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View Full Version : Hard lemonade, hard price


trumptman
04-30-2008, 09:46 AM
freep.com (http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080428/COL04/804280375)

When will people realize that more than any terrorist, more than the FBI, CIA or any other agency of government you are worried about taking away or infringing on your rights, it is the family courts of America, those located in almost every city and county that are totally out of control and harming people. They take your children and you have no rights and are guilty until... well until possibly forever since it almost appears luck if you are not harmed by the system.

Ratte is a tenured professor of classical archaeology at the University of Michigan, which means that, on a given day, he's more likely to be excavating ancient burial sites in Turkey than watching "Dancing with the Stars" -- or even the History Channel, for that matter.

The 47-year-old academic says he wasn't even aware alcoholic lemonade existed when he and Leo stopped at a concession stand on the way to their seats in Section 114.

"I'd never drunk it, never purchased it, never heard of it," Ratte of Ann Arbor told me sheepishly last week. "And it's certainly not what I expected when I ordered a lemonade for my 7-year-old."

But it wasn't until the top of the ninth inning that a Comerica Park security guard noticed the bottle in young Leo's hand.

"You know this is an alcoholic beverage?" the guard asked the professor.

"You've got to be kidding," Ratte replied. He asked for the bottle, but the security guard snatched it before Ratte could examine the label.

Remember, when the black vans pull up and knock on your door late at night to come barging into your house, they aren't coming for your computer or cell phone, they aren't coming to see if you are having sex with a man, they aren't coming for your guns, but they ARE coming for your children.

@_@ Artman
04-30-2008, 10:28 AM
You being a parent, I can understand your concern and anger.

One thing though...I don't drink anymore and occasionally I go out with friends who do. Every place I go with them I get carded, even though I'm 48 years old. It must be the law or I'm just damn handsome. But when the sale of alcohol is involved, the rules are stringent.

What I'm getting at is that the person who sold the drink to him should have been aware of the laws within the ballpark. Should have noticed the purchase was intended for the young boy. Or would have noticed afterward if the father had handed the boy the drink after the purchase. Why wasn't the vendor (or the ballpark) brought up in this case?

All that aside, this is absolutely wrong and is another case of the laws being misdirected and misused (abused more likely) in our country (though across the pond it's gone completely insane (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/dorset/7341179.stm)).

Better keep yourself or your kids from taking pictures in New York City too. (http://glassbeadcollective.blip.tv/file/784711/) They'll likely take the camera or your kids away for such a horrendous act.