"I tend toward independence," Campbell says. "I veer vastly from left to right. Some people call that libertarian. Basically, I want the government to get out of our damn business. I want the police to stop breaking into my backyard and waving guns and breaking the law. I don't want to be attacked. I can't be pigeonholed. Since I was a small child, I would never go along with what anyone said. It got me beat up and pushed around but I simply didn't go with what I was told to go with. That's been a huge problem at home. I have an old English garden. People have pulled up and taken pictures and complimented me on my garden, and I have been harassed for 15 years because of my garden. My neighbors all do the same thing, and I am not required by law to do the same ugly-ass things that my neighbors do. I worked as a landscaper when I was 18 and 19 at some of the finest estates in Grosse Pointe, in spite of the fact that I have hideous allergies to some of the pollens."

According to Campbell, it is because of a run-in with neighbors before the gun-charge arrest that he's in the wheelchair at all. He says that a conversation about the state of his yard escalated into an argument about the state of the city. An altercation ensued in which Campbell says he was grabbed, knocked to the ground, had his nose and some ribs broken and "all the cartilage" in one leg ripped. 

"Right now I'm limping along with a couple of braces on my leg and a wheelchair that's charging up in my girlfriend's garage," he says. "I might have to sell the wheelchair, and I really need it."

According to Fox 2, both Campbell and a neighbor were charged with disorderly conduct in that incident.

When Campbell was back in court on the weapons charge, District Court Judge Roger LaRose reportedly called it "a serious case" involving a "loaded dangerous weapon" and "a person who may have mental problems," and ordered a competency exam. Fox 2 also said that Campbell faced charges for two guns found by police.

Campbell tells me, "The judge had decided that I must be dangerously unstable, even though there was no reason to assume that. He insisted that I be kept in a mental facility for the next 30 days, which, by the way, ran right through the [November] election, making it impossible for me to be there." So it could appear on the surface that his disposition was due, in part, to political reasons. "That, and they continued to refuse to give me my medication, even though it affects my health not to have it. That does seem questionable. It's either unbelievably stupid or deliberately homicidal."

I put it to Campbell that this is a long way from the '70s punk scene, and he would have been safer sticking to the stage. I love the Sillies' America's Most Wanton album, and I admire Campbell as a musician. Because of that, I want to believe the dude. 

Campbell himself is scared. He sent me an e-mail that concluded: "If you don't hear from me, it's because I will be in a holding cell and held incommunicado. If for any reason I should die while under custody, please look into it. Michelle will have the details."

To find out more about what Scott  Campbell is up to, see scottcampbell.net and thesillies.com.

> Email Brett Callwood