This might be worth a chuckle…
…if it had happened in Mayberry in 1950, instead of happening today in New York state. New York (along with approximately 29 other states, according to an article in the NY Times) is apparently full of town "justices" with sub-high school educations, and a serious lack of the knowledge needed in order to determine right from wrong.
A snippet, from today's New York Times:
(snip)
An Essex County town justice, Richard H. Rock, jailed two 16-year-olds overnight without a trial, saying he wanted "to teach them a lesson." They had been accused of spitting at two other people and charged with harassment. Then he sent them back for 10 more days, the commission said, without ever advising them they had a right to a lawyer.
In 2001, the commission punished him and Justice Maclaughlin with censure, the most serious penalty short of removal from the bench. Justice Maclaughlin is now in his 11th year in office. Justice Rock is in his 10th.
In Alexandria Bay, where Justice Pennington presided at a metal desk in a tiny room inside the police building, a quarter-century in office did not seem to deepen his understanding of his role. Just three days after he took home the 17-year-old girl, another case raised fresh questions about his familiarity with the law, or even the world outside his court.
Eeric D. Bailey, a 21-year-old black soldier from nearby Fort Drum, was facing a disorderly conduct charge after a tussle with a white bar bouncer. Sitting three feet from Mr. Bailey, the bouncer identified him as "that colored man." Mr. Bailey’s jaw dropped.
The soldier, who did not have a lawyer, told the judge that the term was offensive. But Justice Pennington said that while certain other words were racist, "colored" was not. "For years we had no colored people here," he said.
The commission had heard worse. After arraigning three black defendants arrested in a college disturbance in 1994, a justice in the Finger Lakes region said in court, "Oh, it’s been a rough day — all those blacks in here." A few years before that, a Catskill justice reminisced in court that it was safe for young women to walk around "before the blacks and Puerto Ricans moved here."
In an interview, Justice Pennington said the commission had treated him unfairly. But he may not have helped his case when he told the commission that "colored" was an acceptable description.
"I mean, to me," he testified, "colored doesn’t preferably mean black. It could be an Indian, who’s red. It could be Chinese, who’s considered yellow."
(snip)
(Link lifted from www.thismodernworld.com)
…if it had happened in Mayberry in 1950, instead of happening today in New York state. New York (along with approximately 29 other states, according to an article in the NY Times) is apparently full of town "justices" with sub-high school educations, and a serious lack of the knowledge needed in order to determine right from wrong.
A snippet, from today's New York Times:
(snip)
An Essex County town justice, Richard H. Rock, jailed two 16-year-olds overnight without a trial, saying he wanted "to teach them a lesson." They had been accused of spitting at two other people and charged with harassment. Then he sent them back for 10 more days, the commission said, without ever advising them they had a right to a lawyer.
In 2001, the commission punished him and Justice Maclaughlin with censure, the most serious penalty short of removal from the bench. Justice Maclaughlin is now in his 11th year in office. Justice Rock is in his 10th.
In Alexandria Bay, where Justice Pennington presided at a metal desk in a tiny room inside the police building, a quarter-century in office did not seem to deepen his understanding of his role. Just three days after he took home the 17-year-old girl, another case raised fresh questions about his familiarity with the law, or even the world outside his court.
Eeric D. Bailey, a 21-year-old black soldier from nearby Fort Drum, was facing a disorderly conduct charge after a tussle with a white bar bouncer. Sitting three feet from Mr. Bailey, the bouncer identified him as "that colored man." Mr. Bailey’s jaw dropped.
The soldier, who did not have a lawyer, told the judge that the term was offensive. But Justice Pennington said that while certain other words were racist, "colored" was not. "For years we had no colored people here," he said.
The commission had heard worse. After arraigning three black defendants arrested in a college disturbance in 1994, a justice in the Finger Lakes region said in court, "Oh, it’s been a rough day — all those blacks in here." A few years before that, a Catskill justice reminisced in court that it was safe for young women to walk around "before the blacks and Puerto Ricans moved here."
In an interview, Justice Pennington said the commission had treated him unfairly. But he may not have helped his case when he told the commission that "colored" was an acceptable description.
"I mean, to me," he testified, "colored doesn’t preferably mean black. It could be an Indian, who’s red. It could be Chinese, who’s considered yellow."
(snip)
(Link lifted from www.thismodernworld.com)
posted by Woof at 10:48 AM
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