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Logical

(22,457 posts)
Sat Feb 16, 2013, 10:01 AM Feb 2013

Elderly couple pulled over after their Buckeye car decal is mistaken for a marijuana leaf

Apparently Ohio State – and college football in general – isn’t very popular in the state of Tennessee.
At least not with the police.

Bonnie Jonas-Boggioni, 65, and her husband were driving home to Plano, Texas from Columbus after attending her mother-in-law’s funeral when a pair of black police SUV’s stopped the couple a few miles outside of Memphis.

“Knowing I wasn’t speeding, I couldn’t imagine why,” Jonas-Boggioni told the Columbus Dispatch. “They were very serious. They had the body armor and the guns.”

On the back of Jonas-Boggioni’s car was a Buckeye leaf decal, similar to the one players’ have on their helmets, and cops mistakenly thought it was marijuana leaf.

Yes, really.

“What are you doing with a marijuana sticker on your bumper?” one of the cops asked Jonas-Boggioni.
After trying to explain that the sticker was not a marijuana leaf and that she and her husband were not trafficking drugs cross-country, the police advised Jonas-Boggioni to remove the sticker as to not cause any more confusion.

More at: http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/ncaaf-dr-saturday/elderly-couple-pulled-over-buckeye-car-decal-mistaken-191317336--ncaaf.html?.tsrc=samsungwn



This is so stupid that it is almost unbelievable. I know some cops are idiots, but not sure how any cop could think they have a right to pull over someone because of a pot bumper sticker. And the cops are stupid enough to think a real drug runner would advertise it?

I hope they find the cops who did this. They will never get punished (except a paid vacation) but at least we could make fun of them.


59 replies = new reply since forum marked as read
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Elderly couple pulled over after their Buckeye car decal is mistaken for a marijuana leaf (Original Post) Logical Feb 2013 OP
"Oh, horse chestnuts Bonnie! Not again!" pinboy3niner Feb 2013 #1
Could have been a lot worse Jackpine Radical Feb 2013 #55
Apparently, these cops can't count to seven. nt Xipe Totec Feb 2013 #2
Go Buckeyes! Baclava Feb 2013 #3
They have a VERY prominent fan... pinboy3niner Feb 2013 #10
Nice! Baclava Feb 2013 #21
YMCA!!! elleng Feb 2013 #52
Hmmm. It does kinda look like a marijuana leaf.... Moonwalk Feb 2013 #53
As every cop knows... sendero Feb 2013 #4
LOL!!! n-t Logical Feb 2013 #5
Remember....they carry guns too.... Wounded Bear Feb 2013 #33
Oh lord, I just spat coffee. a la izquierda Feb 2013 #35
They are some stupid cops! FarPoint Feb 2013 #51
This is Sheriff Buford T. Justice, from TEX-iss! Kolesar Feb 2013 #6
I believe that is Tex-Ass" Wounded Bear Feb 2013 #34
Even if it were a Cannabis sativa leaf - the Cracker Cops panzerfaust Feb 2013 #7
I think a Darwinfish is a capital offense in Tennessee. Same as the hell hole I live in, Kansas. n-t Logical Feb 2013 #12
"Even if it were..." woo me with science Feb 2013 #16
Your post is a Jesus fish eating a Darwin fish. hunter Feb 2013 #45
UNFUCKINGBELIEVABLE MotherPetrie Feb 2013 #8
If I lived a little closer sorefeet Feb 2013 #9
Great idea! Maybe they would learn something. n-t Logical Feb 2013 #11
OMG, it would make a great short feature film. mainer Feb 2013 #36
This message was self-deleted by its author Kber Feb 2013 #13
This is more about the police racket of confiscation then drug running. Arctic Dave Feb 2013 #14
a little more about this couple (who will, I hope, not let this go quietly away) niyad Feb 2013 #15
when even I know what a marijuana leaf looks like, surely one would expect the cops on the DRUG niyad Feb 2013 #17
Yesterday This Creepy Guy is Walks to My Car otohara Feb 2013 #18
things are really crazy here in CO--and how disgusting that we have to be afraid to even have niyad Feb 2013 #20
How is the pot deal going in Colorado? Cops following the laws? n-t Logical Feb 2013 #24
There's Still A Lot To Be Done otohara Feb 2013 #30
Are they bothering people growing their own for personal use? n-t Logical Feb 2013 #31
Well The THC University Started Classes otohara Feb 2013 #43
I would be more afraid Politicalboi Feb 2013 #54
and another "buckeye leaf mistaken for marijuana leaf" story niyad Feb 2013 #19
Wow! amazing. n-t Logical Feb 2013 #23
What's round on the ends and high in the middle? ... eom Kolesar Feb 2013 #46
Aesculus glabra FarCenter Feb 2013 #22
"Fetid Buckeyes"...somehow that has a ring to it... HereSince1628 Feb 2013 #26
Fetid Buckeye. a la izquierda Feb 2013 #37
the fruit of the Buckeye was widely Bohunk68 Feb 2013 #57
Uh, I could have a bumper sticker that says "All Cops are Pigs" and I'm breaking NO LAW. HughBeaumont Feb 2013 #25
The cops are probably transplants from Michigan. :) Nine Feb 2013 #27
Lol! Kber Feb 2013 #39
Idiotic on so many levels etherealtruth Feb 2013 #28
I was a police officer from 1999 to 2006 Puzzledtraveller Feb 2013 #29
It is nice to hear most of them were good people. But I bet the idiots frustrated you. n-t Logical Feb 2013 #32
It's always the bad ones who make it tough for everyone else nt MrScorpio Feb 2013 #41
41 - 14 NCTraveler Feb 2013 #38
Want to get pulled over for no reason ....put a couple of Dead stickers on your car Lochloosa Feb 2013 #40
Dead? Deadhead? n-t Logical Feb 2013 #42
Ok..sometimes I forget how old I am Lochloosa Feb 2013 #59
Any excuse to pull over any driver with out-of-state tags. nt. OldDem2012 Feb 2013 #44
6,017 yahoo comments and growing johnnyreb Feb 2013 #47
Stupid cops ...with guns. What couild go wrong? L0oniX Feb 2013 #48
Elderly? The 92 year old mother marybourg Feb 2013 #49
Probable Cause maryland native Feb 2013 #50
Elderly? Really? This is a weird story. mountain grammy Feb 2013 #56
Yeah, I had the same thought as you and marybourg. Nine Feb 2013 #58

sendero

(28,552 posts)
4. As every cop knows...
Sat Feb 16, 2013, 10:06 AM
Feb 2013

.... smugglers always put a bumper sticker announcing their activity on their car.

These cops are so fucking stupid I'm surprised they can drive a car.

FarPoint

(12,409 posts)
51. They are some stupid cops!
Sat Feb 16, 2013, 08:35 PM
Feb 2013

Plus...no probable cause to stop them.....Hell, what if they would of also had an Obama-Biden bumper sticker?

 

panzerfaust

(2,818 posts)
7. Even if it were a Cannabis sativa leaf - the Cracker Cops
Sat Feb 16, 2013, 10:16 AM
Feb 2013

have no right to stop someone for such an image.

I do not support the growth of the police state - but I do recognize that it is coming for such is being embraced by our current presidential administration even more warmly than by the previous.

Lord, Imagine if it had been a Darwinfish ...

 

Logical

(22,457 posts)
12. I think a Darwinfish is a capital offense in Tennessee. Same as the hell hole I live in, Kansas. n-t
Sat Feb 16, 2013, 10:35 AM
Feb 2013

hunter

(38,317 posts)
45. Your post is a Jesus fish eating a Darwin fish.
Sat Feb 16, 2013, 01:41 PM
Feb 2013

Don't know if you posted that by accident.

I'll try this:



and the Flying Spaghetti Monster:



http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Darwin_fish

sorefeet

(1,241 posts)
9. If I lived a little closer
Sat Feb 16, 2013, 10:31 AM
Feb 2013

I would paint pot leafs all over my car and drive thru Tennessee and when I got pulled over I would ask how he could pull me over for my First amendment rights. Ya got to shame these people with the media. Get it on the news how down right stupid they are.

Response to Logical (Original post)

 

Arctic Dave

(13,812 posts)
14. This is more about the police racket of confiscation then drug running.
Sat Feb 16, 2013, 11:01 AM
Feb 2013

They were hoping to find ANYTHING, so they could steal their belongings, oops I mean "fight the war on drugs".

niyad

(113,329 posts)
15. a little more about this couple (who will, I hope, not let this go quietly away)
Sat Feb 16, 2013, 11:11 AM
Feb 2013

. . . . .

The cops mistook it for a marijuana symbol.

“It’s just amazing they would be that dumb,” Bonnie Jonas-Boggioni said.

She lives in Plano, Texas, but she grew up in Columbus and is known as a lifelong Buckeyes fan.

She has served as president of the Ohio State Alumni Club in the Dallas-Fort Worth area.

On Feb. 4, Jonas-Boggioni and husband Guido Boggioni, 66, were driving home to Plano after a trip to Columbus to attend the funeral of his mother, Eleanor, 92.

. . .

niyad

(113,329 posts)
17. when even I know what a marijuana leaf looks like, surely one would expect the cops on the DRUG
Sat Feb 16, 2013, 11:14 AM
Feb 2013

TASK FORCE to know. oh, sorry, guess that would be too much common sense.

 

otohara

(24,135 posts)
18. Yesterday This Creepy Guy is Walks to My Car
Sat Feb 16, 2013, 11:16 AM
Feb 2013

I'm walking to my car after a Dr. appt and this man 50 feet ahead of me starts walking towards my car and he gets real close to see
my LGBT Obama sticker. I can hear him grumbling and I said, do you like my sticker? He turns around and flashed me a dirty look and storms off.

For all I know he's got a gun.

It's very stressful out here - the whole gun thing has me on edge, I took one of my Obama stickers off - for fear I'd get my window broken or shot by someone who hates the president. CO is voting on gun legislation right now and there's a lot of haters & gun nuts being real icky and vocal. They scare me. I'm taking off the LGBT sticker today.

At least here, a marijuana leaf is no big deal.

niyad

(113,329 posts)
20. things are really crazy here in CO--and how disgusting that we have to be afraid to even have
Sat Feb 16, 2013, 11:24 AM
Feb 2013

bumper stickers, or yard signs of which some knuckle-dragging cretin disapproves. but do whatever you need to do to be safe.

a friend here was harassed by the police for her activist bumper stickers. and, we do not forget the st. paddy's day seven.

 

otohara

(24,135 posts)
30. There's Still A Lot To Be Done
Sat Feb 16, 2013, 12:07 PM
Feb 2013

the dispensaries can't sell to non-medical folks yet.
The panel in charge is laying out a plan for selling/growing.
I don't think it will be ready for a while, but there is a deadline I think.

 

otohara

(24,135 posts)
43. Well The THC University Started Classes
Sat Feb 16, 2013, 12:56 PM
Feb 2013

last week - so that's a good sign.

There's a smoking club called Club 64 who jumped the gun on opening too soon, but last I heard
he has hosted nights where like minded smokers can come and enjoy.

I think they are more concerned about big grow places. Some dispensaries have been robbed, the one
down my street was broken into. The large growers would definitely be a target.

 

Politicalboi

(15,189 posts)
54. I would be more afraid
Sat Feb 16, 2013, 08:48 PM
Feb 2013

Of cops who don't like Obama pulling me over just for nothing, and then still getting a bogus ticket. I never put my Obama/Biden sticker on my car.

niyad

(113,329 posts)
19. and another "buckeye leaf mistaken for marijuana leaf" story
Sat Feb 16, 2013, 11:20 AM
Feb 2013

. . . .


My column yesterday on the woman who said her Buckeye leaf decal got her pulled over by Tennessee cops prompted reader Keith Crabtree of Reynoldsburg to write with a similar story.

Here's what he said.

I have MS and navigate with a motorized scooter. When I got my first scooter in 2004, the only models on the showroom floor were blue or yellow. I politely asked if they had any red and gray models. They brought out a red one, and the "Brute Scoot" was born. I adorn it with a Buckeye leaf every time OSU wins a ballgame and have the OSU logo proudly displayed on
the front. I'm on my second Brute Scoot now. I tell everyone I ran out of room for Buckeye leaves on the first one, but I really just wore it out.

Several years ago, I was coming through the Denver airport when security pulled me out of the line. Several agents gathered around the scooter and proceeded to start dismantling it.
I had no idea what was going on and no one said anything to me other than ordering me to get off the scooter and sit on a chair.

After several minutes, another agent came by and noticed what was happening. He asked what they were doing and one of the agents responded, "Those are marijuana leaves. We think he's smuggling dope."

At which point, the new agent responded, "No, they're not, you idiots. Those are Buckeye leaves. He's from Ohio!" At this point, they quietly put the Brute Scoot back together and let me proceed, but without an apology. I laughed most of the way back to Columbus.

. . . .

http://www.dispatch.com/content/blogs/regular-joe/2013/02/another-buckeye-leaf-story.html

 

FarCenter

(19,429 posts)
22. Aesculus glabra
Sat Feb 16, 2013, 11:39 AM
Feb 2013
The tree species Aesculus glabra is commonly known as Ohio buckeye, American buckeye, or fetid buckeye.

The fruits contain tannic acid, and are poisonous for cattle, and possibly humans.


Weird, quasi-Druidic tree worship in Ohio.

HereSince1628

(36,063 posts)
26. "Fetid Buckeyes"...somehow that has a ring to it...
Sat Feb 16, 2013, 11:49 AM
Feb 2013

But I am guessing you'd have to say that as "THE" Fetid Buckeyes to mean anything in the sports world.

or not.


a la izquierda

(11,795 posts)
37. Fetid Buckeye.
Sat Feb 16, 2013, 12:40 PM
Feb 2013

Bwahaha. I live near Cbus, but I hate the Buckeyes...well, except the ones made of chocolate and peanut butter.

Bohunk68

(1,364 posts)
57. the fruit of the Buckeye was widely
Sat Feb 16, 2013, 10:42 PM
Feb 2013

used by early settlers the same as acorns, which are also high in tannins, were. They would use the wood ashes from the trees that had been cleared and make lye which they would use to soak the shell less nuts in. It would then be dried and ground into a flour. Hominy grits are made much the same way from corn.

HughBeaumont

(24,461 posts)
25. Uh, I could have a bumper sticker that says "All Cops are Pigs" and I'm breaking NO LAW.
Sat Feb 16, 2013, 11:47 AM
Feb 2013

You've got to be kidding me. It's called The First Amendment.

Puzzledtraveller

(5,937 posts)
29. I was a police officer from 1999 to 2006
Sat Feb 16, 2013, 12:05 PM
Feb 2013

It never ceased to amaze me how stupid some of my "co-workers" were. To be fair most I knew are great people who just want to go home when their shift is over and not needlessly harass people.

johnnyreb

(915 posts)
47. 6,017 yahoo comments and growing
Sat Feb 16, 2013, 02:37 PM
Feb 2013

"They had the body armor and the guns."

Gyaaghh, this boils my blood. Keep it up assholes, we can use more disgruntled citizens.


 

L0oniX

(31,493 posts)
48. Stupid cops ...with guns. What couild go wrong?
Sat Feb 16, 2013, 02:45 PM
Feb 2013

I suppose we should be thankful they didn't fire 46 bullets into the back of their vehicle.

marybourg

(12,633 posts)
49. Elderly? The 92 year old mother
Sat Feb 16, 2013, 07:56 PM
Feb 2013

whose funeral they were going to was elderly. These folks are just mature, imo.

maryland native

(48 posts)
50. Probable Cause
Sat Feb 16, 2013, 08:32 PM
Feb 2013

Probable Cause is a little thing required for law enforcement to start the ball rolling.

The LEO needs to be able to explain what happened/what was seen/what drew attention to the activities of the person he/she interacts with.

That action or observation needs to explain a violation of the law.

I find a sticker is a poor excuse for PC to stop ANYONE!

I am not a lawyer, but I respect the law and hate to see it violated...... even by the police!

Nine

(1,741 posts)
58. Yeah, I had the same thought as you and marybourg.
Sat Feb 16, 2013, 10:52 PM
Feb 2013

I wouldn't call 65 elderly. But I think the headline writer was trying to get across that these people don't look like stereotypical pot users or smugglers.

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