"It's only a hobby..." but nonetheless, the commands of the sovereign are its laws. My legal advice is: obey the law and pay your taxes. That, however, is the beginning of the discussion. The reason you to want to talk to a lawyer is so that the rest of the discussion can be, forever, privileged and confidential. Your disclosures and even admissions to your lawyer cannot be compelled into testimony.*
We of an independent bent of mind (and amateur radio operators are an independently-minded cohort) sometimes underestimate the pervasive power of the law. Worse, we sometimes fail to take appropriate counsel to preserve rather than risk our privileges. The Constitution itself makes paramount: Life, Liberty and Property. The phrase of the Declaration, the "pursuit of happiness," is but a declaration of our continuing practice of the arts of happiness as we may choose to do so. The sovereign's protection of our Life, Liberty and Property enables our pursuits of happiness. We are fortunate that one of our pursuits, our pursuit of the radio arts, is protected by federal law and considerable state law as well
Yet when the sovereign purports to do more, purports to have the power to do more, than protect Life, Liberty and Property, liberty is compromised. Amateur radio operators in particular have faced ultra-restrictive and sometimes punitive zoning and other, sometimes contractual constraints. When an unhappy circumstance such as punitive zoning occurs, legal counsel and legal representation, all too often in hard-fought litigation, are critical to success and sometimes financial survival. So, before you do anything drastic, talk to your lawyer first.
To engage counsel in
California, or for us to work with local counsel, call or e-mail me: 415 956 5959 x203 ; blee@slksf.com
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* short of expressions of intent to commit future crimes, or employment of counsel to defraud or otherwise violate the law.