Miss Teen Louisiana loses crown over pot
Wednesday, October 22nd, 2008 at 1:22 pm | By: Radical Russ
Miss Teen Louisiana loses crown over pot – Beauty Pageants – MSNBC.com
Reigning Miss Louisiana Teen USA Lindsey Evans has been stripped of her crown after being arrested for marijuana possession and skipping out on a restaurant tab.Evans, 18 and three of her friends walked out on a $46.07 bill at the Posados Café in Bossier City, La., on Saturday night. But Evans made a crucial misstep — she left her purse behind.
Police were called, and according to them, they found not only her driver’s license, but also a bag of marijuana in her purse.
Evans and her friends — Jordan James, 18, Jennifer Martin, 22, and Morgan Goleman, 18 — returned to the restaurant to retrieve the purse, just as officers were about to leave the scene.
“One of the officers recognized Evans from her identification, and they were subsequently arrested,” police spokesman Mark Natale told TODAYshow.com
Natale said that the women admitted that they purposely left without paying their bill, though at least one of the women blamed the restaurant.
“The service was so slow, we just said, ‘screw it’ and left,” Martin told the New York Post.
All four were booked on charges of theft and possession of marijuana. Martin and James were also booked for possession of drug paraphernalia.
Evans lost the crown 10 days shy of completing her reign, which would have ended November 1.
One of the keys to any successful dine-n-dash is to take all your stuff with you when you dash! One of the keys to any successful cannabis consumer staying out of jail is to never leave your stash out of your sight when you have it in public! Another good precautionary step is to not store your stash in the same place as anything identifyable as yours, like say, your photo ID.
But of course, any successful cannabis consumer would also adhere to Steinborn’s Rule: Only Break One Law at a Time. If you’re carrying your stash, it’s no time for speeding, trespassing, or for Mary Jane’s sake, skipping out on a restaurant tab! Four of you couldn’t come up with $11.52 each, assuming you wouldn’t leave a tip for the poor service?
For the possession of marijuana charge, assuming it is a first offense for Miss Evans, carries a misdemeanor sentence with a possible 6 months in jail and a $500 fine. Louisiana is also a Marijuana Tax Stamp state, so she may face penalties of evading that tax. Then there is the theft charge on top of all that. Then consider that Miss Evans may lose her federal financial aid at Northwestern State University, where she is a student, not to mention any scholarships she may have received through the school and the pageant. As she applies for jobs she will have to check the box that says she has a drug conviction.
I will be interested to see how this case turns out, and if this young pretty blonde white beauty queen gets the same sort of treatment an 18-year-old black man in Louisiana would get for a theft and marijuana possession charge… As a marijuana reformer, I don’t want to see anyone punished for marijuana possession, but as a former waiter who lived on tips and son of restaurant managers whose bottom-line suffered from dine-n-dashers, I hope she gets a few days in jail for the theft charge.
Topics: Lindsey Evans, Louisiana, Miss Louisiana Teen USA
