08-22-03

I was working in a small town in Saskatchewan, Canada one evening and was in the office doing some paperwork. A man came in the office and said that he wanted a breathalyzer test.

I asked him why and he said that he was at home and he and his wife were arguing. She said he was drunk and he said he wasn't drunk and could prove it.

I asked him how he got to the office and he said he drove and pointed to his car sitting in front of the office.

I brought him into the office and administered the breathalyzer test, which he failed. He was arrested and charged for impaired driving and spent the night in jail. He appeared in court and admitted guilt and got a hefty fine for his efforts. -Sherman Allen

A teen ended up spending three unbearable hours in a trap after his attempts to vandalize the device went awry.

Conservation officers caught the Canmore, Alberta resident in one of their culvert-style bear traps on Monday morning.

"A 17-year-old went inside the trap about 1 a.m.," said Ron Wiebe, a conservation officer with Fish and Wildlife.

"We got called after he was in the trap for about three hours."

The boy and his friend, both of whom cannot be named because they are minors, were allegedly vandalizing the trap and signs warning people to stay away from the trap.

Wiebe said officers were called to the scene, unlocked the cage and let the boy out.

"There is a potential for injury when tampering with a bear trap," Wiebe said.

The 17-year-old has been charged with entering a closed area and may be charged with public mischief.

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History of Labor Day

"Labor Day differs in every essential way from the other holidays of the year in any country," said Samuel Gompers, founder and longtime president of the American Federation of Labor. "All other holidays are in a more or less degree connected with conflicts and battles of man's prowess over man, of strife and discord for greed and power, of glories achieved by one nation over another. Labor Day...is devoted to no man, living or dead, to no sect, race, or nation."

Labor Day, the first Monday in September, is a creation of the labor movement and is dedicated to the social and economic achievements of American workers. It constitutes a yearly national tribute to the contributions workers have made to the strength, prosperity, and well-being of our country.

More than 100 years after the first Labor Day observance, there is still some doubt as to who first proposed the holiday for workers. Some records show that Peter J. McGuire, general secretary of the Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners and a cofounder of the American Federation of Labor, was first in suggesting a day to honor those "who from rude nature have delved and carved all the grandeur we behold."

But Peter McGuire's place in Labor Day history has not gone unchallenged. Many believe that Matthew Maguire, a machinist, not Peter McGuire, founded the holiday. Recent research seems to support the contention that Matthew Maguire, later the secretary of Local 344 of the International Association of Machinists in Paterson, N.J., proposed the holiday in 1882 while serving as secretary of the Central Labor Union in New York. What is clear is that the Central Labor Union adopted a Labor Day proposal and appointed a committee to plan a demonstration and picnic.

The first Labor Day holiday was celebrated on Tuesday, September 5, 1882, in New York City, in accordance with the plans of the Central Labor Union. The Central Labor Union held its second Labor Day holiday just a year later, on September 5, 1883.

In 1884 the first Monday in September was selected as the holiday, as originally proposed, and the Central Labor Union urged similar organizations in other cities to follow the example of New York and celebrate a “workingmen's holiday” on that date. The idea spread with the growth of labor organizations, and in 1885 Labor Day was celebrated in many industrial centers of the country.

Through the years the nation gave increasing emphasis to Labor Day. The first governmental recognition came through municipal ordinances passed during 1885 and 1886. From those ordinances developed the movement to secure state legislation. The first state bill was introduced into the New York legislature, but the first to become law was passed by Oregon on February 21, 1887. During the year four more states — Colorado, Massachusetts, New Jersey, and New York — created the Labor Day holiday by legislative enactment. By the end of the decade Connecticut, Nebraska, and Pennsylvania had followed suit. By 1894, 23 other states had adopted the holiday in honor of workers, and on June 28 of that year, Congress passed an act making the first Monday in September of each year a legal holiday in the District of Columbia and the territories.

The form that the observance and celebration of Labor Day should take were outlined in the first proposal of the holiday — a street parade to exhibit to the public "the strength and esprit de corps of the trade and labor organizations" of the community, followed by a festival for the recreation and amusement of the workers and their families. This became the pattern for the celebrations of Labor Day.

Speeches by prominent men and women were introduced later, as more emphasis was placed upon the economic and civic significance of the holiday. Still later, by a resolution of the American Federation of Labor convention of 1909, the Sunday preceding Labor Day was adopted as Labor Sunday and dedicated to the spiritual and educational aspects of the labor movement.

The character of the Labor Day celebration has undergone a change in recent years, especially in large industrial centers where mass displays and huge parades have proved a problem. This change, however, is more a shift in emphasis and medium of expression. Labor Day addresses by leading union officials, industrialists, educators, clerics and government officials are given wide coverage in newspapers, radio, and television.

The vital force of labor added materially to the highest standard of living and the greatest production the world has ever known and has brought us closer to the realization of our traditional ideals of economic and political democracy. It is appropriate, therefore, that the nation pay tribute on Labor Day to the creator of so much of the nation's strength, freedom, and leadership — the American worker.

EVIDENCE ESTABLISHES VOLUNTARINESS OF CONSENT TO SEARCH, BUT VEHICLE EXCEPTION ALSO APPLIES.

An officer who went to a car detail shop to assist in an arrest found the defendant sitting on the ground in front of one of the bays. Another officer who already was on the scene told the officer that the defendant had given verbal consent to get his driver’s license from the glove compartment in his truck.

The officer asked the defendant for the keys to his truck, which he was given. When he opened the door, the officer smelled the strong odor of marijuana. The officer immediately closed the truck’s door and returned to the defendant, asking him to sign a written consent to search form.

The defendant signed the form, and the officer found marijuana, cocaine, drug paraphernalia, and a pistol inside two speaker boxes. The marijuana and drug paraphernalia were behind a speaker that was not held in place with screws, but the officer had to unscrew the other speaker to find the remaining contraband.

The defendant moved to suppress all of the contraband found in his truck. He argued that the State had not proven by clear and convincing evidence that he had consented to the search. The trial court denied the defendant’s motion.

Holding: Although the defendant admitted that he signed a written consent for the search of his truck, he claimed he did not know he could refuse consent because the officer did not read the form to him. Instead, the defendant testified, he believed that he was consenting to a search of the glove compartment only, and not to other containers within the truck.

The officer testified that he did not “brandish a weapon” when he asked the defendant to sign the consent form, but that he did read the form to the defendant and the defendant appeared to understand what he was told.

The form clearly stated that the “signer understands he has the right to refuse to consent to the search and the right to refuse to sign the consent.” It also asserted that, “no promises, threats, force, or physical or mental coercion of any kind whatsoever has been used against me to consent to the search…, or to sign this form.”

When a defendant moves to suppress evidence and a suppression hearing is held, the trial judge is the sole judge of the credibility of the witnesses and the weight to be given their testimony. In this case, the trial judge did not abuse his discretion in denying the defendant’s motion.

Even if the consent had been involuntary, a valid warrantless search could have been conducted under the “automobile exception” if probable cause existed. Such searches are permitted without a warrant because a vehicle may be moved quickly from the location or jurisdiction while a warrant is being obtained.

If law enforcement officers conducting a search of an automobile based on probable cause see evidence in “plain view” that evidence may be seized without a warrant. “Plain view” requires that the officers have a right to be in place where they make the “view,” and it must be “immediately apparent” to the officers that they have criminal evidence before them. This doctrine also applies to “plain smell.”

The officer had the right to open the door of the defendant’s truck. The defendant gave the officer his keys, and gave permission to retrieve his identification from the vehicle. Based on the smell of marijuana coming from the passenger’s compartment of the truck when the officer opened the door, probable cause existed to believe there was contraband in the vehicle.

The warrantless search of the truck was justified by this probable cause, and the items found during the search were subject to seizure. The trial court’s denial of the defendant’s suppression motion was supported by both voluntary consent and the automobile exception. Dickey v. State, No. 01-01-00901 (Tex. App. – Houston, 12-19-02).

Definitions

ADULT: A person who has stopped growing at both ends and is now growing in the middle.

BEAUTY PARLOR: A place where women curl up and dye.

CANNIBAL: Someone who is fed up with people.

COMMITTEE: A body that keeps minutes and wastes hours.

DUST: Mud with the juice squeezed out.

EGOTIST: Someone who is usually me-deep in conversation.

GOSSIP: A person who will never tell a lie if the truth will do more damage.

HANDKERCHIEF: Cold Storage.

INFLATION: Cutting money in half without damaging the paper.

MOSQUITO: An insect that makes you like flies better.

RAISIN: Grape with a sunburn.

SECRET: Something you tell to one person at a time.

TOOTHACHE: The pain that drives you to extraction.

TOMORROW: One of the greatest labor saving devices of today.

YAWN: An honest opinion openly expressed.

WRINKLES: Something other people have. You have character lines.

If your car starts once every three tries, is it reliable?

If your paperboy skips delivery every Monday and Thursday, is he trustworthy?

If you don’t go to work once or twice a month, are you a loyal employee?

If your refrigerator stops working for a day or two every now and then, do you say, “Oh, well, it works most of the time”?

If you water heater provides an icy cold shower every now and then, is it dependable?

If you miss a couple of loan payments every year, does the bank say, “Ten out of twelve isn’t bad?”