Greg, the man carried ID indicating he was employed by a state agency that administered welfare, food stamps, and other assorted "benefits." His ID was from a neighboring state.
In short, his prowling about was not only without any justification in any jurisdiction .... he was well out of his! He was as out of place as a Mountie at a Luau.
What did he really want? I still have no idea. He asked about, or mentioned, three separate issues. When his allusion to my remodeling activities got nowhere, he asked about a neighbor, then asked about the previous occupancy of the house. On leaving, he mentioned 'fraud' and trying to save 'my' tax dollars.
Most telling was his response when I asked what his duties had to do with me. "Well, someone's having a rough day." Not really. More accurate would be to say that peeking through my windows is likely to put me in a 'defend the castle' mood, and I'll want to know just WHO he is and WHAT he wants before the welcome mat comes out.
I suppose the lesson to this is that the 'lack of love' you may feel was probably inspired by prior unpleasant experiences. As long as a man considers himself to be free, and not just the government's property, you've got to expect the public to really dislike words like 'must.' The public is also going to be cynical every time catch-all excuses like 'the public welfare' get casually tossed about.
There's such a thing as 'warrants,' a concept far too many functionaries work far too hard to circumvent. Sure, let's send in the game warden to look for poached deer (he doesn't need a warrant); he can then give us 'probable cause' for whatever we imagine might be within those walls.
Sound far fetched? Well, I was asked to not get too political- but there's no escaping the simple fact that laws are, by definition, political. As my little encounter illustrates, there's also plenty of reason to be prudent.
