Story originally printed in the La Crosse Tribune or online at www.lacrossetribune.com
Published - Sunday, May 11, 2008
This guy gets to keep on truckin’
When a trucker charged with hauling a half-ton of marijuana into Wisconsin was acquitted last week in La Crosse County Circuit Court, visitors at www.lacrossetribune.com were pretty sure the world had gone to pot.
The state had a pair of witnesses — both state patrol inspectors — and a really big pile of dope (“that’s a lot of dime bags,” remarked one observer), but no proof that Marco Corzo, a 54-year-old Californian, had ever been in the trailer.
Here’s what some of our online visitors had to say:
RUSerious wrote: “The simple solution to this ‘problem’ is to decriminalize pot. Question: Why was an amendment to the Constitution required to ban/prohibit alcohol but not marijuana and other drugs?”
wangchung wrote: “Awesome. Let him go! Wouldn’t you rather the resources spent on marijuana to go to child molesters, murderers and rapists?! ...”
fishingpro wrote: “Just to let all of you know. I used to load semis for a company, and 99 percent of the time the truckers had to wait inside their truck while they are being loaded. They could not see what was going in because of insurance purposes in case a fork lift hit them, etc. They need to find out where these tomatoes were loaded and start there. Whoever loaded them had a plan worked out with someone in NYC that was going to be unloading the truck. ...”
HonestAbe wrote: “These officers dropped the ball ... they should have played it off like they noted nothing and then called the feds to investigate further ... where it was going to. These cops wanted the glory, just as the front page photo illustrated in today’s paper ...”
mtdew101 wrote: “DANG! I knew I should have stopped when I saw that semi pulled over on the highway with a big sign saying, ‘HUGE TRUCK SALE, EVERYTHING MUST GO!’ I sure will next time.”
The Real Paladin wrote: “There are smart marijuana smokers, and there are old marijuana users, but there are no smart old marijuana users. Marijuana makes you stupid.”
HonestAbe wrote: “ To The Real Paladin: After a statement like that I have to ask, how old are you and how long have you smoked? Tommy Chong is 69 today ... and still a comedian performing at the Improv among other clubs, maintains a business and a marriage just fine. So what was your argument again. Guess I missed the point.”
By the numbers ...
It’s no surprise that our just-for-fun online poll at www.lacrossetribune.com about “The Andy Griffith Show” got a big response. And I guess it shouldn’t be a big surprise that our favorite character on the show was Barney (643 of 1,506 respondents, or 43 percent).
Opie and Andy came next, with 10 percent each, followed by, appropriately enough, Otis, with 7 percent. Gomer, Floyd and Aunt Bea got 5 percent each.
You may reach Marc Wehrs at mwehrs@lacrossetribune.com or (608) 791-8218.
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