Va. blogger hesitant to receive ACLU help for fear of pissing off cops

August 22, 2009 @ 11:11PM

Va. blogger hesitant to receive ACLU help for fear of pissing off cops

By Carlos Miller -...

The Virginia woman who was jailed after spending almost a year blogging about the Jefferson Area Drug Enforcement (JADE) task force, taunting them as they continually warned her to stop, says she is hesitant about receiving legal help from the ACLU because she doesn’t want to make these cops mad.

It’s probably a little too late for that. And considering she is unemployed and was unable to pay for her bond at first, she should probably accept any help she can get.

But Elisha Strom obviously marches to the beat of her own drum.

She hasn’t decided whether to accept the ACLU’s offer of assistance, which could be legal representation or an amicus brief. “I’d be interested in talking to them,” she says from her home in Bedford County. “The only thing I’d worry about is making JADE mad.”

While she says she doesn’t feel threatened by the drug task force, she does feel intimidated. “They’re already upset with me,” she says. “I don’t want to end up with 40 new charges because I’m getting support.”

Right now, she is facing one count of harassment stemming from a blog entry where she posted photos of one of the cop’s house.

Comments

Anonymous

2 years ago

WE MUST ALL ACCEPT HELP FROM ALL ALLIES OF LIBERTY.

Regardless what our political differences are we must all agree that Liberty Unites Us.

plus… if we don’t fight for our civil liberties… then we won’t be able to debate our differences anyways in the future…

this Lady SHOULD GET THE HELP From the ACLU!!!

Anonymous

2 years ago

IMHO, if this blogger had never started her attack on these LEO’s then the “I don’t want to piss them off” perspective would be valid. But as I see it, they are already pissed off, and if they perceive that she is weak and will not be able to stand up for herself, then they will attack like bullies do. But, if she has the ACLU, with resources, lawyers, and publicity on their side the LEO’s will think twice about persecuting her. At this point she has to stand up to the bullies or she is in trouble…

Tom Joad

Anonymous

2 years ago

Though I’ve come to discover that the ACLU are foul-weather friends of liberty, I agree with Carlos that given her circumstances, she should take their help.

Anonymous

2 years ago

When this whole thing started, when you first read her blog… didn’t you think there was something odd about it? I mean odd about her? Her blog read like the diary of a 16-yr-old girl with a crush on the totally cute quarterback who didn’t return the feeling; not exactly the thoughts of a grown woman. She did seem to be stalking them, sometimes driving within feet of their car when they went out on a call. (I got no problem with that, btw, since the pigs are always stalking, prowling around, and ambushing humans.) I just think she needs, I don’t know, psychiatric help?
It’s hard to have a lot of sympathy for her because I think she falsely accused her ex with child porn or child predator crimes, and I don’t think he was guilty. One of the cops helping her on her “case” was one of the JADE “officers.” I just think she grew obsessed with him.

Anonymous

2 years ago

So now she is worried about getting the police mad? This lady is nuts. You read her blog and it’s easy to tell that her phone is off the hook.