From: Thomas Murrell Thornhill III
c/o Box 1755 U.S.P.S.
Nevada City, California, U.S.A.
October 5, 1999

To: Maria Contreras-Sweet, SECRETARY
BUSINESS, TRANSPORTATION & HOUSING AGENCY
980 9th Street, Suite 2450
Sacramento, CA 95814-2719

FORWARD AND ADDRESS CORRECTION REQUIRED

Dear Mrs. Contreras-Sweet:

I am NOT the Attorney, the Accountant, the Fiduciary or any other Presumed Agent/Representative for the fictitious entity known variously as THOMAS MURRELL THORNHILL III/THOMAS MURRELL THORNHILL, III/THOMAS M. THORNHILL III/THOMAS M. THORNHILL, III.
I am a natural- born white Man under no known legal disability and I am writing you in my own right because I have been attempting for most of this year to determine who is the Legal Owner of my vehicle and have been unable on my own behalf to elicit any meaningful or responsive answers from THE DEPARTMENT OF MOTOR VEHICLES (which purportedly works for me under your direct or indirect supervision) and I find such non-responsive behavior totally unacceptable. The simple fact that I have been unable to get meaningful answers from the D.M.V. indicates to me that you have a problem with that Department.

I Require your official assistance.
I must Presume from the attached and herein incorporated copies of both my and D.M.V.'s letters that the D.M.V. is willfully and knowingly attempting to conceal something which may be of major legal importance to my managing of my affairs and my property.
I hereby Direct you to perform the administrative equivalent of identifying the persons "Ed Snyder" and "B.B. Jones" and "drawing their knickers to their knees and caning their bare behinds" (maybe literally, I don't mind) until they responsively answer my questions concerning the ownership of my vehicle.
If necessary, sit down with these persons and personally hold their hands while they compose their answers. Their continued evasion and "stonewalling" are totally unacceptable.

Based on the attached and incorporated documents, I must Require that you personally investigate this matter and then Direct/Order the purported "ACTING DIRECTOR OF THE D.M.V. Ed Snyder" and his purported bureaucrat "B.B. Jones" to fully, completely, and honestly answer all my questions.

I have seen a letter, dated about 5-6 years ago, from the then-Director of the D.M.V. to another party which stated in substance that "B.B. Jones" did not then and had never worked for the D.M.V.
My first questions which I Require you to answer are:
1. Who IS this "B.B. Jones"?
2. Does this "B.B. Jones" really work for the legal entity THE DEPARTMENT OF MOTOR VEHICLES?
3. Is THE DEPARTMENT OF MOTOR VEHICLES really a part of the government of The State of California? 4. Who does this "B.B. Jones" really work for if not for THE DEPARTMENT OF MOTOR VEHICLES?
5. How does this "B.B. Jones" keep managing to acquire my letters addressed to other people?
6. By what authority does this "B.B. Jones" presume to interfere with my official business with the D.M.V.?

If these persons do not, in fact, work for me, I Reserve the right to conduct a major inquiry into who or what entity they really do work for.

I am very tired of, in the vernacular: being jerked around by bozos who claim to work for me.
I have been verbally told at least twice within a two year period by different purported agents of the D.M.V. that I AM the Legal Owner of my vehicle, but I have never received the D.M.V.-issued document CERTIFICATE OF OWNERSHIP which would validate that assertion.
I am not going to play the game that a D.M.V.-issued CERTIFICATE OF TITLE is facially identical with a D.M.V.-issued CERTIFICATE OF OWNERSHIP; legally their purposes are completely different.
A CERTIFICATE OF TITLE tells me, and everyone else to whom I present it, that the Evidences of Title to my vehicle exist somewhere else and that the D.M.V. claims to know where that somewhere else is. A CERTIFICATE OF OWNERSHIP tells me, and everyone else to whom I present it, that the D.M.V. recognizes me as the Legal Owner of my vehicle.
Since I have not received said CERTIFICATE OF OWNERSHIP, I have to Presume that either (1) the D.M.V. has failed in its Duty to issue it to me or that (2) the D.M.V. in fact, and without Notice to me, issued it to someone unknown to me, who really is the Legal Owner of my vehicle.
In legalese: this appears to be a situation in which a purported Fiduciary (the D.M.V. claiming the right to hold my Title on my behalf and to issue CERTIFICATES OF REGISTRATION/TITLE/OWNERSHIP) is knowingly and willfully withholding critical information from his purported Principal or Grantor (me) presumably to conceal certain financial transactions which may benefit the Fiduciary, and/or its assigns, to the Principal's detriment.
I do not and will never tolerate such behavior.

"The accompanying definitional provision, 18 U.S.C. section 31, defines "motor vehicle" as a:

carriage or other contrivance propelled or drawn by mechanical power and used for commercial purposes on the highways in the transportation of passengers, passengers and property, or property or cargo [.]

"Section 31 also defines "used for commercial purposes" as the:

carriage of persons or property for any fare, fee, rate, charge, or other consideration, or directly or indirectly in connection with any business, or other undertaking intended for profit."

United States v. Lowe (1995), 65 F.3d. 1137, 1142; cert. den. 136 L.Ed.2d. 13, 117 S.Ct. 49.

According to the current VEHICLE CODE (1999), section 471, it appears I do not even own a "pickup truck", because the vehicle I purchased came equipped with an attached camper shell (or with an enclosed box-type bed --same difference) which I have only removed temporarily to replace the rain seals.

"471. A "pickup truck" is a motor truck with a manufacturer's gross vehicle weight rating of less than 11,500 pounds, an unladen weight of less than 8,001 pounds, and which is equipped with an open box-type bed not exceeding 9 feet in length. "Pickup truck" does not include a motor vehicle otherwise meeting the above definition, that is equipped with a bed-mounted storage compartment unit commonly called a "utility body." "

Since I have not received complete and meaningful answers to each and every one of my reasonable questions from my purported employees at the D.M.V., I hereby unilaterally exercise some of my nonjudicial Remedies and Reserve the remainder.

A. Until further Notice, I hereby REVOKE and CANCEL the D.M.V.'s explicit "contractual" Power of Attorney to receive Service of Process on my behalf, on the Ground of Willful Misconduct by the D.M.V.
B. Until further Notice, I hereby REVOKE and CANCEL any and all other undisclosed, implied, or hidden Power(s) of Attorney which the D.M.V. may claim, believe, or wish it has on my behalf, on the Ground of Willful Misconduct by the D.M.V.
C. Until further Notice, I hereby REVOKE and CANCEL my "contractual" Consent to any and all un-warranted search(es)or seizure(s) of my body, my vehicle, or my other property, on the Ground of Willful Misconduct by the D.M.V.

These Cancellations become effective, and remain effective from, the date your Office receives this Notice.

A. I hereby DEMAND that you Direct/Order your purported employee "Ed Snyder" to correct the D.M.V.-issued DRIVER LICENSE C0488102, issued in the name THOMAS MURRELL THORNHILL III as follows:
1. The fictitious entity THOMAS M. THORNHILL, III is the only entity that the D.M.V. could have any legal authority to License. I suggest that "Ed Snyder" use that name.
2. Said entity's photograph should be a photograph of the SOCIAL SECURITY ACCOUNT NUMBER card issued in that name (copy attached).
3. Said entity has negligible Height and Weight and an unknown Sex.
4. I do not remember said entity's presumptive DOB; I believe THE SOCIAL SECURITY ADMINISTRATION can supply "Ed Snyder" with that information.
5. Said fictitious entity does not need corrective lenses.
6. My complete signature, which was somehow not incorporated into the current LICENSE by the D.M.V., reads:

B.1. Since your two purported employees "Ed Snyder" and "B.B. Jones" together have been unable to articulate any legitimate lawful or legal reason why the D.M.V. should not issue to my vehicle the vehicle plate(s) "California Exempt 1008 CC", I hereby DEMAND that you Direct/Order "Ed Snyder" to do so and to deliver said plates to me immediately.
2. Should the D.M.V. wish to maintain its plates upon my vehicle, it may do so by paying any and all "registration fees" as they become due and payable.
Otherwise, I will cheerfully return the D.M.V.'s property to it as soon as the Legal Title to my vehicle is delivered to me. C. Also, I hereby DEMAND that you Direct/Order "Ed Snyder" to issue and to deliver to me the legal CERTIFICATE OF OWNERSHIP for my vehicle unless and until he can (1) prove that anyone else is in fact the Legal Owner of my vehicle AND can (2) explain fully how such person(s) became the Legal Owner(s) of my vehicle.
Failure to deliver to me said CERTIFICATE OF OWNERSHIP will raise the Presumptions that (1) the D.M.V. no longer has possession of the Evidences of Title upon which it would be legally based and hence No legal Interest in my property and (2) "Ed Snyer", his predecessors, and/or persons acting under his authority have in fact Converted my property for the benefit of the D.M.V. and/or its assigns (i.e., an undisclosed "Legal Owner" unknown to me).

D. Also, I hereby DEMAND that you personally disclose and inform me of the full Legal Names of the persons claiming respectively to be "Ed Snyder" and "B.B. Jones". If said persons are self-bonded, please forward me certified copies of their respective individual Official Bond(s). If said persons are covered under a STATE OF CALIFORNIA umbrella Performance Bond, please disclose and inform me of the identity of the Insurer/Surety and the policy Number(s).

E. Should you not wish to "go to this much trouble" and provide me the necessary Remedies,
1. I Reserve the right to unilaterally REVOKE and CANCEL said invalid DRIVER LICENSE C0488102 on the three Grounds of (1) Lack of Authority to issue said LICENSE, (2) Fraud and Deceit in issuing said LICENSE, and (3) Willful Misconduct in attempting to conceal from me the true facts concerning our relationship.
2. I also Reserve the right to unilaterally REVOKE and CANCEL the "Registration" of this vehicle as a "motor vehicle" on the same Grounds.
3. I Reserve the right to DEMAND that you Direct/Order "Ed Snyder" to deliver to me all the Evidences of Title (which Documents are purportedly held by the D.M.V.) for this vehicle, which were initially "surrendered" to the D.M.V. in exchange for a D.M.V.-issued CERTIFICATE OF TITLE, together with two full formal Statements of Account, documenting all moneys received by the D.M.V. and the disposition of said moneys, for the two D.M.V. accounts C0488102 and 2B07667 since 1986.
4. I Reserve the right to proceed in as many Criminal actions, on both the State and Federal level, as are necessary to recover my possession of my property, the Legal Title to my vehicle.

F. You are more than welcome to permanently remove both "Ed Snyder" and "B.B. Jones" from their purported official positions (that is, not "paid administrative leave", but unpaid administrative dismissal with complete forfeiture of any and all benefits).

I have reached the Rhett Butler stage and, "Frankly, mah deah, I don't give a dam*."
I know of no lawful, legal, moral, or ethical reason why I should treat with persons whose goals appear to be the misappropriation of my property and the usurpation of my rights thereto.
Do you?

Should you have any questions or need further information, you are welcome to contact me by mail at the above mailing location.

I Declare and Affirm before God and my fellow Man, and under the penalties provided for Perjury in the State of California, that the foregoing information (and attachments) is(are) True, Correct, and Accurate to the best of my Knowledge, Belief, and Understanding at this time.

Verified by my hand this the _________________ day of _______________ in the year of Our Lord __________________________________________.

Signature:___________________________________________________
Thomas Murrell Thornhill III