Lead Story
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While dining at Angellino’s in Palm Harbor, Florida, with his girlfriend in March, 54-year-old Ralph Paul ate the five shrimp and five scallops that came with his entree, then sent back the rest of the dish and asked that it be taken off the check because there hadn’t been enough seafood. After an argument with the owner, the couple left without paying their $46 bill; soon police contacted Paul, saying he’d be arrested for fraud if he didn’t pay up. He decided to fight the charges: in an October trial his lawyer, hired from a New York firm at $500 an hour, argued that Paul’s “code of honor,” developed during 26 years in the air force, forbade him to back down and pay for a meal he wasn’t happy with, and a jury (who grew visibly restless as the day wore on, the St. Petersburg Times reported) took half an hour to acquit him.
Compelling Explanations
Langstaff returned to his house in nearby Cool from a weekend trip in September to find his front fence lying flat, an unknown pickup truck parked sideways in the driveway, and his possessions littered all over the lawn. A man wearing only a sheet came out the back door and asked Langstaff what he was doing there, then fled. According to a subsequent sheriff’s report, the alleged intruder (later picked up and identified as 37-year-old Terence Dean) had apparently left all the faucets running and placed packages of meat in the sink and tub; trails of potting soil led to a Buddha statue set atop a bongo drum and to three plant stands, each holding a teddy bear, sitting inside the truck. In the kitchen were a bowl of unpopped popcorn, a bowl containing water and Langstaff’s car keys, and a cup of water holding a scrap of paper that read “I love Cherry.”
Least Competent Civil Disobedience
