Chapter 132: Hippies and Taxation - Part 1

"Ethan cursed as he got out of the car.

"What's going on? Damian?" Alan Massey was even more anxious than Ethan. As soon as he emerged from the driver's seat, he yelled at Damian Dean, who was about to be pushed into the police car.

With their arrival, all eyes turned towards them.

And upon seeing the figures of Alan Massey and Eulise Noble, whether it was the crowd gathered at the factory gate or the officers escorting people into the car, they all breathed a sigh of relief.

Damian Dean wanted to speak, but a police officer pressed his head down and tossed him into the car.

Several other slender men met the same fate, as the police wasted no time in taking action.

Meanwhile, the lead officer, a middle-aged man of about forty, holstered his gun upon their arrival.

"You guys came quickly today. At least it's not a meeting at the police station," he remarked.

At the same time, he shifted his gaze to Ethan, "And who is this?"

"Our boss," Eulise Noble stated.

"Oh—the inventor of Pac-Man and Snake?"

"If I remember correctly, it should be Ethan Jones?" the officer asked.

The policeman nodded at Ethan and then gestured with his right thumb towards the back, saying, "Mr. Jones, after three conflicts in the past two weeks, you finally show up?"

"It's quite rare!"

Ethan's brow furrowed slightly at the somewhat mocking remark, but he managed to control his emotions and said apologetically, "Officer, I've been on a business trip for the past month. I just returned to the country the day before yesterday and received the news today. If my absence has caused you trouble, I apologize."

"Hmm," the middle-aged officer scoffed at his explanation.

Ethan knew he accepted it, so he inquired, "Officer, if you could, could you tell me what just happened? I believe my employees wouldn't willingly break the law."

Since the police had started arresting people, Ethan didn't doubt their intentions. At the same time, he played it smart, not admitting to any wrongdoing by his employees but rather implying they wouldn't willingly break the law.

He wanted to gather some information this way.

His words made the middle-aged officer snort twice.

Turning around, he waved to his companions, urging them to speed up. After all seven or eight people were all thrown into the cramped van, he said, "Let's talk at the police station."

Ethan had no objections and asked Alan Massey to accompany him.

Eulise Noble was left behind to oversee the situation and contact the company's cooperating lawyer.

When Ethan followed the police car to the police station in Milpitas, the middle-aged officer gestured for him to follow and led him to his own office.

Although his attitude was somewhat harsh, after sitting down, he didn't beat around the bush and directly explained the recent situation, "Mr. Jones, in the past two weeks, we've been called out to your company three times, and today makes it the fourth."

"As for today's specifics, I can't give you a conclusion yet, but the previous three times... it was all about conflicts between elementary school students, you know?"

At this point, the middle-aged officer looked pained.

And with his explanation, Ethan also understood the situation.

Just as Alan Massey and Eulise Noble had said, those laid-off employees indeed hadn't disrupted the company's production and transportation, but their behavior was more of a headache than disruption.

They did come to the factory to demand justice, but they never trespassed into private areas. Not only that, every time they caused a disturbance, they would 'civilly' use some instruments, like megaphones.

They would show up every few days, shouting through megaphones at the gate, demanding Damian Dean reinstate their jobs. If only that were the extent of it, it would be manageable.

Because continuous public naming and shaming could be considered intimidation, and in California, behavior that causes the victim to fear for their safety can lead to up to four years in prison.

But...

They didn't do that.

They might come in the morning, shout for three to five minutes, then run away.

At noon during the factory lunch break, they'd come and shout for another three to five minutes, then run away again.

In the evening, when the factory closed, they'd come, shout for a bit, then continue running away.

This intermittent shouting made it impossible for the police to catch them.

And whenever Damian Dean got fed up with their shouting...

"Your subordinate would bring out a few workers and confront them."

The middle-aged officer rubbed his eyes and said, "He asks those people to stop their unreasonable behavior."

"Although his confrontation helps us catch those hippies, it doesn't provide us with evidence of their wrongdoing, so we can only detain them for twenty-four to forty-eight hours on the pretext of cooperating with the investigation before releasing them due to lack of evidence."

"And today, when we arrived, we saw them start fighting."

"So..."

"I had to bring them all in."

"But rest assured, after my men finish questioning them, I'll let your people go first. I'll try not to delay your company's production. I know, you're a company favored by President Teman."

"At the same time, I hope you can resolve this matter quickly. Don't make things difficult for me, okay?"

The middle-aged officer looked Ethan straight in the eye.

His tired face betrayed his weariness.

These words made Ethan much more comfortable.

Because the police's understanding of Stanford gave him a lot of convenience in his actions.

But at the same time...

He had certain thoughts about the whole situation from the way it was described.

"Officer, thank you for understanding. And from what I know, those hippies causing trouble..."

"Mr. Jones, I know what you're about to say."

Before Ethan could finish, the officer interjected, "Are you going to say they're smoking? Or that they illegally possess cola? Or that they're associating with those traffickers?"

"These things, your subordinates have told me countless times, but forgive me, I can't do anything about it."

"It's not that I don't want to arrest them, but I can't."

Upon hearing this, Ethan's face showed surprise.

Because in California, using controlled substances or narcotics is a crime, punishable by up to one year in prison or a fine of up to one thousand dollars upon conviction.

If those hippies didn't provoke him, he naturally wouldn't report them.

But now they were causing trouble non-stop!

In this situation, if he didn't come down hard on them, they would definitely not stop!

And when the middle-aged officer saw Ethan's expression of surprise, a smile appeared on his always tense face, "Oh—Mr. Jones—looks like you haven't carefully considered these matters—"

"Let me ask you, why do you hire these hippies?"

"Isn't it because you want cheap labor?"

"And since you're willing to hire these hippies, won't other companies do the same?"

The middle-aged officer tapped the table, saying, "In Milpitas, there are many semiconductor companies, besides your factory, there's Magnavox, Intel, they all use hippies."

"I can throw these troublemakers in jail."

"But I

can't throw in those who want to work!"

"If today I arrest a hippie who wants to work in an electronics factory because of smoking, then tomorrow countless commercial competitors will come forward with reports! Saying that the employees in the factory have long-term smoking issues and asking us to investigate!"

"What do I do then?"

"Do I go and arrest every company?"

"As long as I dare to arrest people, those companies will dare to move away!"

"When MXG's labor plan was canceled, the labor cost in California skyrocketed! Countless factories moved to the MXG side!"

"Now, there's finally a group of hippies looking for work, willing to accept low-paying jobs. If I block this path, those who rely on taxes for a living will come after me!"

The middle-aged officer stared at Ethan with piercing eyes.