Outdoors in RI: Rainy days and fishing, We the People, customer service, 2A update – Jeff Gross

by Jeff Gross, contributing writer, commentary

Photo, top: Buddy Jackson

As rapidly as great Trout fishing set in on opening day, it stopped just as fast.  The Bass are picking up the slack.  Friends went Trout fishing on Monday only to catch 3 times as many Bass as they did Trout in Trout waters, none the less.  As usual, this writer is off to his lack of Trout catch. For the last 4 years it has been a common occurrence without explanation. The constant rain seems to plague this season again, like prior years. At least the weather is putting on some nice aerial displays.

The quick-fishing road trips are not without merit.  Some marine salvage operations were conducted for Lucas and his grandfather as they lost an expensive neutral buoyancy clear bobber that was stuck offshore. Turns out while the bobber was sitting there the rig hooked a yellow perch. They did not get skunked. Also along the lines of unusual equipment, this writer saw for the first time an anchor rod.  With the push of a button the rod descends down into the pond bottom and the kayak stays anchored in that location. Push the button again and the rod ascends into travel position. Technology is becoming more and more amazing.

Chem Trails? And – odd things in the sky

Chem trails in New Hampshire are creating much unfounded paranoia. The statements coming out of the conspiracy theorists makes AOC look smart. Statements that government and elitists are intentionally poisoning the land and water, and us, are all over the internet. Supposedly we are being poisoned with Barium and Aluminum.  IF Barium was so toxic why do they use it in Acid Reflux identification? These statements are total BS until someone can give me something concrete to work with.  I showed a picture to some of these misinformed people of aerial bombing missions over Germany in 1944.  When I pointed out bombers over Germany producing identical contrails, a woman responded that the RAF was actually creating the Chem trails.  I pointed out that the bombers in the photograph were American B17s that the RAF flew Lancasters, but that did not matter to her. She was right and I was wrong – as information on Facebook supported her beliefs. She also made the statement that Chem trails have been going on since the 1800’s. WTF?  A quick response from a gentleman asked her what type of aircraft did they fly into the troposphere back in the 1800s?

As the hour is too late to report on any link between CWD and now human deaths, and also how PFAs are the next “end of the world crisis”, I’ll need to research both for next week’s article.

We The People

The government has now grown into a monster with an insatiable appetite to control all portions of our lives.  “We will control you” was stated in 2023 at the Sakonnet River Gun Range permit renewal by a Tiverton Town Council member.  It appears that Tiverton Town Council is unaware of what the Vice President of Warwick City Council went through in 2023 for interfering with a city resident’s First Amendment right to speak.  She tried to control the resident.  It did not bode well as she and the council were sued by the ACLU.  Government officials cannot forget they work for “We the People” and answer to “We the People”.  Any government person that has an issue with that founding principle should consider resigning.

Apparently, government employees and medical people cannot deal with someone who does not cower to their demands. “We the People” bear some responsibility for allowing this to grow. Too many times I have asked people to get involved in a host of matters only to receive “Oh I’m too busy” for a response. 

An unchecked government produces such fundamental constitutional violations such as asset seizure and forfeiture.  This seizure is when the government finds you with cash on your person (usually found during a suspected Fourth Amendment violation) and confiscates the money and uses your money to purchase, literally, new toys for the local law enforcement. This occurred in Nevada as reported on several newscasts.  A Pennsylvania Marine Corps Veteran on a cross-country trip to see his daughter was stopped in Nevada and had the $87K cash he was carrying confiscated by the Nevada Police.  Some may say why did he need to carry so much cash? The answer is this: For whatever lawful reason(s) he wants to! His Second Amendment rights include all such lawful purposes. The government alleged he was a criminal just because he had this cash. This asset seizure tyranny must be stopped. 

Another constitutional violation occurred in Nazareth Borough when police issued a retired school teacher a ticket for placing a “for sale” sign on the window of his pickup truck he was selling. The Pennsylvania resident ended up paying the ticket, but this only allows the responsible government entity to continue its predatory behavior.  This retired schoolteacher has a First Amendment right to place that sign in his window and the Government does not have a say in the matter, and I feel our forefathers would agree.

Now, the White House education secretary wants to ban a Christian college as well as other faith-based colleges. There may be nefarious reasons for this control. Multiple First Amendment, Fourth Amendment and numerous second amendment violations – all in one week. Don’t fool yourself into thinking we are truly free.  What we are witnessing is what our forefathers were afraid would occur, and why the constitution was written to protect us from an oppressive government. Get a copy of it – and get familiar with it. People are so ill-informed, especially younger folk who don’t get a solid civics education in high school, that they don’t know just what their constitutional rights are at all.

Cash or charge? They don’t even ask anymore.

I am seeing more and more shoppers using plastic instead of cash.  Little do they know they are being tracked and monitored with every purchase by the stores, credit card companies, and worse, the government.  Again, that “monster” wants to control all aspects of our lives.

How we do business with one another

Some time ago I started demanding compensation for screw ups caused by businesses or their employees.  It has worked rather well, and oftentimes the situation is remedied, or if the problem was an employee’s bad attitude, then they were disciplined or let go.  I have an ongoing problem with RI Energy and their multiple mess ups in my billing for my previous and new accounts.  It is simple and clear where the problem lies. The problem has been going on for 3 months and continued on Wednesday, April 17th.  The Customer Service people do not communicate with each other, nor have the skills and training for doing their jobs correctly. 

Due to this negligence, I contacted the RI Department of Public Utilities Commission.  The RI PUC will not back my demand for compensation for my 12-man hours wasted with RI Energy, with zero results, for all that time spent. I actually had one RI PUC CS person yelling at me while I was on the phone, interrupting me, and dominating the conversation, until I literally yelled back at her. Is this the new way of doing business? We just yell at each other? So I ask this of you, the taxpayers – why does the RIPUC even exist?  At this moment, they are backing RI Energy.  RIPUC appears to be another state agency that supports utility companies and not the taxpayers.  Was this agency created just to give family and friends jobs?

Second Amendment updates

The second amendment violation challenges are ongoing. The Oregon Magazine Ban (also known as Ballot measure 114) is permanently enjoined from being enforced. The Democrat Oregon AG appealed to the Oregon Supreme Court and that court ruled Ballet measure 114 was unconstitutional.  The AG then went to the Oregon Circuit Court of Appeals and the appeals court also ruled that 114 is unconstitutional.  Are you listening, Rhode Island? The Oregon 114 Case one of the cases I referenced in my testimony in 2023 about AR-15 Bans being struck down as unconstitutional. Representative Jason Knight (D-Barrington) made the statement as I was leaving the bench, “all bans were upheld”. That statement was invalid then, and it is even more untruthful now.  There are now different laws for modern sporting rifles depending on where one lives. The court system in Oregon respects the US Constitution, AR-15s, and all their respective magazines.

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Jeffrey “Jeff” Gross spent 21 years as an Analytical Chemist at the USCG R&D Center in Groton, Connecticut, Woods Hole Laboratories, and Helix Technologies. Changing careers is a “great learning experience for everyone”, Jeff says, and I’m an avid outdoorsman and conservationist, a student of the sciences, and the world. The US holds too many wonders not to take a chance and explore them”.

Jeff is the Model Train and Railroad entrepreneur. Proud Golden Retriever owner. Ultra strong Second Amendment Advocate and Constitutionalist. “Determined seeker of the truth”.  Jeff is a RIFGPA Legislative and Legal Officer, Freshwater Chairman, NRA Liaison.

His subjects include Outdoors, Second Amendment, Model Railroading, Commentary, and Whimsical. He can be reached at: [email protected].