Newsfront

Moon Over Manassas

Manassas, Virginia—A radio station asked its listeners to submit photos of themselves mooning in front of monuments and landmarks. The winner of the "Show us your ass for a boarding pass" contest would receive a trip to the Bahamas. The station's morning disc jockey decided to contribute: He dropped his pants next to a WELCOME TO MANASSAS sign. After photos of the stunt appeared on the station's website, the city prosecutor charged the jock with indecent exposure. He agreed to perform 25 hours of community service.

Could be Anyone

Wichita, Kansas—A man asked an online photo service to convert digital photos of nude women into prints. When the service told him that some of the subjects appeared underage, the man canceled his order. The service then notified authorities about the images, and the police had a postal inspector deliver the order anyway. When the man signed for it, officers arrested him and seized his computer. Federal prosecutors charged the man, a Catholic school teacher, with possession of child porn. After being accused by defense attorneys of entrapment (and having a hard time establishing that the images showed minors), the feds offered a plea deal: The accused could avoid prison if he pleaded guilty to a felony charge of possessing "obscenity" based on two photos of adult women found on his computer. He took the deal. Federal agents will monitor his online activity for the next two years.

Serious Side Effect

St. Louis—In 1979 a judge sentenced Charles Singleton to death for murdering an Arkansas grocery clerk. Prison doctors later diagnosed him as schizophrenic. Because states cannot execute the mentally ill, this created a dilemma: As long as Singleton refused his antipsychotic drugs, he couldn't be executed. His lawyers argued that no doctor could make their client take the drugs, since it no longer would be in his best medical interests. Earlier this year a federal court ruled that the state of Arkansas can force Singleton to take his meds. Writing for the 6—5 majority, one judge noted, "Eligibility for execution is the only unwanted consequence of the medication."

Head Games

Washington, D.C.—Federal prosecutors recently charged 55 people for allegedly selling illegal drug paraphernalia online. The Drug Enforcement Administration said its Operation Pipe Dreams and Operation Headhunter led to the seizure of tons of paraphernalia, including gas masks converted to bongs, lipstick-shaped pipes and highlighters that conceal one-hitters. The feds also closed 11 online head shops. "People selling drug paraphernalia are as much a part of trafficking as silencers are a part of homicide," said the head of the DEA.

Smart Sentencing

Lansing, Michigan—The state legislature voted to eliminate some of the nation's most draconian mandatory-minimum sentencing laws for nonviolent drug offenses. Enacted during the late Seventies, the laws based a prisoner's sentence exclusively on the weight of the drugs found at the time of the arrest. Judges are again able to use their discretion in sentencing. The state released these numbers to show the law's impact:

• 7600—number of Michigan prisoners serving drug sentences.

• 1250—number who are expected to be paroled this year.

• 6864—number of low-level offenders serving lifetime probation.

• 3218—number released from lifetime probation the day the statute went into effect.

• $41 million—projected savings to taxpayers in 2003.

Liberty HO!

Henderson, Nevada—The libertarian Free State Project has launched a campaign to persuade "freedom-loving people" to move en masse and take over a small U.S. state. The interlopers say that once they are voted into power, they would cut taxes, refuse federal funds, eliminate gun control and legalize drugs. As soon as 5000 people agree to relocate, the group will vote on which state to invade. And when 20,000 agree, the migration will begin. The leading candidates are New Hampshire and Wyoming, chiefly because their populations are less than 1.5 million, which would allow 20,000 voters to more easily tip statewide elections. The project's founder, a 26-year-old doctoral candidate at Yale, hopes to recruit enough volunteers by 2005 via his website at freestateproject.org.