The Fight Against Terrorism continued...

[The Sheck]

(After you're done reading, consider the personnel and other related costs for this.)

MIAMI, Florida (AP) -- A teacher's aide who forgot to put away her marshmallows and hot chocolate at Yellowstone National Park last year was taken from her cruise ship cabin in handcuffs and hauled before a judge, accused of failing to pay the year-old fine.

Hope Clarke, 32, crying and in leg shackles, told the judge Friday she was rousted at 6:30 a.m. by federal agents after the ship returned to Miami from Mexico. She insisted that she had paid the $50 fine before she left Yellowstone, which has strict rules about food storage to prevent wildlife from eating human food.

Customs agents meet all cruise ships arriving from foreign ports and run random checks of passenger lists, and a warrant claiming Clarke had not paid the fine was found in the federal law enforcement database.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Peter Outerbridge conceded there were some "discrepancies," but suggested to the judge that Clarke appear in court again to clear up the warrant.

U.S. Magistrate Judge John O'Sullivan, who had a copy of a citation
indicating the fine had been paid, apologized to Clarke, who spent
nearly nine hours in detention, and demanded that the U.S. attorney's office determine what went wrong.

Zach Mann, spokesman for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement,
called the arrest "an unfortunate set of circumstances." He added, "We were acting on what we believed was accurate information."

[DaysWithoutEnd]

Terrorists terrorize Yellowstone Park with Terror!

[Duemellon]

Bomb her.

[yoshomon]

Goddamn, I feel sorry for anybody who forgot to pay a speeding ticket. Better start getting ready to be dragged out of work by the feds.

[Shrike]

This has nothing to do with the fight on terrorism, they would do this to you 10 years ago when the strict environmental laws were passed in yellowstone park.

[BigSugar]

quite frankly, i blame Bush. i mean, he should have gone through all the old warrants and purged the ones involving marshmallows. it only makes sense. the last true marshmallow threat was in "Ghostbusters", and Venkman and the boys took care of that fluffy bastard!

stupid Bush!

[aqualou]

Originally posted by The Sheck

at Yellowstone National Park last year was taken from her cruise ship cabin
I wasn't aware that Yellowstone was a major seaport.:p

[angryj5]

"We were acting on what we believed was accurate information."

similarly, Cincinnati Police gunned down another young man of color, "acting on information that the man was both young and black, we had no choice but to gun him down, he might have ahd an overdue parking citation."

[Smoker29]

???

[The Mad Hater]

http://www.cnn.com/2004/LAW/06/18/marshmallows.ap/index.html

there is obviously some spin going on here, or outright lies for that matter. as pointed out above, since when is Yellowstone a seaport? also, terrorists don't eat marshmallows. I'll find a source for that one later. if this is a dig on Homeland Security, they know the scoop. they've abandoned all probes into marshmallow consumption.

cnn: the foxnews of the left!

[The Sheck]

Originally posted by The Mad Hater
http://www.cnn.com/2004/LAW/06/18/marshmallows.ap/index.html

there is obviously some spin going on here, or outright lies for that matter. as pointed out above, since when is Yellowstone a seaport?

Umm...at the top of the article it does say MIAMI, FL. But it still MUST be a lie, because Miami is located nowhere near a seaport, right? :rolleyes:

[The Sheck]

Originally posted by Shrike
This has nothing to do with the fight on terrorism, they would do this to you 10 years ago when the strict environmental laws were passed in yellowstone park.

You mean, they would track you down halfway across the country, shackle you, and throw you in jail for leaving a Pop-Tart™ in the woods? Talk about excess spending of government...

Anyhow, the checking of passenger backgrounds when traveling is a result of the Patriot Act, which would make it part of...

the fight against terrorism.

Thanks for playing. Try again if you'd like.

[The Mad Hater]

Originally posted by The Sheck


Umm...at the top of the article it does say MIAMI, FL. But it still MUST be a lie, because Miami is located nowhere near a seaport, right? :rolleyes:

joking.

[aqualou]

Originally posted by The Sheck


Umm...at the top of the article it does say MIAMI, FL. But it still MUST be a lie, because Miami is located nowhere near a seaport, right? :rolleyes:
Are you trying to tell me that this bright 32 year old women didn't realize that the mashmellows and hot chocolate were not put away all the way from Yellowstone to Miami. She was obviously framed!

[angryj5]

its almost as fun as the war on drugs

[classicgrrl]

Originally posted by The Sheck


You mean, they would track you down halfway across the country, shackle you, and throw you in jail for leaving a Pop-Tart™ in the woods? Talk about excess spending of government...

can I get this in a bumper sticker format?

[BigSugar]

here's the main problem. Federal park. federal charge/warrant. federal computer system. customs is a federal agency. stupid paperwork mixup means that this S'mores eatin' beyotch gets detained on a warrant that should have been erased. agents did what they had to. judge did what he had to. it's a tough world. duck and cover, baby.

[angryj5]

and paperwork errors always work on the side of caution? no, and the point is there was a fuckup and this woman was incarcerated for a day for no reason. she paid the fine, if park rangers really want jailtime as well as a fine, they should lobby congress not ask customs to imprison violaters for them.

anymore stupid comments BigSug ?

Peace
-AngryJ5-

[BigSugar]

Originally posted by angryj5
and paperwork errors always work on the side of caution? no, and the point is there was a fuckup and this woman was incarcerated for a day for no reason. she paid the fine, if park rangers really want jailtime as well as a fine, they should lobby congress not ask customs to imprison violaters for them.

anymore stupid comments BigSug ?

Peace
-AngryJ5-

no jackoff, i think you've taken care of making all the stupid comments we need for today.

she was detained for 9 hours and saw a judge and it was handled. paperwork is handled by humans and humans make mistakes. what the fuck does this and paperwork errors always work on the side of caution? mean anyway?? it's nonsensical. she was incarcerated for a warrant that was issued by mistake. christ, go to district court some day and see all the damn bench warrants issued on failing to pay traffic tickets....many times, when the fines are paid, those warrants get overlooked and sit there until they are served or someone clears it up. I deal with this shit every day.

so, any more stupid comments AngryJ5? or do you want to attempt to slam me again with nonsense and show how little you truly know about these issues?

[angryj5]

my point was that there are errors made that allow so called terrorists to slip by too, the same way a junk filter makes mistakes both ways sending non-spam to the junk box and sending spam to inbox. both ways not just on the side of caution. we'll see if you still think this is such a great idea when you get detained for 9 hours on a small fine that was already paid.

[BigSugar]

jesus christ. is your point that humans make mistakes?? i accept that as absolute truth. why this is even a story is beyond me. it's a bureaucratic screw up. it got fixed. end of story. fire yourself a letter off to Yogi Bear care of Jellystone and see if he and the Park Ranger can't get this whole mess cleared up.