[Vision2020] [CORRECTED and RESENT] Prosecutors Take Potshot Against Poor 66-Year-Old

[Tom Hansen]

In my opinion marijuana should be legalized and controlled like alcohol.
And I don't even own a van, although I used to.

Besides, when I retire from UI I'll need the additional income.

>From today's (June 7, 2007) Spokesman Review -

---------------------------------------------------

Doug Clark: Prosecutors take potshot against poor 66-year-old
Doug Clark
The Spokesman-Review
June 7, 2007

Even people who don't smoke pot should be fuming about the over-the-top
prosecution of Christine Rose Baggett.

Spokane County prosecutors are trying to peg the ailing 66-year-old Spokane
great-grandmother as a dangerous drug dealer because she gave a pinch of pot
back to the dude who sold her an ounce of weed for medicinal purposes.

Wow. There must not be any meth chefs to go after.

The upshot is that the guy who sold Ganja Granny the ounce for $180 gets a
misdemeanor while she is staring at a big fat felony delivery charge.

I guess it shouldn't be a mystery.

The woman can't shoot from the perimeter. 

Her ball handling is a joke. She shuffles around with a cane, has two kinds
of arthritis, poor eyesight and a broken ankle that won't heal.

Maybe if Baggett had mad basketball skills she, too, would have gotten a
sweet deal like Spokane County prosecutors gave Josh Heytvelt.

Remember Heytvelt?

He's the Gonzaga hoops star who was caught in Cheney last February with a
baggie of magic mushrooms and some chocolate shroom-laced muffins.

Heytvelt was charged with felony possession, not delivery.

That key difference allowed the athlete to qualify for a diversion program,
which, if he completes all the court edicts, will get the nasty mess
expunged from his record.

The same folks who are treating Ganja Granny like a Colombian drug lord
could have easily dropped the "felonious possession with intent to deliver"
hammer on Heytvelt.

You think all that fungi was for one guy?

What have you been smoking?

The lad had enough trippin' toadstools to send his teammates, the coaching
staff and the entire Kennel Club on an extended hallucinogenic "bong
voyage."

(Yeah, I know bong voyage is more of a pot reference. But I just like the
way it sounds.)

But why wreck the future of a forward with great power on the boards?

I'm not suggesting that Ganja Granny should go scot-free. The cops caught
her dead to rights last August when she bought the ounce of weed from the
aforementioned man.

Baggett, according to our Tuesday Spokesman-Review story, let the guy keep
some for his troubles.

The woman contends marijuana relieves her miseries better than all the
powerful pharmaceuticals that have been prescribed for her.

"I just feel terrible when I take prescription medications," she said in the
story. "I don't think I'm out to hurt anybody or have a big grow operation.
I'm just out to ease my pain. That's what the whole deal is."

Who knows? I don't really care if this senior has been a chronic user of the
chronic since Woodstock.

Based on the facts as reported, this looks like a bigger overcharge than
hiring a plumber on Christmas Day.

Baggett's attorney, Frank Cikutovich, appeared on the Mark Fuhrman talk
radio show Wednesday. His position regarding his client is pretty
straightforward: "She possessed a misdemeanor amount and should be charged
accordingly."

That would be the sensible solution, I suppose. But I would also charge this
woman with A.L.A.G.

"Acting Like a Grandma."

Grandmas are always trying to give you stuff, and my grandmother, rest her
soul, was no exception. Every time I went over to her house the following
would occur:

."Here, sweetie, let me wrap some of this cobbler for you to take home."

."I can't possibly eat all these oatmeal raisin cookies, Dear. Take some of
them with you."

."Surprise! Guess who gets the leftover cream puffs?" 

>From these examples I think you can see why I'm SO FREAKING FAT!

Thank God my granny wasn't a pothead. I'd be living in a van down by the
river.

But this grandmotherly generosity could be what got Baggett into all the
trouble.

"Here, Honey. This bud's for you."

That's not being a drug dealer. That's tipping your server.

---------------------------------------------------

Seeya round town, Moscow.

Tom Hansen
Moscow, Idaho

"If not us, who?
If not now, when?"

- Unknown