Here is a somewhat unique Twofer Tuesday for you featuring Ernie Bell again. (Recall that Ernie was part of last week’s Twofer Tuesday on Clarke Raley.) Hence, today is a Double Ernie in that he becomes the first person to ever merit consecutive weekly Twofers here on the Buzzyblog.
In March 2006 I accompanied Buzzy to District Court where he had been summonsed to appear on the charge of selling cigarettes to a minor. Ernie represented Buzzy at the hearing, which was held on St. Patrick’s Day 17 March. All of the lawyers and court room personnel had their green on including the visiting judge who sported a green tie beneath his black robe.
When Buzzy’s case was called and he had to go before the Judge, Ernie began his comments by saying to the judge “Your honor, we have before the Court the only defendant you will see in here today who has been on the front page of the Washington Post for something good.” (Ernie was referring to Buzzy having made an appearance in the Washington Post a week previously (see below copy.))
While the Judge and the rest of the folks in the courtroom laughed, Ernie proceeded by saying “Thus, your honor I am requesting that the court place this case on the Stet Docket and allow Mr. Ridgell to be on his way.” The judge agreed to that suggestion and we thanked Ernie for his efforts as we left the courtroom.
Here then is a copy of that Post front page that Ernie cited as his “evidence” for why Buzzy should not have been prosecuted. You can read the entire article here (click here for article.)
As for the violation itself that led to Buzzy having to appear before the judge, it was the result of a b.s. police sting. I call b.s. because the cops employed a 17 year old with his id showing him 2 weeks shy of being 18 which was the legal age to buy smokes. When the kid asked for a pack of cigarettes, Buzzy requested and looked at his id. Buzzy saw the boy’s DOB year as 1988 and sold the boy the smokes. However, the kid’s actual 18th birthday was a couple weeks later and thus he was still only 17.
