every law in place in San Diego County, but it will never make right the interruption of the humanitarianism of veterans and volunteers who partook in the beach clean-up/surf gathering this afternoon. We would love to hear your thoughts and opinions regarding this unfortunate event.
