posted on June 14, 2002 05:46:57 AM new
OSLO, Norway (AP) - A Norwegian court has ruled that it is
legal to bark in public even for human beings.
The case, which made national news on Tuesday, came up after
police arrested a father of seven because he barked in public.
Trond S. Hansen, 57, was walking home from a dinner party in
downtown Oslo with two of his children, ages nine and seven, in
early May, according to the ruling.
Along the way the children quarreled and the youngest started
crying. The father tried distract them by barking.
A witness who feared that a dog was mauling a child called
police after looking out the window to find that it was actually a
man barking, the ruling said.
Police arrested Hansen and charged him with disturbing the
peace, public drunkenness and child neglect. They jailed him for
the night and turned his children over to welfare authorities.
In court, police said Hansen smelled of alcohol and his speech
was slurred. Another witness said he was not drunk and Hansen
said his slurred speech was due to his false teeth coming loose.
The Oslo preliminary court found no evidence of drunkenness,
neglect or illegal barking.
``The court finds it proven that the defendant barked in a public
place at night. The court, however, is in doubt that the barking
was so loud that it disturbed the peace,'' the ruling said.
The defendant was awarded 4,000 kroner (dlrs 500) in legal
costs. Prosecutors admitted that the case should never have
gone to court and did not plan to appeal.
``The whole thing seemed unreal,'' the man was quoted as telling
the Oslo newspaper Aftenposten. ``I feel like I've been subject to
an abuse of power.''
The ruling was released in late May but did not make news until
now because of a journalists' strike.
posted on June 14, 2002 12:33:05 PM new``The whole thing seemed unreal,'' the man was quoted as telling the Oslo newspaper Aftenposten. ``I feel like I've been subject to an abuse of power.''
Whatta Whimp! If he thinks that HE's buun the subject of an Abuse of Power, he ought to try living here in THIS country with THIS President!
