Forum Newsfront

Here Come De Judge

Huntsville, Alabama--A Madison County judge has been sentenced to three years in prison after being convicted of trading judicial leniency for women's sexual favors. One witness testified that she had sex with the judge to escape prosecution on bad-check charges and another said she yielded to him in an agreement to stop criminal prosecution of her brother. The judge faces four more trials on similar charges.

Mail-Order Divorce

London--Appearance in court is no longer required of British citizens seeking divorce. Under new and much simplified rules, couples who have no children under 16 and have been separated at least two years can submit a mutually agreed upon divorce application to a judge and, in most cases, receive their decree by return mail.

Strict On Streakers

Nairobi, Kenya--After two streaking incidents by Europeans during one weekend, the vice-president of Kenya announced a crackdown: Any foreign streaker will be arrested, escorted directly to the airport in the nude and put aboard the first available aircraft to his country of origin.

New Pregnancy Test

New York--An early pregnancy test that appears to be 100 percent accurate has been announced by researchers at the New York Hospital Cornell Medical Center. The procedure--called the radio-receptorassay pregnancy test--requires only a few drops of blood, can be performed in an hour and has been used to detect pregnancies as early as six days after egg fertilization or one day after a missed menstrual period. Present tests cannot be used until eight to 15 days after a missed period and even then are 20 to 40 percent inaccurate.

No Abortion Trauma

Baltmore--Women who have had abortions show no greater tendency to suffer depression or emotional stress than women who have experienced childbirth, according to a Johns Hopkins Hospital study. The Johns Hopkins group interviewed 373 women who went to the hospital between late 1970 and early 1972 for either abortion or delivery and matched them for race, age, number of children and economic status. The findings contradict the widespread belief that abortion frequently causes psychological trauma and they also tend to refute contentions that women are using abortion in place of contraceptives.

Who's Complaining?

Washington, D.C.--Either fewer people are receiving "smut" in their mailboxes or fewer people are complaining about it. The U.S. Postal Service reports that as of last summer, complaints about unsolicited sexually oriented mail were down to 45,000--38.4 percent below the previous year.

Pot Laws Changed

A five-dollar fine has been adopted by voters in Ypsilanti, Michigan, and reinstituted in Ann Arbor as the noncriminal penalty for marijuana possession. In Ypsilanti, the measure passed by only 98 votes, 1355 to 1257; in Ann Arbor, where a similar ordinance was repealed by the city council in July 1973 after being on the books more than a year, the measure was approved 16,047 to 14,809. In both cities, people arrested by other than municipal police would still be subject to the state penalty of a $100 fine and for 90 days in jail.

Meanwhile, the Idaho legislature has stiffened the pot law in that state by making possession or sale of more than three ounces of marijuana a felony punishable by up to five years and $15,000. The penalty for less than three ounces is up to one year and $1000.

Letter Of The Law

Washington, D.C.--A Federal court has ruled that the District of Columbia marijuana law applies to only one of five possible species of the plant, which cannot be differentiated after cutting and processing. D.C. superior court judge Charles W. Halleck acquitted a 38-year-old man of pot charges because the evidence could not be identified as the one species, Cannabis sativa L., that is specified in the statute. Many state laws are likewise specific and a similar defense was successful before a Florida state court jury in April 1973; it has failed, however, in a number of other cases where the prosecution argued that legislative intent was to include all marijuana.

Surprise!

Smithtown, New York--To the consternation of police who arrested a well-endowed topless dancer for public nudity, their go-go girl turned out to be legally a guy--and, therefore, not covered by the local indecency ordinance, which prohibits only female dancers from exposing their breasts. The 23-year-old performer went back to work after a medical examination verified that the sex-change treatments he is undergoing have not yet made him a woman under the law. A civic official called the incident "an attempt to embarrass the town administration" and said, "If this [using transsexual dancers] is something that isn't just going to pass, I'm sure the town board will explore the situation."

Japanese Brush Strokes

Tokyo--The Japanese censors of sexy foreign magazines have required importers to black out, with ink, those parts of pictures deemed offensive--and Japanese purchasers of such magazines have been removing the ink with a dab of paint solvent. To cope with this ploy, the Yokohama customs office has now decreed that no publication shall pass unless the censoring ink is indelible.

No Sweat

Indianapolis--The Indiana senate has passed an anti-pornography bill that outlaws the depiction of, among other things, all "excretory functions." The majority of the lawmakers chose to ignore the warning of one senator, a veterinarian, who noted that such functions would include "spitting, coughing, sweating and blowing one's nose."

Cops Kicked Out

Washington, D.C.--District of Columbia policemen have been ordered to stop going into adult bookstores, because their presence intimidates customers. After hearing the complaint of a bookshop proprietor that cops were asking customers for identification, tearing plastic wrappers off magazines and otherwise making a nuisance of themselves, a U. S. district court judge ruled that the police were entering the shops without probable cause to believe crimes were being committed and that their conspicuous presence had a "chilling effect" on the operation of the business.

Blues In The Night

Pittsburgh--A cable television employee has been arrested and charged with intentionally broadcasting stag movies late one night to CTV subscribers. A local magistrate ordered the 21-year-old man held for trial despite arguments of his attorney that he was drunk at the time and that the films were seen by adults only.

Police 4, Citizens 0

Washington, D.C.--A series of U.S. Supreme Court decisions have significantly limited citizens' rights under the Fourth Amendment and have strengthened police authority in matters of search and seizure. The Court has held that:

• Police do not need a warrant to search any person they legally arrest or take into custody for any reason, even a traffic violation, and if the search turns up evidence of some unrelated crime, it may be used in court.

• Even after an arrested person has been released, police need no warrant to conduct search or seizure within the next several hours.

• Where no arrest is involved, police need not tell a suspect he has the right to refuse them permission for a warrantless search.

• Grand juries may indict a person on the basis of evidence obtained illegally by police even though such evidence still is inadmissible in trial courts.