>>> february 21, 2002
Life in the pen

During a confrontation with a uniformed police officer, Steven Thompson, a 44-year-old Painesville, Ohio man unleashed a stream of obscenities culminating in the word “Pig.” Every policeman has his breaking point and Thompson was hauled in for disorderly conduct. He pleaded guilty, but rather than a fine or jail time he was sentenced to stand for two hours on a city sidewalk, next to an actual pig, while holding a sign reading, “This is not a police officer.”

Municipal Judge Michael Cicconetti thought the sentence might help Thompson remember the error of his ways, but such cheers as “Way to go Mr. Thompson” from passing pedestrians may not have adequately captured the situation’s gravity. :

—Scott Saxon