Weekly Daily Brickbats Archive 2008 January 15-31

European Union officials insist it's not a criminal offense to sell goods in pounds and ounces. They should tell that to the people prosecuting 63-year-old Janet Devers, who runs a fruit and vegetable stand in East London. Police seized metric scales from her stand in September, and just before Christmas, authorities informed her they were charging her with 13 counts of violating laws requiring British merchants to sell in metric units. She faces a fine of up to £5,000 on each charge and she will have to reimburse the costs of making the case against her if she loses, which could total thousands of pounds.

Ulrich Kring, 70, is a German national, but he has lived in Switzerland his entire life. He finally decided to apply for Swiss citizenship. He applied in Dielsdorf, where authorities require all foreigners applying for citizenship to take classes in German. Kring found that the bureaucrats didn't care that he's been speaking German his entire life. He has appealed to a higher local authority. If he doesn't win that appeal, the German course will cost him 250 Swiss francs.

The Ocoee, Florida, Police Department was supposed to take Anthony Johnson's driver's license. Instead, they took the license of Andrew Johnson. Not only do the two men have different first names, Andrew is white and Anthony is black. Officials say the license numbers of the two men were mixed up. They also say Andrew Johnson will to prove he isn't Anthony before he can get his license back.

The Murfreesboro, Tennessee, City Council has banned people from placing sofas or other indoor furniture on their front porches. They also banned people from parking on their lawns. Resident Shari Hinton told a local TV station she sometimes parks on her grass to keep from blocking another car in her driveway. "If someone else is trying to get out, it's just a bother, so it's convenient to park on the lawn," she said, according to WSMV.