Charles Oliver: It couldn’t happen here?

Published 10:18 pm Tuesday, June 16, 2015

A code enforcement officer in Overton, Texas, forced Andria and Zoey Green (ages 8 and 7) to close down the lemonade stand they’d set up near their home. The state requires a license to sell any home-cooked foods, including lemonade.

Police in Belfast, Northern Ireland, cordoned off an unoccupied house and sent a SWAT team inside to search it after someone reported they had seen ammunition inside. The ammunition turned out to be buttons on a video game controller.

Zach Anderson, then 19, met a girl, who said she was 17, online. They met and had sex once. It turns out the girl was 14. She lied in both her online profile and to Anderson. For that reason, both she and her family asked officials not to charge him for any crime. Of course, prosecutors disregarded the wishes of the girl, as did the judge. Anderson was sentenced to 90 days in jail, five years probation and must register as a sex offender. During his probation, he’s barred from even talking to anyone under 18, and from using a computer or cellphone or living in a home with Internet access.

Larry Martin is fighting a citation issued by the Atlanta Police Department for panhandling. Martin says he never got the ticket. He says cops must have cited someone who’d stolen his identity. Martin, who must not be familiar with the legal system, brought a police report showing his wallet had been stolen weeks before the citation was issued and a letter from his employer stating he was at work when the citation was issued, figuring that would get the judge to dismiss the citation. But so far, both the court and the cops have refused to dismiss the citation.

The city council in Inglewood, Calif., is using copyright law to try to silence some of its critics. The council has sued Joseph Teixeira and 10 others for posting video of council meetings to YouTube without the council’s permission.

California Assemblyman Scott Wilk recently became the only Republican to vote for a Democratic-backed state budget. Wilk, from Santa Clarita, says he was distracted because he was on Facebook at the time and accidentally pushed the wrong button. Assembly rules allow members to change their votes, so after he realized what he’d done he changed his vote to a “no.”

A quick reminder, if you give a false name to police, make sure it isn’t the name of someone wanted for breaching his bail conditions. Police in New Zealand say that’s what one man did. The man, who wasn’t named by media, was taken into custody and that’s where officers discovered who he really is. He now faces charges of giving false details and perverting the course of justice.

Charles Oliver is a staff writer for The Daily Citizen.