Thursday, July 21, 2016

Once upon a time in the Southern District of Indiana

Once, in the U. S. District Court for the Southern District of Indiana, Indianapolis Division, Hon. Cale J. Holder presiding,  there was a long jury trial of a major drug smuggling operation. Every day the DEA agents would cart in six or seven huge bales of marijuana and stack them right in the front of the courtroom where the jury could see them all day long, and then they would cart them out after the jury was sent home for the day. It was good courtroom theatrics and for some reason the defense lawyers never complained about it.

These big bales of pot were not wrapped in plastic or burlap. They were like hay bales with nothing but baling wire holding them together. Did International Harvester know their hay balers were being used for this purpose? I like to imagine that John Deere has a dedicated sales force marketing farm machinery to Mexican pot plantations. Business is business.

Kentucky farmers may have a thing or two to learn from the Mexicans, as hard as that may be to admit.

Once, after court had recessed for the day and the bales had been removed from the courtroom, I noticed that there was still a lot of loose pot left on the carpet. It looked like about an eighth of an ounce that fell out of the bales. The DEA guys didn't clean up after themselves.

Next morning, the pot that had been on the carpet was gone. I guessed the cleaning guy scooped it up over night and smoked it. Having a generous spirit, I went out of my way to give those bales a little kick with the toe of my shoe when I walked past, to loosen them up some.

My philosophy is a happy worker is a productive worker and nobody ever got killed by a runaway vacuum cleaner. 
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Tom Fox, J. D.
Southern Specialty Law Publishing Company
Louisville, Kentucky

A division of Accountable Kentucky Incorporated
a Kentucky Non-profit corporation
AccountableKY.org

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This is not legal advice and I am not a lawyer.

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