Salute....

Salute....

I want to quote a couple plethora of lines from Monday, November 9's front page of the Daily Post Athenian, which I would link to, but they're moving to (if they aren't already there) subscriber-only.

I would however like to take a minute to quote from Jeremy Belk's front page story from that November 9, 2009, edition of the Daily Post Athenian, entitled: Napping in Ditch Sends Man to Jail.

A man who fell asleep in a ditch with suspected moonshine, marijuana, a machete and a loaded rifle ending [sic] up sleeping it off in the McMinn County Justice Center.

Ricky Butler, 31....was charged Sunday by the Sheriff's Department with public intoxication, posession of schedule VI drugs and unlawful possession of a weapon after he was found lying asleep on his back in a ditch with a rifle on his chest and a jar of "white lightning" in the bib of his overalls.

Deputies Clay Moore and Charles Berrong responded to County Road 100 near the Meigs County line on a report of a man lying in a ditch with a "shotgun." The shotgun turned out to be a loaded .22 rifle, the deputies later discovered. Butler also had a black machete at his side.

According to Moore's report, when the deputies arrived they found Butlerlying partially near a driveway but off the roadway. He was on his back with the barrel sticking up in the air.

.....

According to the reports, the deputies told Butler...10 times to put his hands up....

Wen asked by Moore, Butler said he did not know where he was. ....Butler's speech was slow and slurred and he allegedly smelled of alcohol. When Butler asked how much he'd had to drink that night....he nodded his head and looked into the bib of his overalls.

When officers patted Butler down, they discovered a Mason jar of a clear liquid. The jar was only a quarter-full when seized. When asked if the liquid was moonshine, Butler allegedly replied that it was.

The report goes on to note that while Butler appeared very intoxicated, he registered .08 when administered a blood-alcohol test.

Was I the only one disappointed by that number? Jeez. Seems to me that the icing on the cake could have been the County Physician saying "This man should have been dead, by all accounts..."

But, anyway. Stay far from the moonshine, kids. I mean, I get the machete. Who DOESN'T take a machete out with them when they're drinking? But the firearms? A bit much, I think.

I wonder about where, precisely, Butler was going with his full gear in tow. That'd have been a fine sight to see, driving down Highway 30 on Saturday, the man with a rifle, a machete and a mason jar full of courage hiking toward town (the story doesn't make it clear. I wonder if he was headed toward Athens or Decatur...the county line is closer to Decatur....)