Oh No They Didn't!

I saw this on Fuggled , and it was in the New York Times, last week. All I can say is if I got a ticket for drinking a beer on my own front step, I would be angry. Drinking in public = wandering down the street. Sitting on a deck, a stoop, or in front of an open window of your own home shouldn't be considered "public," IMHO.

A 39 year old Prospect Heights resident, who lives in a four-story, 20-unit co-op building with his wife and two children was ticketed for drinking a beer on his own stoop. He had watched Senator Joseph R. Biden Jr.’s speech at the Democratic convention on television, helped put his sons to bed and washed the dishes. The time was 11:52 p.m., the date was Aug. 27, and the beer, for the record, was a 12-ounce bottle of Sierra Nevada.

A police car slowed to a stop, and the police officer in the driver’s seat said something to Mr. VanRy. He left the stoop, walked to the car and, several minutes later, was handed a small pink slip — a $25 summons for drinking in public. The officer who gave Mr. VanRy the summons asked him what brand of beer he was drinking. “I thought it was strange why it mattered,” Mr. VanRy said.

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