08-10-01

Dumb Crooks^TM

I was in DUI enforcement when I just completed the roadside work on a DUI suspect. Because it was a Saturday night, and I was the only traffic/DUI deputy working, I was busy and rushing. After placing the suspect in my car and completing a quick search of the suspect vehicle, I drove north on US-1 with my suspect to the county jail, while the tow truck with the suspect's car headed south. The suspect then asked me if anything would be disturbed in the car, and I said "no, it will be secured until you pay the tow bill." He then replied in a relieved tone, "Good. I mean, the DUI I can handle, I'm just glad you didn't find all the cocaine in my car."

After making a rapid U-turn after the tow truck that would make the Dukes of Hazard proud, I stopped the tow truck and found about a half-dozen rocks of cocaine I had missed earlier.

Ironically, the fact he made such a stupid admission to me was used as evidence in his impairment for DUI!

Next time you are washing your hands and complaining because the water temperature isn't just how you like it, think about how things used to be.... Here are some facts about the 1500s:

Most people got married in June because they took their yearly bath in May and still smelled pretty good by June. However, they were starting to smell so brides carried a bouquet of flowers to hide the body odor.
Baths consisted of a big tub filled with hot water. The man of the house had the privilege of the nice clean water, then all the other sons and men, then the women and finally the children-last of all the babies. By then the water was so dirty you could actually lose someone in it-hence the saying, "Don't throw the baby out with the bath water."

Houses had thatched roofs - thick straw - piled high, with no wood underneath. It was the only place for animals to get warm, so all the dogs, cats and other small animals (mice, bugs) lived in the roof. When it rained it became slippery and sometimes the animals would slip and fall off the roof -hence the saying "It's raining cats and dogs." There was nothing to stop things from falling into the house. This posed a real problem in the bedroom where bugs and other droppings could really mess up your nice clean bed. Hence, a bed with big posts and a sheet hung over the top afforded some protection. That's how canopy beds came into existence. The floor was dirt. Only the wealthy had something other than dirt, hence the saying "dirt poor." The wealthy had slate floors that would get slippery in the winter when wet, so they spread thresh (straw) on the floor to help keep their footing. As the winter wore on, they kept adding more thresh until when you opened the door it would all start slipping outside. A piece of wood was placed in the entranceway - hence, a "thresh hold."

In those old days, they cooked in the kitchen with a big kettle that always hung over the fire. Every day they lit the fire and added things to the pot. They ate mostly vegetables and did not get much meat. They would eat the stew for dinner, leaving leftovers in the pot to get cold overnight and then start over the next day. Sometimes they could obtain pork, which made them feel quite special. When visitors came over, they would hang up their bacon to show off. It was a sign of wealth that a man "could bring home the bacon." They would cut off a little to share with guests and would all sit around and "chew the fat."

Those with money had plates made of pewter. Food with a high acid content caused some of the lead to leach onto the food, causing lead poisoning and death. This happened most often with tomatoes, so for the next 400 years or so, tomatoes were considered poisonous.

Bread was divided according to status. Workers got the burnt bottom of the loaf, the family got the middle, and guests got the top, or upper crust." Lead cups were used to drink ale or whiskey. The combination would sometimes knock them out for a couple of days.
Someone walking along the road would take them for dead and prepare them for burial. They were laid out on the kitchen table for a couple of days and the family would gather around and eat and drink and wait and see if they would wake up - hence the custom of holding a "wake."

England is old and small and the local folks started running out of places to bury people. So they would dig up coffins and would take the bones to a "bone-house" and reuse the grave.
When re-opening these coffins, 1 out of 25 coffins were found to have scratch marks on the inside and they realized they had been burying people alive. So they thought they would tie a string on the wrist of the corpse, lead it through the coffin and up through the ground and tie it to a bell. Someone would have to sit out in the graveyard all night (the "graveyard shift") to listen for the bell; thus, someone could be "saved by the bell" or was considered a "dead ringer".

And that's the truth...(and whoever said that History was boring?!)

An Arkansas police officer stopped the defendant for speeding and having an improperly tinted windshield. When the officer checked the defendant’s license, he realized that he knew of some “intelligence of (the defendant) regarding narcotics.”

The officer also saw a rusty roofing hatchet on the car’s floorboard when the defendant opened his car door. The defendant was arrested for speeding, driving without registration and proof of insurance, carrying a weapon (the hatchet), and improper window tinting.

After the defendant was placed in the car of the backup officer who had arrived on the scene, the first officer inventoried the defendant’s vehicle. Under an armrest, he found a bag with a substance that looked like methamphetamine, along with several items of drug paraphernalia.

The defendant was charged with various drug offenses, along with the speeding and weapons charges. He moved to suppress all of the evidence seized from his car on the grounds that it was the product of a “pretext and sham to search” him, in violation of the Fourth Amendment.

The trial court granted the motion and the Arkansas Supreme Court affirmed, holding that even if the U.S. Supreme Court had not interpreted the Fourth Amendment as permitting inquiry into an officer’s subjective motivation for an arrest, a state court could interpret the U.S. Constitution more broadly.

The State appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court on whether the officer’s subjective reason for arresting the defendant should be considered, and whether a state court has the power to interpret the Fourth Amendment to provide more “rights” to citizens.

Holding: In Whren v. U.S., 116 S.Ct. 1769, the U.S. Supreme Court held that “subjective intentions play no role in ordinary, probable-cause Fourth Amendment analysis.”

The Arkansas Supreme Court did not question whether the officer in this case had authority to arrest the defendant for a fine-only traffic violation, and the U.S. Supreme Court recently held in Atwater v. Lago Vista, 121 S.Ct. 1536, that such arrests do not violate the Fourth Amendment.

The only issue considered by the Arkansas court was whether the officer’s subjective motivation in deciding to arrest the defendant was a pretext designed to permit a further inspection of the suspect’s car.

While Wren v. U.S., involved a traffic stop, and not a custodial arrest, there is no significant difference in that case and this one. Accordingly, the Court’s ruling in Wren applies. The Fourth Amendment challenge does not depend on “the actual motivations of individual officers.”

As to the question of whether a state court may expand the reach of protections afforded by the Fourth Amendment. The Court previously has rejected contradictory state court interpretations of the federal constitution.

In this regard, the Supreme Court said in an earlier case, “a State is free as a matter of its own law to impost greater restrictions on police activity than those this Court holds to be necessary upon federal constitutional standards.” A State may not, however, “impose such greater restrictions as a matter of federal constitutional laws when this Court specifically refrains from imposing them.”

Consequently, the judgment of the Arkansas Supreme Court was reversed, and the case was remanded.

COMMENT: This most recent holding on the “pretext arrest” issue restates the Court’s view that only objective motives matter when it comes to evaluating an arrest. For example, if an officer observes a traffic offense for which a custodial arrest can be made, and the officer makes one, it will not matter that the officer only decided to arrest because he or she thought the motorist might have drugs in the car. On the other hand, some of the Justices have expressed the view that, if evidence of wide-spread abuses of the arrest power comes to light, it might be necessary to reconsider whether subjective motivations for arrests should be reviewed. Unless officers appear to be making arrests for improper reasons (e.g., to circumvent the probable cause requirement for a vehicle search), the Court seems content to uphold such arrests and searches incident to them without exploring the “real” reason for the arrest. Arkansas v. Sullivan, 2001 WL 567705 May 29, 2001).

HB 1358 Transportation Code 502.2861 motorized mobility devices (handicapped) do not have to be registered. 3 or more wheels, 1 forward gear, top speed of 8MPH. these and non-motorized wheelchairs are considered pedestrian.

HB 1659 CCP 24.131 If county has a TDCJ inmate on bench warrant and he is released on bail or charges dismissed county SHALL notify them.

HB 1679 Transportation code 622.954 Tow truck does not have to get a permit if it is removing wreck, abandoned vehicle to nearest authorized repair, terminal, or vehicle storage facility.

HB 1863 H&S 822.028, dogs required to be registered, commissioner court MAY set a fee of $1 but not more than $5 on those required to be registered.

HB 2621 PC 25.03- Interference with Child Custody. Small change to beef up a 3rd party from taking/retaining a child under 18. Also covers the non-custodial parent enticement for the child to leave.

SB 164 CCP 49.07 Inquests. 1st the JP whose precinct it is in, 2nd, closest JP, 3rd any JP, 4th County Judge. County Judge has 5 days to give info to the proper JP.

HB 156 Drug punishment. If a child under 18 is used in commission of this offense it is up one degree.

I tried to make it simple but if I confused you, go to www.capitol.state.tx.us there are other laws in effect now but do not affect your daily operations so we will cover them later.

From the Chaplain - Marilyn Featherstone

Rick volunteers with prison ministries, and in his work has become friends with a pastor of a storefront church. The pastor’s church is called Almighty God Tabernacle.

On a Saturday night several weeks ago, this pastor was working late, and decided to call his wife before he left for home. It was about 10:00 p.m., but his wife didn’t answer the phone. The pastor let it ring many times. He thought it was odd that she didn’t answer, but decided to wrap up a few things and try again in a few minutes.

When he tried again to call her she answered right away. He asked her why she hadn’t answered before, and she said that the phone hadn’t rung at their house. They brushed it off as a fluke and went on their way.

The following Monday, the pastor received a call at the church office, where the phone was he had used on Saturday night. The man he spoke with wanted to know why he had called on Saturday night. The pastor couldn’t figure out what he was talking about.

Then the guy said, “It rang and rang, but I didn’t answer.” The pastor remembered the mishap and apologized for disturbing him, explaining that he had intended to call his wife.

The man said, “That’s O.K. Let me tell you my story. You see, I was planning to commit suicide on Saturday night, but before I did, I prayed. I said, ‘God if you are there, and you don’t want me to do this, give me a sign.’ At that point my phone started to ring. I looked at the Caller ID, and it said, ‘Almighty God.’ I was afraid to answer!”

Cyber Space

SirCam Virus

This mass-mailing virus attempts to send itself and local documents to all users found in the Windows Address Book and email addresses found in temporary Internet cached files (web browser cache).

It may be received in an email message containing the following information:

Subject: [filename (random)]
Body: Hi! How are you? I send you this file in order to have your advice or
I hope you can help me with this file that I send or
I hope you like the file that I sendo you or
This is the file with the information that you ask for

See you later. Thanks

This virus sends itself, as an executable, to email recipients found in the Windows Address Book and addresses found in cached files. This executable is appended with a document, if one is found, in the MY DOCUMENTS folder. The mailing routine talks SMTP to a server and will use the server address found in infected executables. This address is presumably captured from the victim's machine which sent the virus to you.

HOW TO KEEP FROM GETTING INFECTED: