Friends, pot, and a new way to wake up in the morning.

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A week or so I got notice of a warrant on my head for failing to pay a traffic ticket. Since I don't own this house and SO is working out of town, I only pick up the snail mail every few weeks or so. By the time I found out that I would be arrested within five days, my five days had already expired.

That night there was a knock at the front door. I cringed, the guilty criminal that I was, and didn't answer the door. I didn't think the police would break down the door and I didn't even know if it WAS the police at the door, but I knew I was guilty. I called my daughter to ask if the police would REALLY come and get me for an unpaid traffic ticket. She and her friends are young and they're ALWAYS getting these tickets, rarely have enough money to pay them and those tickets go to warrants. She said, "Oh yes, mom. You need to take care of that right away or you'll not only owe the ticket money but I'll have to post bail for you." [My mom the criminal.]

The next morning I called the Police Department Warrant Division and explained that I hadn't seen the arrest warrant until the day before. I talked to the same officer who had sent out the notice of my arrest. She was very nice and said, "Just this one ticket for $157.00?" I said, "Yes." She said, "Don't worry about being arrested. You've already expressed your desire to pay." I said, "Do I still have time to mail in the money? I fear driving to pay it because anything could happen and there I'd be going to jail for the warrant." She assured me that I had time to mail it, so I got a money order and mailed it that day.

My daughter called this morning at 8:30. She usually doesn't call before noon, but she has a different job now, so I thought she may start earlier. She lives in a 3-bedroom house owned by the parents of one of her roommates. Depending on whether various friends are unemployed temporarily or broke up with their mate of the moment, or simply came over late the night before and didn't feel like going home, I'd guess there could be five or 10 folks her age crashing on a couch or the floor on a given night. Many of the kids play musical instruments and they have jam sessions regularly. Traffic in and out of her house reminds me of all the neighborhood kids who flew in and out of MY house when the kids were young.

At 7:30am this morning, the house where my daughter lives was raided by the police. Someone answered the front door, but the police kicked it open anyway. They searched the place for drugs, but they didn't find any. They found some pipes, however, and my daughter fessed up to ownership of one of them. She got a ticket for drug paraphernalia, and three of her friends were arrested for ..... warrants for unpaid traffic tickets.

It seems an anonymous tip was called in suggesting that these young people were drug trafficking. My daughter explained to the police that none of them sold drugs, although they DID smoke pot on occasion. The officer said, "Well, you shouldn't be having so many people coming in and out all the time." She said, "We're young. We have lots of friends." Is there a law against having friends?

The irony [in my mind] is that some local policemen own a head shop in town. There doesn't seem to be a law against selling paraphernalia, just one against owning it.

-- Anita (Anita_S3@hotmail.com), March 14, 2001

Answers

Scr....Scr....Scr....Scratching my head........

-- dudesy (dudesy@37.com), March 14, 2001.

Where there is smoke, there is fire.

Where there is dysfunctional adults, there is dysfunctional children.

-- (Time @has.come), March 14, 2001.


My guess is your daughter could have fared worse. Cops could have sent the pipe screen for analysis - assuming it was well used and they hadn't changed it out that morning. Hope she knows the house and those who enter will be under surveillance for awhile. Decision- making time for her.

I've found cops to be pretty decent about pot busts. My experience was they'd confiscate the weed and paraphenalia without making arrests. Even had a state trooper instruct me to toss a hash pipe into a corn field while he watched. Pretty good Joe. Only once was I actually busted the whole nine yards. It was a good learning experience.

As to your "expressing your desire to pay" the fine, I hadn't heard of such a thing. In NJ they jailed you until the judge was in IF you didn't have the cash upfront. "I promise to pay" wasn't part of the equation. Then again, I was a hippie freak. And selective enforcement of laws is a given. Guess it pays to be middle-aged! (Ducking) :)

-- Rich (howe9@shentel.net), March 14, 2001.


Hmmm...if you don't pay your tickets you can expect to get arrested. The cops may not come looking for you, but the next time you get pulled over they'll do it.

As for your daughter's house, it sounds like a magnet for suspicion with all the traffic going in and out. Most folks don't like group houses with constant parties in their neighborhoods, so I suspect one of the neighbors called the cops.

-- Buddy (buddydc@go.com), March 14, 2001.


Rich:

I defer to your knowledge on this subject and will let her know that her friends could be under surveillance. She's been working and going to school for several years now and had quite a few roommates that didn't work out. This is her second time sharing that house with Dave. She moved back here for about a year once, but she'll be 22 this month, and she's too old to want to live at home. In addition, both she and Dave love music. It isn't everywhere where one has a piano in the garage, three guitars in the frontroom, bongos, flutes, etc., let alone a place where others with musical interest are allowed to stop by unannounced to jam for a few hours.

And selective enforcement of laws is a given. Guess it pays to be middle-aged! (Ducking) :)

No need to duck. It's the truth. This same daughter was once stopped by the police while walking with her girlfriend. The police pulled over their car and said, "Pull up your shirts." The girls said, "What?" The police said, "Just do it." They did, and then the police embarrassingly explained that the girls had fit the description of two girls who had been shoplifting at a local store. I can hear the description now: Two skinny white girls with long blonde hair.

-- Anita (Anita_S3@hotmail.com), March 14, 2001.



[The police pulled over their car and said, "Pull up your shirts."]

If I'd been in this situation, it'd take everything I could muster to keep from saying (among other things, of course), "Ok, ok...so out with it already. Is this a bust or what?"

-- Eve (eve_rebekah@yahoo.com), March 14, 2001.


Senora,

Perhaps the neighbors found the ad hoc music studio annoying? From personal experience, the sound from musical instruments (including acoustic ones) carries. Your daughter's neighbors may enjoy music, but of their own choosing.

As a general rule, most neighborhoods tolerate comings and goings without much ado... insofar as these activities do not disturb anyone. If the traffic becomes a problem, if people park and block driveways or if the place is noisy at odd hours people will complain.

A bit of advice, you may inform your daughter that it can be unwise to "pop off" to law enforcement officers. Most do not appreciate rhetorical questions like, "Is there a law against having friends." To my knowledge, there is not. But there are numerous laws that can be enforced by the police. Your daughter could have watched while the police took her home apart piece by piece looking for drugs. The presence of drugs on the pipes may have been enough to invoke local or state statutes. Oh, perhaps your daughter would prevail in a criminal proceeding, but to do so would cost time and money. A rule in most countries: Speak politely to anyone carrying a firearms.

A time-honored custom many younger people seem unaware of is meeting and knowing one's neighbors. Perhaps some good would come of your daughter reaching out to her neighbors, unless she has already done so.

-- Jose Ortega y Gasset (j_ortega_y_gasset@hotmail.com), March 14, 2001.


Buddy nailed it.

Legalize the damn plant already! Few things worse than living with the thought you can get busted at any time for having an herb in your possession. Brings back bad memories. Bile is an acquired taste.

As long as your daughter keeps only small quantities of smoke on her person and/or in the house she should be ok. The problem arises when the magic number is exceeded. In many states it is a mere 25-28 grams - about one ounce. In my day I'd smoke through that in a week or two at most.

The bigger problem is the foot traffic through the house. All it takes is one freak holding an ounce of smoke, a handful of XTC, or the downer of the day in quantity, and daughter faces potentially stiff punishment and heavy fines. One must assume that most people will not claim responsibility for illegal drugs, which then places ownership of them on the residents of the house. Funny how quickly amnesia can strike when jail looms.

Please tell her to be careful and to realize her life can be drastically changed in a heartbeat by the screw-up of an acquaintence and/or overzealousness of a cop.

-- Rich (howe9@shentel.net), March 14, 2001.


ROTFLMAO, Eve!!!

Senor Ortega makes some fine points.

-- Rich (howe9@shentel.net), March 14, 2001.


Our next show will originate from Dallas where there is an epidemic of young women mooning officers of the law.

-- (JohnWalsh@America's.MostWanted), March 14, 2001.


Jose:

I agree with what you said, except where you suggested that it was my daughter that asked that question of the police. I put it outside of her quotes to suggest that this is what *I*'m saying right now.

This music thing was kindof a sore point with SO when she moved in for the year. All three of my kids play at least three musical instruments, and I actually thought that was a good thing. Even with the door closed in her room, he could be trying to watch a ball game and the sounds of either the keyboard, the guitar, or the bongos could be heard across the house. [He should know how hard it was when they were young and LEARNING how to play. Thank goodness none of them took up the TUBA.]

Since they're all going to school and working [some going to school during the day and working at night, some going to school at night and working during the day], they don't really have an opportunity to get together for music until their neighbors are probably in bed. I'll keep an eye out for a more remote house they could rent. That could solve the problem.

My daughter's boyfriend plays in a band here locally. He doesn't live with her, but I'm sure he comes for the jam sessions. Heh...he was taken to jail barefoot and in his boxers for his warrant this morning. I doubt he hooks up his electronic stuff at Dave's house, but nonetheless, neighbors surely might not like his brand of music. In fact, I've turned down every invitation to see him play at various clubs myself, even though my daughter ensures me that he has the entire club rocking and rolling.

Fresh update: My daughter just called after looking at the warrant. It turns out that the police were looking for Dave [who left two days ago for a vacation in California.] Someone had apparently told the police that Dave sold him some weed. Dave's parents are conservative Christians and one of the rules of the house [from his father] is that there will be no smoking inside. We're not sure whether Dave's parents will be notified. He's 23, so they're not responsible for his actions, anyway, but they DO own the house.

I also learned that the pipe my daughter fessed up to wasn't even hers. It was Dave's. She asked the police if it would go on her record if she said the pipe was hers and they said, "No." Not wanting to get Dave into more trouble, she said, "It's probably mine."

I shared the surveillance information, Rich, and she said that she and Andy [her boyfriend] were already considering getting a place, but neither of them make enough to pay the rent and bills without another roommate.

It also seems that one of the police officers said, "This is the most cooperative raid I've ever seen." In response to "We're just peaceful people who smoke pot on occasion", one officer laughed and said, "Yeah...it'll probably even be legal soon, but right now it's against the law in Texas."

She also suggested that she might be moving home again for a while until they find another place to live. I said I'd already anticipated that. SO will be finding another contract in D.C. after this current one, so he shouldn't be bothered by the music this time.

-- Anita (Anita_S3@hotmail.com), March 14, 2001.


Rich:

The police found absolutely NO weed in the house, or any other drug of any form. I'm not suggesting that this is a TYPICAL situation in that house, but it was the situation at the time of the raid.

Since I smoked marijuana when I was her age, I can't be judgmental. My mom and dad never popped for music lessons, so I had to assume the whole thing revolved around the music and the traffic. She's not sure when Dave will be back, but I'm sure he'll be queried about what he's done, and decisions made based on whether he's actually been involved in "dealing."

-- Anita (Anita_S3@hotmail.com), March 14, 2001.


My mistake regarding the quotation.

Personally, I do not want live next door to a group of individuals who "jam" unless they have constructed a sound-proof studio. Most areas have noise ordinances designed to deter such behavior. As the old saying goes, your right to swing your arm ends at my nose. More aptly, your right to bongo ends at my ears.

I support the arts, but there are appropriate times and places for all artistic activities.

-- Jose Ortega y Gasset (j_ortega_y_gasset@hotmail.com), March 14, 2001.


"Someone had apparently told the police that Dave sold him some weed"

IMO that would be total hearsay and not justifiable for a warrant unless the rat said there was a large quantity in the house.It would be far more likely that the cops would have sent the rat to purchase reefer from dave one or more times Then,the house could be confiscated "by most state laws" as it was used in the act of committing said crime.

Your daughter should move away from the house now,as the quality of life there will never be the same,they will be watched and possibly eaves dropped on electronicaly from now on,turn ot the lights the party's over.Another house is an excellent idea.

-- capnfun (capnfun1@excite.com), March 14, 2001.


I agree completely, Jose. I'd almost brought up this music subject on the "Am I a bad American?" thread. We had Hispanic construction workers building a house next-door and they played what sounded like polka music that resonated through our house each day. I understood that they needed to play the music loudly because their jobs involved hammering, slapping of wood, etc., so overlooked it for a long time. There was only one day [out of months of this] that I couldn't tolerate it anymore and went out and signalled to them that I'd prefer they turn down the music. They did.

-- Anita (Anita_S3@hotmail.com), March 14, 2001.


Capn:

Much like myself [and I thank you all for sparing me another grey hair], my daughter has been discussing this issue today with folks. She asked me if it was legal for the police to "bug" the house during their raid. I said, "I don't know if it's legal, but don't assume they didn't do it."

-- Anita (Anita_S3@hotmail.com), March 14, 2001.


Oh BTW, re.the title of your post.

"Friends, pot, and a new way to wake up in the morning"

At first it made me LOL,as there is nothing new about it,but at 1st glance the phrase "WAKE AND BAKE KIDDIES,IT'S PARTY TIME!!!" rolled to mind. (pardon the pun) It brought back memories of 5 guys on vacation in Florida many moons ago.

-- capnfun (capnfun1@excite.com), March 14, 2001.


as there is nothing new about it,

Well, this was new to MY life. I hadn't even gotten a traffic ticket since I was my daughter's age. Attending UTA last semester I got two in two months. [I paid them both, but I was late on payment on the second and they returned my check stating that the ticket had gone to warrant status that day.] Once a ticket goes into warrant status, a personal check isn't sufficient. I went to the bank one day to get a Cashier's check, but I didn't arrive until 4:30 and the bank had closed at 4:00.

My daughter has never experienced anything like this either. She called AGAIN, suggesting that Andy and his sister could take a place with her. [I STILL think they should get a place more remote, but that would be farther for them to drive to work and school.] She said they really hadn't been having the frequent jam sessions lately, but knowing them and their interest in music, it would only be a matter of time before neighbors complained. I said, "You probably need to ditch Dave." She said, "Yeah...I know."

We'll see how it all turns out, but [for us] this was NOT a normal day.

-- Anita (Anita_S3@hotmail.com), March 15, 2001.


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