Rev. Pinkney still on limited probation for four years

Berrien County Chief Judge Alfred Butzbaugh lifted Pinkney's tether probation


One has to wonder about Butzbaugh. What motivated him to ease up on Pinkney? Of course, not totally: Pinkney and the rest of us need to understand that there will be limitations on our liberty if we speak the truth too loudly.

Butzbaugh is still not in compliance with the Mich. Court of Appeals decision handed down in the summer. If he was, Pinkney would be free, as he should have been all along.

Butzbaugh does NOT want Pinkney observing what goes on in his courthouse. This activity, so needed in Berrien county, was a part of Pinkney's daily routine for years. Note the third probation condition below from Butzbaugh's Oct. 13 order (all are in effect until July 2013):

1.) Pinkney must be inside his home between 7 p.m. and 7 a.m. 2.) He can't engage in "assaultive, abusive, harassing, violent, threatening, or intimidating behavior, or any defamatory or demeaning communications as to Glen Yarbrough or the Benton Harbor city commissioners," according to Butzbaugh's Oct. 13 modified order. 3.) Pinkney must stay at least 1,000 feet away from Butzbaugh; except Pinkney may be in the Berrien County courthouse to report to his probation officer "and to participate in a court hearing to which you are a party."

If he is convicted of violating any of his probation conditions, he could be sent back to prison. Butzbaugh ordered Pinkney to pay $105/week to wear a tether. In Berrien, they ruin lives every hour of every day, through heavy court costs (ie, tether fees), false convictions, you name it. By any means necessary they make Benton Harbor "resort-ready."

The Mich. Court of Appeals threw out Pinkney's probation violation, saying it violated his right to free speech. (Pinkney wrote an article criticizing Butzbaugh.) Butzbaugh has been in denial of the higher court decision. His inaction serves to remind all familiar with Berrien County Court behavior that they continue to be the rogue court of Michigan. They are able to do as they wish without regulation, supervision, or oversight.

Those who pay attention know that Whirlpool Corp. and Rep. Fred Upton are the actual "regulators" of the courthouse and everything county-wide, Gov. Granholm backs the Whirlpool-Upton cartel, and the corruption goes on and on and on. Granholm and the state of Michigan could care less that human rights abuses are beyond out-of-control in this southwest region.