Badges? We Don't Need No Stinking Badges!
(2/15)
When a San Jacinto Count, Texas, deputy constable pulled over
driver John Pickens, they didn't give him a citation for the
expired plates on his car. They didn't even give him a warning. In
fact, they just
seized his cash—some $4,000—and jewelry. They said it was
connected to drugs, even though they didn't find any drugs in
Pickens' car. But it had to be tied to drugs, they said, because
Pickens was coming from a "known source city," Houston, and had a
criminal history. After a local television station started
investigating the story, the local district attorney told the
constable to return the money seized from Pickens, as well as
cashed seized from another motorist
Is That an Orange in Your Pocket? (2/14)
Tennis player Dominik Hrbaty
was fined $139 by New Zealand authorities for having two mandarin
oranges in his pocket when he arrived in the country. He'd brought
the fruit with him from Australia, not realizing it is illegal to
bring them into the country.
Cry, The Beloved Country (2/11)
Police in Greater Manchester, Great Britain, have been banned from
referring to local patrol divisions as
townships. "The term township has been deemed unsuitable for
use by the force. There are clear connotations with this term and
[the] apartheid regime of South Africa and the discriminatory
treatment of black Africans," said police chief inspector Jeff
McMahon. The term has been removed from official letterheads and
notepaper, and signs with the word township have been changed to
read "partnership."
Sweet Home Alabama (2/10)
Mac Holcomb says America was better back in the 1940s. You
remember? Back when homosexuality was "a despicable act" and "an
abomination." Well, that's what the Marshall County, Alabama,
sheriff said in a letter to citizens on his
official Web site. Alabama sheriffs apparently possess sweeping
powers, because Marshall also pledged to work to restore prayer in
schools and to remove nudity and profanity from television. After
complaints, Holcomb removed the letter from the county Web site,
but placed it on his own personal site. He says he stands by the
letter.
[Note: The original brickbat posted for February 10 involved an
apocryphal story debunked by
Snopes. Apologies to our readers.]
Traffic Enforcement (2/9)
"You don't cite people to punish them. You cite them to teach them
something. In this case, the deputy knew what she did was wrong."
That's what a Hillsborough County, Florida, sheriff's spokesman
said when the St. Petersburg times asked why a deputy who
ran a stop sign and slammed into another car, injuring the
driver, didn't get a ticket. The paper found some law enforcement
agencies in the area routinely refuse to hand out tickets to
officers they catch breaking traffic laws. The agencies say they
handle the matters internally, and offending officers face various
sanctions, including losing safe-driver bonuses. But they don't
have to pay fines, nor do they accumulate points on their driver's
licenses and face higher insurance rates like normal motorists
would. The Florida Highway Patrol will ticket its officers when
they are caught violating traffic laws, unless they are responding
to emergencies. And the FHP says it will investigate crashes
involving officers from other departments. But when they make it
known they will cite the officer if he or she is found to have
violated the law, most departments don't ask for their help.
Too Cheeky (2/8)
Melbourne, Florida, has outlawed wearing thong bathing suits in
public. If anyone over the
age of 10 is caught wearing a thong, they face a $500 fine. The
new ordinance also cuts the city's designated adult entertainment
zone from 937 acres to about 40 acres.
Big Drip (2/7)
Texas State Sen. Craig Estes (R-Wichita Falls) says cold
and allergy sufferers will just have to endure their ailments
for the public good. Estes wants to ban common cold remedies that
contain pseudoephedrine because they may be used to make illegal
methamphetamine. His bill would still allow liquids and gel
capsules that contain pseudoephedrine along with other ingredients.
Meth can be made from ingredients other than pseudoephedrine, and
law enforcement authorities say much of the meth consumed in the
U.S. comes from Mexico.
Flagged Down (2/4)
Florida officials estimate there are 156,000 U.S. flags in the
state's classrooms. But many of them aren't the right
kind of flag. A new state law mandates requires classroom flags
to be 3-feet by 2-feet. Education officials estimate that some
15,000 flags are the wrong size and will have to be replaced. The
law says schools should first try to pay for the flags through
fundraisers and donations, but if that doesn't work, they'll have
to dig into their own pockets.
Frenched Up (2/3)
Two nurses at Montreal's Jewish General Hospital have lost their
licenses because they
failed a written French grammar test. The French test is
required even though the hospital is an English-language
institution. The hospital said the two were excellent nurses, and
the province is currently facing a nursing shortage, so it wants to
keep them. But the lack of a license means they must look for work
outside Quebec.
Wholesale Madness(2/2)
The Georgia Department of Revenue seized 280 bottles of high-priced
wines from one of Atlanta's most exclusive restaurants. Tax
officials say the restaurant didn't purchase the wine from a
wholesale dealer. The restaurant's owner, Richard Lewis, says
there's a reason for that: The wine belongs to some of its regular
customers. It simply holds it for them to drink when they eat
there. No dice, say the revenuers, that's still illegal. Lewis says
he didn't know the law forbids restaurants from storing wine for
customers. And Revenue Commissioner Bart Graham, a customer of
Lewis's, says he didn't know that, either. So the department,
instead of auctioning off the wine as it is legally entitled to do,
will allow customers to reclaim the wine. But the restaurant still
faces fines or other sanctions for breaking the law, and state
officials say they'll crack down on other restaurants caught
storing wine for customers.
Well, It's a Plan (2/1)
During an emergency evacuation of Westminster High School, two
students in wheelchairs were left in a second-floor stairwell as it
filled with smoke. It turns out that wasn't a mistake. Local media
report official emergency policy at the Carroll County, Maryland
School, calls for teachers on the second floor to lead students to
the stairwell and leave
them there for fire crews to rescue.
Child's Play
(1/31)
The tsunami that struck Asia left thousands of children orphans.
But international authorities seem determined to stand in the way
of some who would adopt those children. UNICEF and other
nongovernmental groups are warning Westerners against adopting the
children, and Asian governments have said they will not allow
children under 16 to leave their countries. Meanwhile, the French
government has ordered a six-month suspension of adoptions from the
region.
Weighty Matters (1/28)
The Israeli parliament is considering a bill that would require
fashion
models to obtain licenses before they can work. The bill would
require aspiring models to be examined by a government doctor.
Those deemed to have a healthy weight would obtain a license. Those
who are too thin would be given nutritional advice and allowed two
months to put on weight.
Kiss This (1/27)
Dubai is one of the most liberal Arab nations, but there's a limit
to its freedom, as two tourists found out. An unidentified Italian
man and an Egyptian woman were fined for hugging and
kissing each other in the back of a taxi. The man was forced to
pay $3,000, and the woman $500.
Television Detectives (1/26)
Paul Oldham doesn't own a television and doesn't want one. But he
can't seem to convince the British government of that fact. He
keeps getting demands from the government that he pay his television
license fee, which funds the BBC. And when he writes back that
he doesn't have one, they tell him to expect a visit to his home.
The government also requires retailers to report everyone who buys
a television. Some 3 million Britons have their homes searched for
a television each year. The government sent 20 people to jail for
not paying the fee in 2003.
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