Kathleen Parker: Snap, Crackle, Pot
Washington Post OpEd about Phelps, Lott, and the drug war, and she speaks with Howard Wooldridge of LEAP.
Drink and drive and it's grrrrrrrr-eat! Smoke pot and your flakes are frosted, dude. So seems the message from Kellogg's, which has decided not to renew its sponsorship contract with Michael Phelps after the Olympian was photographed smoking marijuana at a party in South Carolina.
That's showbiz, of course, but the cereal and munchie company had no problem signing Phelps despite an alcohol-related arrest.
full story...
LOTT LACKS CONSISTENCY IN DRUG ENFORCEMENT
Leon Lott is doing his job. After the eight arrests he's made in the aftermath of Phelpsgate, there's no doubt about that.
But is the Richland County sheriff just trying to keep his reputation from going up in smoke? Is he going for the gusto solely because he's in the limelight?
These are legitimate questions, and while we can't know Lott's motivation, certain elements of the story do not check out.
It makes sense that he's pursuing Phelps's case. After the photographic evidence practically fell in his lap, he would have been a fool not to follow through. But the head-scratcher is his insistence on tracking down these eight others.
continued...
Sheriff Lott's New Toy
Radley Balko | September 1, 2008, 1:12pm
The Richland County, South Carolina Sheriff's Department (that's them above) just obtained an armored personnel carrier, complete with a belt-fed, .50-cal turreted machine gun. Sheriff Leon Lott has charmingly named the vehicle "The Peacemaker," and insists that using a caliber of ammunition that even the U.S. military is reluctant to use against human targets (it's generally reserved for use against armored vehicles) will "save lives."
Can we call this overkill, yet? Is there any weapon people like Sheriff Lott would consider inappropriate for use against American citizens?
Oh, Come On
Monday, September 1st, 2008
This is just ridiculous: The Richland County (S.C.) Sheriff’s Department has acquired an armored personnel carrier complete with a turret-mounted .50-caliber belt-fed machine gun for its Special Response Team.
UPDATE: Pete Guither found a photo of the thing, and the weird origin of the name the sheriff gave it.
SHERIFF LEON LOTT SHOULD STOP THE POLITICKING
Sheriff Lott is using the Michael Phelps incident for his own shameless exposure and abusing his position as sheriff for political purposes. There are bound to be countless editorials on this subject this week but mine will be different: because when I started writing this, I was as high as a kite.
As soon as I heard the news that Lott had ordered the arrest of college-aged kids in connection with the Phelps bong hit, I called a very successful pot smoking friend and said, "I need to smoke." She was very confused as I am known as a staunch non-smoker, but Lott had driven me to the edge.
'Insane' Sheriff Makes Eight Arrests From Party That Produced Phelps Photo
The Michael Phelps bong photo fiasco continued today as Richland County Sheriff Leon Lott arrested eight people connected to the party where the photo was taken.
full story...
Pot Smokers Unite Against Kellogg
Since Cannabis Culture Editor Marc Emery's call for a boycott of Kellogg's a few days ago for dropping Olympian Michael Phelps after he was photographed smoking a bong, pot smokers from across the globe continue to put the heat on the cold cereal company. Surprisingly, the mainstream media seems to be paying attention.
full story...
Boycott Kellogg Co. for Dumping Michael Phelps
Cannabis Culture Magazine Editor Marc Emery is encouraging all marijuana smokers to boycott Kellogg's cereal company for dropping their sponsorship of Olympian Michael Phelps after he was caught on film smoking from a bong.
full story...
Feature: Drug Reformers Boycott Kellogg Cereals
Over Dumping of Michael Phelps Over Bong Photo
Law Enforcement: This Week's Corrupt Cops Stories
There may be something rotten in the dope squad in Philly, something definitely was rotten in Beantown, and yes, another jail guard goes down.
Police Trying Too Hard to Build Case Against Phelps
Speaking of Phelps, the attorneys of two of the young men that Sheriff Lott went after have spoken up, and (no surprise) the only thing Lott was after was for them to incriminate Phelps. Pete Guither
The lawyers did not release the names of their clients, but Harpootlian said that his client didn't even see Phelps smoke marijuana at the party. McCulloch said his client was out of town, and only lived at the home when the party happened. Both men have since moved.
"After they arrested him, they didn't ask him where did you get the marijuana or who sold it to you. Almost all the questions they asked him were about Michael Phelps," Harpootlian said. He added: "It was like they were busting the biggest heroin distributor in the country."
The investigators appear to be trying to build a case against Phelps from others - a tactic normally used to bring down drug dealers with a large amounts of cocaine or methamphetamine, not someone who smoked marijuana five months ago, said Chip Price, a Greenville attorney who has dealt with drug cases for 33 years.
"Never have I seen anything like this on a simple marijuana case," Price said.
Lott Pot/petition
26 of 30 USC students tell WIS they've smoked pot
Feb 10, 2009 Updated: Feb 13, 2009 COLUMBIA, SC (WIS)
Michael Phelps is back in the pool, but eight people who partied with him in Richland County have been arrested.
The charges stem from a house party near Five Points where a photo was taken showing Phelps smoking from a bong.
Some people say the deputies should have better things to do, while others say the law is the law.
But what may be most surprising is what we heard on the USC campus.
USC students, WIS viewers weigh in on marijuana use, Jordan Sandler reports (java)
How many students have smoked marijuana at the University of South Carolina? Here are some answers we got:
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