Reason Magazine

Taking a Toll

March 31, 2008

In Middle Township, New Jersey, police arrested two people for protesting Gov. Jon Corzine's plans to increase the use of tolls on state roads. A group had gathered outside Middle Township High School, where Corzine was holding a town hall meeting, when a school administrator asked them to leave. One of the group, former Bogota mayor Steve Lonegan, said the group had a right to protest peacefully on public property. "It's not public property, it's board of education property," the school official replied. Police then ordered the group to move at least a quarter mile from the school. When they refused, police arrested Lonegan and former Atlantic City councilman Seth Grossman for trespassing.

Little Dogs

March 28, 2008

The University of Georgia says student evaluations of their professors are confidential. But students shouldn't take the university at its word. Professor Joseph Disponzio received very negative evaluations from a student in two of his classes, evaluations that also contained anti-gay remarks. He took them to administrators and told them whom he suspected the student was. The university hired a handwriting and document examiner who confirmed the evaluations were written by student Brian Beck. The University Judiciary found Beck guilty of disruption of the evaluation process and harassment. It ordered him to apologize to Disponzio and write an essay on how his remarks affect the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transsexual community.

Help Save the Environment, Cut Down a Tree

March 27, 2008

In Santa Clara County, California, a judge has ordered Richard Treanor and Carolyn Bissett to cut down two of the redwood trees in their backyard. The trees cast shadows over their neighbor's solar panels. That neighbor, Mark Vargas, complained to the district attorney, who charged the couple with violating the state's Solar Shade Control Act, which bans trees and shrubs that shade more than 10 percent of someone else's solar panels between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. Treanor and Bissett say the will appeal the court decision.

Not-So-Smart Bomb

March 26, 2008

A U.S. Air National Guard plane was supposed to release a dummy bomb over a practice field in Kansas. Instead, the pilot dropped the 22-pound bomb on an apartment building in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Guard officials didn't realize what had happened until Tulsa police called them the next day.

Thanks a Lot

March 25, 2008

Amanda Rouse was on a California school bus with 40 elementary school students when the driver fell from her seat and hit her head. The quick-thinking 15-year-old jumped from her seat and pulled the bus to a stop. The bus struck two parked cars but no one was injured. Yet Rouse says Marina High School officials gave her a Saturday detention because she wasn't supposed to be on the bus in the first place. She had felt sick on the way to school and had asked the bus driver to take her back to the bus yard.

Banned in Pakistan, and Everywhere Else

March 24, 2008

Pakistan's Telecommunication Authority blocked access to YouTube because someone had placed a trailer for an upcoming film by Dutch lawmaker Geert Wilders on the site. The film reportedly will argue that the Koran inspires "intolerance, murder and terror." YouTube later removed the trailer, saying it violated the site's terms of use. But before that happened, Pakistan's efforts to censor YouTube reportedly led to the site being unavailable across the globe for several hours.

Who Are You?

March 21, 2008

Kentucky state Rep. Tim Couch, a Republican, has proposed legislation that would ban anonymous posting on the Internet. The bill would require anyone who wants to post something on the Web to register their name, address and email address with the state, and they would have to use their real name whenever they post. Web site operators who allow people who haven't registered to post on their sites would be fined $500 for the first offense and $1,000 for each additional offense.

Do You Like My Tight Sweater?

March 20, 2008

Flormarie Figueroa was cold, so she put on a sweater. That got her a suspension from her Lawrence, Massachusetts, high school. Officials said that putting on a sweater, no matter how cold you are, is an act of "insubordination." That's because the school uniform policy calls for short-sleeved, charcoal-gray collared shirts, khaki pants and black shoes. No sweaters are allowed. Lawrence schools suspend around 60 students a week for dress code violations. No word on how many are suspended for putting on sweaters when it's cold, but officials admit it has been an issue. The school is considering a change in the policy to allow sweaters in the winter. But for now, they are still banned.

That's a Lot of Bull

March 19, 2008

Janice DeCoff won a bull calf in a poker game. She named the calf Mookie and set up a shed for it in the backyard of her Ewing, New Jersey, home. Then a neighbor snitched to animal control, which forced DeCoff to get rid of the calf.

Don't Be So Dramatic

March 18, 2008

The Carnon Downs theater group in Cornwall recently registered with police a toy gun that produces a flag saying "Bang." They had to register the prop to comply with government health and safety rules. Those rules also forced them to register several plastic and wooden swords and keep them locked up when they aren't being used.

Sorry, Wrong Door

March 17, 2008

Michelle Kightley was feeding her three-year-old son when police broke down the door to her Kettering, UK, home. They searched the home and didn't find whatever it was they were looking for. Kightley then asked if they were sure they had the right house. They looked again at the search warrant and realized that they were not at the right place. They went on to the right house, arrested one person on drug charges, and let another person off with a warning.

Zeal of a Convert

March 14, 2008

Kamariah Ali was a member of the Sky Kingdom commune, which stressed harmony between religions. Unfortunately, members of some religions aren't much interested in harmony. The government of Malaysia demolished the commune in 2005, accusing members of being apostates from Islam. Malaysian law bars Muslims from converting to other religions. Now, Kamariah Ali, who was arrested when the commune was destroyed, has been sentenced by a shariah court to two years in jail for refusing to return to Islam.

Unhappy Cows Make Bad Cheese

March 13, 2008

Rogers, Arkansas, police chief Steve Helms has suspended Lt. David Mitchell for videotaping himself two years ago using a Taser on a cow and attempting to tase another cow but accidentally shocking himself and another man instead. Helms admits he and other high-ranking members of the department saw the video after it was completed but he didn't realize at the time Mitchell's actions may have been illegal or in violation of department policy. For some reason, he only figured that out after an animal rights group found out about the video.

If You Can't Trust a Sex Offender...

March 12, 2008

Claudio Digregorio was stunned when he found his home listed as the address of a convicted sex offender on a Florida Department of Corrections Web site. The man listed on that site, Tarek Baroody, didn't live in Digregorio's home and had never lived there.

A Little Bit of Soap

March 11, 2008

Afghanistan's Minister of Information and Culture, Abdul Khuram, has threatened to prosecute television executives if they continue to air shows that offend public morality. The announcement came after the nation's Islamic Council of Scholars began a campaign to get numerous Indian television shows, mostly soap operas, off the air. They accuse the shows of "spreading immorality and un-Islamic culture."

No One Says No to the Taxman

March 10, 2008

The Monongalia, West Virginia, County Commission upheld a 1,531 percent property tax increase levied on Jim Jones. Jones says the taxes on a piece of property he owns skyrocketed after he rejected an offer from Chief Deputy Assessor Bill Perry to buy the property. Perry denies the claim, and Assessor Rodney Pyles says taxes went up because of a routine audit. But the owners of a neighboring piece of property also claim their taxes soared after they turned down an offer from Perry.

Banned in Pakistan, and the Rest of the World

March 7, 2008

Pakistan's Telecommunication Authority blocked access to YouTube because someone had placed a trailer for an upcoming film by Dutch lawmaker Geert Wilders on the site. The film reportedly will argue that the Koran inspires "intolerance, murder and terror." YouTube later removed the trailer, saying it violated the site's terms of use. But before that happened, Pakistan's efforts to censor YouTube reportedly led to the site being unavailable across the globe for several hours.

Not My Cross to Bear

March 6, 2008

Albany High School in Oregon suspended Jaime Salazar and Marco Castro for wearing crucifixes. School officials say crucifixes are gang symbols.

Penny For Your Thoughts

March 5, 2008

When officials at New Jersey's Readington Middle School cut the lunch period to 30 minutes, students got upset. Some of them showed their displeasure by paying the $2 cost of their lunches in pennies. Twenty-nine eighth graders received detention for their payments.

Going at It Like Goats

March 4, 2008

City officials cited Carol Mendenhall after a neighbor complained her goats were "doing it" on Mendenhall's yard. It turned out there actually was a city law against animals mating in public, even on private property. After Mendenhall complained, the city dropped the citations, and the city council repealed the law.

If This Had Been a Real Emergency...

March 3, 2008

Jingbin Wang was teaching a foreign policy class at North Carolina's Elizabeth City State University when a man entered the classroom and pointed a gun at him. The gunman told him to close the door and ordered seven students to line up along a wall. The man said he had been kicked out of the school and threatened to kill one of the students. After about 10 minutes, campus police rushed in and subdued the man. Only later did Wang and his students learn that it was all just a drill to test the school's preparedness for a real gunman.

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Daily Brickbats Archives: March 2008