Source: (2) San Luis Obispo County NewTimes (CA)
Section: Cover Story
Contact: mail@newtimes-slo.com
Website: http://www.newtimes-slo.com/frntpg.html
Author: Tiffany Heppe, Richard Jackoway, and Steven T. Jones.
(Lea Aschkenas, Mark Hartz contributed to this report.)

(Note: search on 'love of pot' to locate drug law reform portion)

WE'RE ALL CRIMINALS

A Look at the Most-Broken Laws and Why SLO County Residents Don't Mind
Risking Arrest

Most of us like to think that we're upstanding, moral, and law-abiding
citizens. But the reality is that nearly everyone every day breaks the law,
generally in a knowing willing way.

Some of these infractions, like speeding, are broken with regularity by
most of us. Others, like pot smoking or underage drinking, have a smaller,
but loyal following.

So why do we break laws, facing fines and perhaps imprisonment? We decided
to take a look at seven of the most frequently broken laws and see why we
have become a county of scofflaws:

Speeding: I Can't Drive 65 No law is as nonchalantly disregarded by so many
people as the speed limit. Neither radar guns nor airplane surveillance
have deterred us. Even raising the speed limit on most freeways to 65 mph
hasn't slowed the number of speeders.

New Times conducted a little experiment recently during the morning
commute. We sent a test car out on U.S. 101 from Arroyo Grande to SLO going
the speed limit. The test car was passed 51 times by all manner of
vehicles--trucks, a woman with a cross dangling from her rearview mirror
sped by at what must have been 80 mph, a Toyota with a Hedges for Sheriff
bumper sticker, a police car (though not apparently in pursuit of the cross
dangler). The test car passed a late '60s model Ford and a semi.

The test driver reported that it was actually difficult to keep under 65.
The natural temptation is to go "with the flow of traffic," which was
zipping by anyone observing the law. So we do speed. Some on that morning
commute no doubt felt the added speed was necessary to get to work on time.
If they, too, were traveling from Arroyo Grande to SLO they could lop 1:29
off that 11-minute commute by speeding at 75 mph. Still others are playing
the percentages, figuring with so many people speeding they're unlikely to
be caught, especially if they keep it within the hypothetical 10 mph
"buffer zone." Although never officially acknowledged, a long-standing bit
of motorist mythology is that police won't bother ticketing a car going
less than 10 mph over the posted speed limit. Should you end up in traffic
court, the judge will explain that this bit of accepted wisdom has no rule
in law. Of course, speeding is hardly the only rule of the road that is
widely broken. Many motorists routinely follow too closely, make unsafe
lane changes, fail to come to a full and complete stop at stop signs, drive
without belting up, and (despite heavy fines and grave danger to life and
limb) drive while under the influence.

Possible penalties: Various fines apply for speeding in different zones,
but if you join the 100 mph+ club and get caught you can expect a $500 fine
and could get your license suspended for 30 days.

The Ambiguities of Stealing Some lines, once crossed, are difficult to
retrace or even to recall where or why they existed in the first place. Is
there a line with stealing? Does it have an exact definition?

Among those of us who claim to have never stolen, there is a general
assumption that we haven't broken into cars, robbed houses, or held people
up at gun-point, demanding that a purse be emptied or a wallet handed over.

But the categories of stealing are many and overlapping. They range from
burglary, narrowly defined as the act of stealing from a secured dwelling,
to petty theft, more broadly defined as stealing (under $400) from a place
that is open to the public. Then there are the more amorphous and
frequently acted-out crimes of software stealing (Why pay hundreds of
dollars for a program you can download yourself?) and copyright
infringements (Why pay $14.99 for the Spice Girls' video when you can tape
it from your friend's "illegally" wired VCRs?). Kinko's says it's illegal
for a writer to make copies of an article he or she has written without the
publication's permission, even though the article has the author's byline.

These fringe thefts lead to all sorts of nebulous questions and stealing
paranoias. If you find a watch on the sidewalk, in a space that is "open to
the public," and you take the watch for yourself rather than turning it in,
is this stealing? If you take, from a grocery store floor, a dented box of
animal crackers that is dusty and would probably be thrown out anyway and
no one sees you do it, is it really shoplifting? It's the old, "if a tree
falls..." question exaggerated to the nth degree, a koan of shoplifting.

If you think about it in this manner, stealing can become an art, a
philosophical examination of the depths of human consciousness and
reasoning. With enough extrapolation and even some karmic projection, you
can justify and rename many acts of thievery.

In Berkeley (the city named after the philosopher who first asked that now
infamous tree-falling question), a recent confessional article published in
a weekly paper heralds a new category of stealing--politically correct
shoplifting.

This is the reasoning behind his clan's acts of thievery: Big corporations,
such as chain bookstores, are corporate thieves. They steal the flavor and
unique character of a small town. They rob independent merchants of their
hard-earned income. Therefore, if you steal books from Barnes & Noble, you
are not exactly stealing but rather, yeah, redistributing the wealth, a
Robin Hood of the '90s where we are all poor and struggling to get by so
taking from the rich and putting it in our own pockets is nearly as good as
handing out our (to be politically correct) "ownership-challenged" goodies
to the poor.

The catch here is that many of these politically correct thieves realized
they were deceiving themselves when, after being caught and banned from
Barnes & Noble or Crown, they were forced to hit the independents.

"I didn't want to," said one. "But it had developed into an addiction." So
he headed down to the neighborhood's independent bookstore which (his
justification) had a reputation of being snooty with customers. After just
a month of this, though, he decided to stop. He had turned a rather unsavvy
klepto friend of his onto the stealing, a friend who didn't totally get the
concept. This friend had gone into Andronico's (a chain, but a local one)
and tried to steal a wedge of brie and a slice of chocolate cake from the
deli and gotten caught.

"I got worried," he said. "I saw the line between 'independent' and 'chain'
blurring." He was no longer sure whether what he was doing was still
recreational shoplifting or now full-blown kleptomania. So he stopped.

Others steal for more basic reasons, of course. Some for food, some for
drug money. Many for the thrill. But most, because they don't think they'll
get caught.

Consider: You're at the store, three kids in tow. You pick up a few things
and your youngest grabs a bag of cookies. Upon returning home, you realize
that the cookies were never scanned and hence never paid for. Was this
stealing? You hadn't, after all, done it intentionally and neither did your
child. Still, you could go back and pay for it. That would be the honest
thing to do. But would you? Some questions are difficult to answer, some
lines once crossed....

Possible penalties: Shoplifters can expect fines between $50 and $1,000 and
up to six months in county jail. More serious forms of stealing lead to
more serious punishments.

Taxing Situations Another form of stealing is cheating on your taxes. Don't
think you cheat? Think back. Did you include your Christmas bonus as
income? How about that Super Bowl pool? Didn't think so.

Unlike many of the crimes listed here, tax cheating is often done
unwittingly. IRS forms are so complicated that some people even cheat
themselves and end up paying more than they should. But if you shortchange
the government, that's illegal. And even with the newly declawed IRS, you
better hope that you're not caught.

Of course, many tax cheats are just that: cheaters who intentionally try to
hide assets or income to avoid paying their fair share. Sometimes these
criminals have unwitting accomplices. Increasingly the IRS is going after
ex-wives and sometimes ex-husbands who co-signed fraudulent returns
prepared by their then-spouses.

If you think you're safe because you pay someone to prepare you taxes,
don't be so sure. In the mind of the IRS, if you sign on the line you're
responsible, so make sure to go to an accredited tax preparer.

Possible penalties: Expect to pay a minimum of the taxes owed, interest,
and a late penalty; possibly jail time if infractions are serious and
repeated.

Littering the Landscape Littering is one of the most undetected and
underreported crimes, according to the SLO police department.

"We don't really have stats on it," says Lt. Joseph Hazouri. "We can only
take action if we observe it, and it's not often that someone litters in
front of a police officer."

Sometimes people call in with license plate numbers of suspected litterers,
but unless the witness is willing to follow through with court appearances
and other legal proceedings, the case gets dropped.

Despite the small number of reported incidents and the highwayside signs
warning of astronomical fees, there's still thousands of pounds of litter
lining the SLO County coast and highways.

On last month's California Coastal Cleanup Day, volunteers unearthed 3,602
pounds of trash, including cigarette butts, a box-spring mattress, a
barbecue, a car engine, dead marine animals, men and women's underwear, and
condom wrappers.

State park maintenance supervisor Joe Juarez says there were more cigarette
butts than anything else. There was 80 percent more trash collected this
year than in 1997. But that's probably more due to the doubling of
volunteers this year than a dramatic increase in littering.

The local guru of highway trash is Barry Kaufman, a "strolling mandolinist"
by trade, who's been cleaning stretches of the highway since 1991. He
contracts himself out to companies participating in "adopt-a-highway"
programs.

Kaufman says highway trash doesn't increase as people might expect it to.
"You would think that if cars double, so would the traffic," says Kaufman,
citing Caltrans statistics. "But it more than doubles because people get so
frustrated and angry."

"Trash increases more during certain times of the year, like summer," says
Kaufman. Some of the common items he's found during his freeway ramblings
include cigarettes, photographs, maps, and letters.

"Most of that's got to be unintentional littering," he says. "Those are
things people want."

Still most people do it on the sly, and Kaufman himself has only once seen
someone intentionally litter. While Kaufman was collecting trash, a couple
pulled over to the side of the highway and dumped their ice cream cone.

"It would be nice to be able to categorize," he says. "To say 'Oh, yeah.
It's those construction workers throwing out their fast-food wrappers,' but
it's really not that way."

Possible penalties: In addition to a trip to the Group W bench (if you
don't understand, ask Arlo Guthrie when he comes to town at the end of the
month), littering can land you with a fine of between $20 and $1,000 for
first offense, $100 and $1,000 for second offense. One New Times intern
received a $250 fine and one-year's probation for littering with a beer
bottle in downtown SLO.

Why the Pedestrian Crossed the Street Santa Rosa Park in San Luis Obispo
has a slew of restaurants located directly across a busy street. Many
people are tempted to avoid the quarter-mile walk to the nearest crosswalk.

Big Sky restaurant and Tio Alberto's are also in a tempting position,
directly across from a parking lot on Broad Street.

In any town in California, neighbors cross the street to visit other
neighbors. Even postal workers can be seen crossing a street to deliver
mail to houses on the other side.

"Jaywalking" is a fact of life for most Californians. Of more than 20
people interviewed this week, not one person could honestly say he or she
hadn't jaywalked.

But some people may be surprised to learn that, in all the examples listed
above, not one of them is really jaywalking, provided that the pedestrian
yields to traffic.

"Jaywalking" is a slang term used loosely to refer to pedestrian traffic
violations. Some definitions are more strict than others, but no single
definition can be called correct.

The most common definition given on the street for jaywalking was "crossing
where there is no crosswalk or traffic signal."

Technically, explaining pedestrian traffic violations is much more difficult.

The California Vehicle Code states that pedestrians outside a crosswalk do
not have the right of way. It also states that it is illegal to cross a
roadway between two signal-controlled intersections outside a marked or
designated crossing area.

A traffic light is a designated area, even if it does not have a marked
crosswalk.

When added to the Municipal Code, all business or central traffic districts
require crossing to take place in a marked or designated area.

Sgt. Rocky Miller of the San Luis Obispo Police Department said there are
many places in the area that do not fit those guidelines. Residential areas
and streets where only one light is present are not jaywalking areas.

Santa Rosa Street has smaller streets flowing in between its two main
intersections. Because there are no lights on these smaller streets,
crossing from Santa Rosa Park is not jaywalking.

Broad Street has a similar situation. Garden Alley, between Higuera and
Marsh streets, separates the lighted intersections.

Of course, Sgt. Miller warned residents to keep in mind that stopping
traffic outside a crosswalk, regardless of the location, is illegal.

"We do write tickets in this town," he said. "But it's usually for people
who...stop traffic. There are a lot of violators in the central traffic and
business districts. We're lucky we don't have more pedestrian-related
accidents in the downtown area."

All these definitions can be confusing. The restrictions can be compared to
other forms of traffic regulations.

When driving on a highway, licensed drivers should know that crossing a
double line is illegal. The double line is similar to the restrictions
placed on crossing locations. The restrictions say, "do not pass here."

However, crossing a dotted line when a car is approaching from the opposite
direction is also illegal. The same principal applies on a street where
crossing is legal outside the crosswalk.

This makes a crosswalk a pedestrian's "passing lane." Only in a marked or
designated area does a pedestrian have the right of way.

Many people know the rules, but choose not to obey them.

"Oh, I've jaywalked," said San Luis Obispo resident David Kirkart. "It's
actually kind of rare in this town to see people use the crosswalks. Cars
actually stop in this town."

The most common reason given for not using a crosswalk is the fact that it
is safe. The second most common was that police don't ticket heavily for
jaywalking on the Central Coast.

Of course, the police have a few more pressing problems on their hands than
to clamp down on these violators. So in the meantime, they would like to
ask a favor: Be nice. Find a crosswalk.

Possible penalties: Jaywalking in the business district will normally set
you back between $20 and $45.

FOR LOVE OF POT

There is no law broken with as much righteous defiance as
those prohibiting the use of marijuana.

For many pot smokers, defying marijuana laws becomes a way of life, a
countercultural identifier, a way of giving The Man the finger. They wear
pot-leaf hats or shirts and flash defiant smiles at any frowns they receive.

Others keep their habit to themselves, enjoying a toke to unwind after
work. They don't fly the flag, but often secretly support the front-line
potheads who do. Many are professionals that the uninitiated would never
suspect--doctors, lawyers, teachers, journalists, stockbrokers, even
cops--and their pot use can be either a dirty little secret, or a badge of
rebellious pride, cautiously flashed.

Still others will occasionally indulge, or have maybe tried it a few times,
huddled with a few more experienced friends, nervously fumbling with the
pipe, wearing a devious grin when they get a hit before erupting in
coughing spasms.

Recent federal government studies show more than 5 percent of American
adults have smoked pot in the last month, while more than 70 million have
tried marijuana, about a quarter of the population.

Those who favor legalization of marijuana see no good reason for its
prohibition, other than corporate greed, political demagoguery, judgmental
moralism, social inertia, and self-serving advocacy by law enforcement
agencies.

The so-called War on Drugs really is a war. And like all wars, it is fought
with physical combat, strategies for defeating the enemy, and propaganda
campaigns designed to win the hearts and minds of the masses.

The federal government spends about $14 billion per year on its army of
drug warriors and all the weapons and intelligence technology they need, as
well as ad campaigns. Cultivation of even one pot plant is a felony that
can send its grower to prison, while being caught with a joint in
California can get your driver's license taken away.

Nonetheless, the 1990s have seen a resurgence of marijuana use not seen
since the '60s and an unprecedented mainstream acceptance. Voters in
California and two other states legalized marijuana for medical uses in
1996--even acknowledging it might be a Trojan horse for outright
legalization--with the question going before voters in six more states this
November.

Yet the government drug warriors have only intensified their eradication
efforts, with many jurisdictions (including San Luis Obispo County)
continuing to treat even legal users as criminals.

"There is a tremendous frustration on the medical marijuana front," says
Dale Gieringer, coordinator of Califoria NORML, a chapter of the National
Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws.

Pot activists who hoped Prop. 215 would de-escalate the drug war became
more open about their use and growing operations, and many have been jailed
as a result. For example, SLO NORML activists Tom Dunbar, Jo-D Harrison,
and John and Violet McLean all face stiff prison terms after simultaneous
May 14 raids on their homes. As in many other recent pot cases, the search
warrant affidavits were sealed by the courts to protect undercover
informants, a tool drug police are using more and more these days.

Dunbar and Harrison say the post-Prop. 215 frustrations of activists have
renewed the push for an outright legalization initiative, which could go
before California voters as soon as 2000.

Yet legal or not, people will keep smoking pot, no matter what the
penalties or how aggressively we try to stop it.

There are laws we break, and then there are laws we defy. We break laws
because human beings make mistakes and errors in judgment; we defy laws
that we don't believe are just.

We break laws on the spur of the moment, snatching something we can't
afford off a shelf, darting across the street during a break in traffic,
leaning into the gas pedal because we're in a hurry, losing our temper at
some perceived provocation.

But we defy pot laws with deliberate intent, seeking it out, savoring our
lawlessness. And if a Dan Lungren political ad or an anti-drug commercial
are on television as we exhale our hit, it only adds to our feeling of
defiant satisfaction.

Possible penalties: Should you be caught in possession of 28.5 grams or
less, you'll receive a fine of not more than $100; 28.5 grams or more, $500
and/or six months jail time. Possession near school grounds (grades 1-12)
could net you a $500 fine and 10 days in jail. And growing that funky weed:
state prison no less than one year, no more than 10 years.

Youthful Vices What's legal for some of us to do, isn't for others.

Want to go out for a night on the town, bar hopping, perhaps take someone
home for a little horizontal gymnastics and a post-coital cigarette? Fine,
if you and your partner have traveled around the sun 18 times. If not, you
could be guilty of a variety of offenses, some that could send you to the
slammer.

Not that the long arm of the law has pulled many teens back from the lure
of vice. Underage smoking, drinking, and mating are all on the upswing, if
you can believe the surveys.

Not to sound like a certain president, but just what is sex anyway? We all
know that a 30-year-old man who has intercourse with jail bait is headed
for some big-time legal problems. But what of the 19-year-old who is guilty
of some heavy petting with a 17-year-old in the back seat of dad's car?

In the old baseball analogy, almost everyone is familiar with a homerun.
But what about third base? Is hitting a triple grounds for jail time? What
about a ground-rule double?

Or the 15-year-old kid who goes out and gets a pack of cigarettes. Is he
breaking the law by smoking them, or is the person who sold them to him
responsible? What if he's pounding a beer with that smoke?

Therein lies the rub. People have an idea as to what constitutes the law,
but are unfamiliar with the specifics.

In fact, many of the specifics seem to change over the years. In the 1800s,
people could be legally married when they were 14 or 15. Even up until the
mid-'80s, 18-year-olds could go to the store and buy beer. As recent as
1992, 16-year-old kids could buy cigarettes back East.

Nowadays, kids need parental supervision to do anything before they are 18.
Were the teenagers of a few years ago more mature? Did lawmakers see the
folly of their ways and realize kids need to grow up before they can make
rational decisions as to whether or not they can smoke that cigarette,
drink that beer, or take that roll in the sack?

Supposedly, 16-year-olds are mature enough to get behind the wheel of a
car, but can't handle the addictive power of a cigarette; 18-year-olds can
vote for a philandering president, but can't celebrate that win with a gin
and tonic at the local bar.

New laws to protect kids are being created each year, and new programs are
being formed to educate teens on the problems associated with drinking,
smoking, and sex. But do they work, or do teens think adults are just
giving them a hard time?

"The community might think we're playing date police," Deputy District
Attorney Kate Philpot said. "That's not what we're doing."

Philpot heads a special task force that prosecutes adults who have sex with
minors. The laws that define statutory rape are a little blurry as well.

A felony charge can be filed if the adult is three years older than the
teen. A misdemeanor charge is levied in cases where the adult is less than
three years older. A felony gets offenders prison time; a misdemeanor
carries a jail sentence.

"A lot of it is discretionary," she said.

She said she takes a variety of factors into consideration before deciding
on whether to prosecute a felony charge. Factors include drug use with the
minor, prior record, and multiple victims. There were 27 felony statutory
rape convictions and 11 misdemeanor convictions filed in SLO County last
fiscal year.

A 1996 survey, conducted by a collaboration of the San Luis Obispo County
Office of Education's Drug, Alcohol, Tobacco Education Program, the school
districts of San Luis Obispo County, San Luis Obispo Tobacco Control, and
San Luis Obispo County Drug and Alcohol Services, said that SLO County
youths smoke more and binge drink (consuming more than five drinks in one
sitting) more than any other county in California.

Kids will be kids, and then, when they turn 18, they are magically
initiated into the rites of adulthood. They can even smoke a cigarette and
have sex with a 50-year-old. Then, when they turn 21, they can legally
celebrate that passage into adulthood with a drink.

Possible penalties: Judges have discretion in dealing with minors, but
don't expect your youth to get you off. Kids caught with smokes can expect
to pay $75 or do 30 hours of community service. Underage drinkers can
expect to do 40 hours of community service and attend an alcohol awareness
program. If under 18, parents must pay for program, if deemed financially
able. In the case of underage sex, it's the "grownup" who will pay the
price, which will be not more than one year in state prison or county jail
if you're under 21. Have sex with a person under 16 if you're over 21 and
you could do up to four years in state prison. And you'll pay, too. If the
minor is less than two years younger, $2,000; at least two years younger,
$5,000; at least three years younger, $10,000; and for over 21/under 16
sex, $25,000.


Checked-by: Pat Dolan