I didn’t think Williamson’s bunch could top failure to give middle name, but if they haven’t surpassed it, they’ve certainly matched it with the Hash Browns Caper.
I know we’re going to hear all kinds of serious talk about message sending in the next few days, but the only one I’m receiving is that UGA Police can waste resources like nobody’s business.
Consider yourselves warned, student-athletes.
Get The Picture 
Theft is wrong. Was the punishment extreme? Sure. Is this thing a big deal? Absolutely not. Could it have been avoided with a dollar and some change? Yes. That’s Carli’s fault and she paid the price for it.
At least it wasn’t one of the football players.
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Not to say she doesn’t deserve punishment for her foolishness, but in a rational world this is handled without the involvement of the criminal justice system.
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True. Even though I am a hard liner when it comes to enforcement of the laws and personal accountability, discretion and common sense by law enforcement officials can go a long way to establishing respect by many in society who look for over reactions like this to make their case as to why the police do not deserve respect. The criminal justice system will bring this charge to a more sane conclusion, but the damage will have been done.
I say the above not knowing what else could have been involved such as a smart ass attitude by this student. If so, she may deserved to be charged. The police, doing their job, should not be subjected to dealing with the wrong-doer being abusive, or challenging their authority on the scene. There are better ways, and places, to get things straightened out than at the crime scene.
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In a rational world who would subject themselves to the possibility of being charged with a crime for $1.06? While they could’ve asked her to pay and write an apology, and $1500 in bail is ridiculous, I think the lesson is don’t put yourself in this position to begin with. And hey, reason can still kick in and they’ll let her pay for the taters now and keep this off her record, but they sent their message to all students….somebody always has to be the test case. Just my impression from outside the (legal) arena ….
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Are you kidding? “Don’t put yourself in this position to begin with”?
Tell me something – you ever break a traffic law?
These are college kids. They do stupid things all day long. That doesn’t mean we need to waste time and money we don’t have these days with test cases. There are more sensible ways to teach them life lessons.
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Bingo. But..in your hash browns in your PANTS??
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http://www.hulu.com/watch/8732/napoleon-dynamite-2004-you-gonna-eat-your-tots
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They should have made her eat them.
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Read my post and you’ll see I agree it was excessive. What I tell my kids is don’t put yourself in the wrong situations; this kind of thing is why. It’s out of our control to make other people act more reasonably. Of course, that’s easier said than done but I still try and remind them.
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So petty theft = speeding? Then why does one get you arrested and the other just a ticket? Seems like apples and oranges to me.
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You’ve missed the point.
Countless numbers of us have gotten traffic tickets. Do you really that people caught have learned their lesson and followed the rules afterwards?
Or if you want to up the ante, how about driving after drinking? That gets you arrested, doesn’t it? I’m sure you can point to plenty of folks who break that rule every Saturday during football season. I know I can.
The point is, this is a silly, silly response to an incredibly trivial matter. There’s a place for common sense, even in the criminal justice system.
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No it is not a silly silly matter. It is shop lifting. Rightly or wrongly our society has decided that crime is more serious than speeding. As a result, people will speed and pay the fine, but you do not see your average person willing to risk paying the penalty that goes with shop lifting.
Now if you want to talk about DUI and shop lifting then most people refrain from doing either of those as the penalty is too harsh.
If you want to stop speeding make it an offense that warrant arrest and you will see a whole lot less speeding. As far as what happened here it seems like you are complaining about the enforcement of the law when you should be complaining about the actual law itself. To blame the victim of the crime or the PD for enforcing it seems rather unfair.
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If every law on the books were enforced to the letter, you might have a point.
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Wow. So you feel that a written warning is the same as the PD just looking the other way and refusing to arrest someone for shop lifting. You have to be a criminal defense attorney to have that kind of slant (at least I hope you are). Reminds me of my crim pro prof from DC. All he ever saw was police corruption in everything that ever happened.
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This isn’t about police corruption. It’s about police discretion.
Again, if you think every complaint for domestic disturbance results in an arrest, or every petty theft sees somebody go to jail, be my guest. That simply isn’t how the real world – at least the real world outside of Athens, Georgia – works.
And, no, I’m not a criminal defense attorney. I’m just a taxpayer who thinks our money could be put to much better use than this. YMMV.
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I completely agree but in a rational world, college student athletes don’t steal dollar hash browns. Hate to break it to you, but we don’t live in a rational world.
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Just because the kids aren’t capable of making mature decisions doesn’t mean the cops can’t.
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As I remember from your college capers in “Animal House”, you downed about $10.00 worth of cafeteria food before you got to the register, Senator. Just before starting a food fight. No wonder you are indicting the cops, you scofflaw ahole. 🙂
Don’t tell me you don’t remember the large green jello inhaled or the two cheeseburgers simultaneously masticated and swallowed! You….You serial cafeteria food cunnilingust!!
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My bad. “Cunnilingusto!!”
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That sounds perverted.
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Thanks.
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That’s the dumbest thing I’ve ever heard. In a rational world,college students steal EVERYTHING from the cafeteria b/c they are broke and hungry and like pranks…
Let me think of a list of things that I have seen ‘stolen’ from a cafeteria:
-the salad bar sign
-food trays
-glasses
-fountain drink filled into 2 liters
-a toaster
-apples
-pizzas (whole pizzas)
-napkin holders
-soft serve ice cream in a gallon ziploc bag
etc. etc. etc.
Kids are stupid.
There was no reason whatsover for the officer to arrest this student for stuffing $1 worth of hash browns in her pants. When I was in school, there was a dean that dolled out punishment for that sort of thing.
Maybe all the deans now are too busy playing bass guitar and going by their first names to dole out punishment.
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I’m pretty sure that since the officer did not witness the crime, they don’t chose to prosectute. Thats up to the victim. If you don’t like it blame the cafe not the officer it’s not up to them in cases like this.
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I Blame adams.
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I blame Bobo…
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Were they smothered and covered?
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They are now.
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If they arrested her on what appeared to be hashbrowns they may as well strip search the entire women’s soccer team.
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I’d like to take this opportunity to say that I’m not staffed to handle night games and Georgia fans are animals, unlike any you’ll find at any other big school in the south.
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$1,500 in bail for $1.06 worth of hash browns. Hope they were good.
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You’ve got to NIP IT IN THE BUD!
Also, the idea of has browns down her pants! Gross!
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Has the price of maxi pads gotten that high. Way to go Obama!
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when hash browns are outlawed, only outlaws will have hash browns.
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+1
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It could have been the brown gravy on them that gave her away. Or she could have had a late poker date and was just sweetening the pot.
When the goin’ gets tough, the tough get fries.
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Does this not sound an awful lot like My Cousin Vinny to y’all?
I shot the clerk. I shot the clerk.
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As a former UGA cop, I can tell you that you have a lot of discretion in that position, at least back in the day you did. Before people tried to make a name for themselves by arresting someone everyone knew. I once stopped a lawyer who was drunk as a skunk and was crying like a baby because he was going thru a divorce. I told him he had a choice: keep crying and go to jail or I would get him home. I ended up driving him home. Another time I gave a UGA hoops player a ride from Stegeman to the jock dorm so he could make it in time for dinner. It was obvious to me that if he didn’t make it there on time he would not get anything to eat for dinner and he had no other means (transportation or money ) to eat. We were there to serve and protect- and it is the students, all of them, who need protection. The girl made a big mistake, but I suspect most of us did worse and got away with it. The criminal justice system has enough crap to deal with without this. Another example of total bs the kids and us have to deal with today. It could have been handled without jail, $ 1,500 bond etc.
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Thanks. Where do I send the red cup?
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Bravo to you sir, wish all cops were like you. I know this girl personally and she is definately not a bad kid. When I was in college, we used to take zip lock bags into the cafeteria and fill them with chicken tenders.
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Well there it is, straight from somebody who was there, thank you.
There’s a saying, “common sense is not common” with which I agree more often than I’d like.
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This is what the student affairs judicial system is supposed to deal with. You don’t take a kid to jail for sneaking food out of the dining hall. (You do, however, run her until she pukes if you’re the coach!)
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I’m from Athens and went to school at UGA (class of 80). What is it with the cops in Athens these days? It used to be the UGA cops, the Athens Police, and Andy and Barney in Clarke County; then in the mid 70s the county police expanded greatly. The last time I was home (in July) I counted ten cops driving from Bogart into downtown Athens on a Saturday afternoon. I remember the UGA police as being fairly reasonable and tolerant with students. Guess those days are gone for good.
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