Willie Busted

Subject: Willie Busted
From: Amos
Date: 20 Sep 06 - 10:19 AM

LAFAYETTE, La. — Willie Nelson and four others were issued misdemeanor citations for possession of illegal mushrooms and marijuana after a traffic stop Monday morning on a Louisiana highway, state police said.

The citations were issued after a commercial vehicle inspection of the country music star's tour bus, state police said in a news release.

"When the door was opened and the trooper began to speak to the driver, he smelled the strong odor of marijuana,"the news release said. A search of the bus produced 1 1/2 pounds of marijuana and slightly more than three ounces of illegal mushrooms.

There were enough drugs to merit a felony charge of distribution if they had been found in one person's possession, state police spokesman Willie Williams said. But all five claimed the drugs as their own and the drugs were not packaged for resale, so each was charged with misdemeanors, he said. All were released after the citations were issued.

Nelson's publicist, Elaine Schock, said she would have no comment Monday.

Also cited were Tony Sizemore, 59, of St. Cloud, Fla.; Bobbie Nelson, 75, of Briarcliff, Texas; Gates Moore, 54, of Austin, Texas; and David Anderson, 50, of Dallas.

Subject: RE: Willie Busted
From: Forsh
Date: 20 Sep 06 - 10:36 AM

Sounds Painful, I've heared of it happening before, but never experienced it myself.

Subject: RE: Willie Busted
From: Forsh
Date: 20 Sep 06 - 10:39 AM

Ahh, here is the link I was looking for: Busted, Willie
Hope it helps

Subject: RE: Willie Busted
From: alanabit
Date: 20 Sep 06 - 12:17 PM

I am quite sure Willie Nelson does not need to peddle dope and the misdemeanour charge sounds appropriate, if he has to be charged at all. At the same time, I wonder how long he expects a pound and a half of the stuff to last. I would say he was clearly intending to do a lot of smoking in the near future!

Subject: RE: Willie Busted
From: Wesley S
Date: 20 Sep 06 - 12:32 PM

Legend has it that Willie's capacity for weed is as big as Texas.

Subject: RE: Willie Busted
From: Chris Green
Date: 20 Sep 06 - 03:36 PM

Oh, leave the poor old sod alone! Haven't they got anything better to do?!

Subject: RE: Willie Busted
From: JohnInKansas
Date: 20 Sep 06 - 04:18 PM

The news reports have given only an aggregate amount, but do not say whether it was all in one bag. One and a half pounds (probably rounded off, possibly from a significantly lesser actual amount) may have been the total of five individual "stashes" of not more than about 140 g each, or could have been any number of half-done smaller baggies¹.

Given the risk of buying from unknown persons in strange places, relatively larger and more regular/frequent "dosages" by those who claim a medicinal use, and the traditions of "communal sharing" associated with social use, that seems a "comfortable," but not particularly excessive, amount for a six-month tour(?) for five (or more?) people.

¹ Since it's "packaged for sale" when one buys, it's my understanding that some regular users make a habit of splitting original bags into multiple bags of irregular size to provide a defense against the charge of dealing(?).

John

Subject: RE: Willie Busted
From: Little Hawk
Date: 20 Sep 06 - 04:24 PM

That's a case of a silly and unnecessary law being enforced in a silly and unnecessary way...with no resultant benefit to society whatsoever. Cops should spend their efforts in a more useful manner and leave people alone who are not criminals and who are hurting nobody.

Subject: RE: Willie Busted
From: alanabit
Date: 20 Sep 06 - 04:48 PM

Quite right LH.

Subject: RE: Willie Busted
From: lesblank
Date: 20 Sep 06 - 05:21 PM

Wonder of wonders !! For the first time ever, I agree with Little Hawk !! But don't get cocky !!

Subject: RE: Willie Busted
From: GUEST,Russ
Date: 20 Sep 06 - 05:24 PM

Little Hawk,

Amen to that!

Subject: RE: Willie Busted
From: George Papavgeris
Date: 20 Sep 06 - 07:28 PM

Darn, they didn't hold him, and I was ready with a Free Willie campaign involving plastic red willies to be tied to car radiator grilles ("Shake it if you agree"), concurrent sattelite-linked concerts, banners ("Cut Willie loose", "Stand up for Willie"), truck convoys ("Freewheeling to free Willie"), selling strands of his beard to raise funds ("You too can have a little Willie") and so on.

I'll have to wait till Shatner gets arrested then, to put the plan into action.

Subject: RE: Willie Busted
From: The Fooles Troupe
Date: 20 Sep 06 - 07:33 PM

Shatner is a Willie?

Well doubtless, many would agree...

Subject: RE: Willie Busted
From: Sandy Mc Lean
Date: 20 Sep 06 - 08:54 PM

My friend Russell Webb wrote and recorded a great song called "The Grass Song." Perhaps Willie should do a cover of it.

http://www.geocities.com/russell_webb2001/more.htm

Subject: RE: Willie Busted
From: Amos
Date: 03 Oct 06 - 10:16 PM

I am told that Mister Nelson remarked the other day, "It's a good thing I was caught with a bag of marijuana. If I'd been caught with a bag of spinach, I'd be dead by now!"

ROFLMAO!


A

Subject: RE: Willie Busted
From: PoppaGator
Date: 04 Oct 06 - 01:26 AM

I'm glad for Willie that he and his band got off with a "slap on the wrist," but we need to remember that their punishment/persecution could have been very much more severe, and that almost anyone else caught in a similar situation would be facing serious prison time.

If you or I or any other anonymous "nobody" had been caught with that much pot, we'd be under the jail there in Breaux Bridge.

And just imagine if it had been some black celebrity/millionaire, like a rapper or a pro athlete ~ the poor guy would be demonized in front-page headlines from coast to coast!

Subject: RE: Willie Busted
From: JohnInKansas
Date: 04 Oct 06 - 04:03 AM

The real leniency in this case was with the bus driver. The news stories indicate that the citations were made "after a commercial vehicle inspection of the country music star's tour bus."

If the trooper could smell the pot, then the driver almost certainly had sufficient "second hand exposure" to be unable to pass an ICC drug test - which in most circumstances would have been administered by most "commercial vehicle inspectors" under the conditions cited.

Almost any detectable trace of "drugs," for an ICC licensed driver, generally is cause for suspension/revocation of his/her license on the spot. That would have left the entire bus stranded at least until another driver could be brought in to move it, and the driver without a job. One of the "boys in the band" might have driven on with the bus, since a commercial license isn't usually required until you go 50 miles into the next state, but ... he/she most likely wouldn't know how to do the paperwork for the fuel tax sharing at the next POE, so they'd be grounded there anyway.

(It's worth noting that evidence of "exposure" sufficient to yank a commercial driver's license needn't be sufficient for prosecution.)

John

Subject: RE: Willie Busted
From: open mike
Date: 04 Oct 06 - 11:15 AM

I have also heard that Wille attributes the fact that he is alive at all
to the fact that he smokes pot. He has said that if he had kept drinking whiskey at the rate he used to he would probably be dead by now.

Subject: RE: Willie Busted
From: Peace
Date: 04 Oct 06 - 11:16 AM

Read the thread title and was sure it referred to Bill Clinton.