Drivers in California can legally read a map on their hand-held cellphones while behind the wheel, a state appeals court ruled Thursday.
The 5th District Court of Appeal reversed the case of Steven Spriggs, a Fresno man who was ticketed in January 2012 for looking at a map on his iPhone 4 while stuck in traffic. Spriggs challenged the $165 fine.
The incident that entrapped Spriggs happened when he was stopped by roadwork. He was grabbing his cellphone and trying to find an alternate route when a California Highway Patrol officer spotted him and wrote him a ticket.
Spriggs first challenged the case in traffic court, where he lost, and then appealed it himself to a three-judge panel in Fresno County Superior Court, where he lost a second time. Confident the law didn’t apply to him, Spriggs took it to the appellate court, but this time with help of a law firm that stepped in to represent him pro bono.
In the 18-page ruling, the appellate judges said California’s law that prohibits people from talking on their cellphones without a hands-free device could have been written more clearly, but it doesn’t apply to looking at maps on cellphones. The law the CHP officer used to ticket Spriggs applies specifically to people “listening and talking” on cellphones, not using their mobile phone in other ways, the court said.
Spriggs, who is entitled to recoup his $165 fine, said the Superior Court judges who had upheld his violation were guilty of overreaching by applying the spotty law to him.
Williams & Sonoma is offering a FREE Junior Chef cooking class!
March 8 – All About Strawberries
March 15 – Chop & Slice It!
March 22 – Let’s Stir Fry!
March 29 – Easter Egg Decorating
The Junior Chef cooking classes are free and include tastings of prepared dishes. The class will be held Saturdays at 09:30am and class size is limited. Parents can also enjoy 10% savings on select same-day store purchases.
For more information about the classes, visit Williams & Sonoma’s website. To attend the class visit the nearest Williams & Sonoma store at 1470 Mount Diablo Blvd. Walnut Creek , CA 94596.
Concord Police is reporting that San Miguel Rd is closed between 1080 San Miguel Road and Tioga Road due to a water main break. Those that use this street should find alternative routes. It’s estimated that it will be at least 10 hours until the road reopens.
Concord Police is reporting that San Miguel Rd is closed between 1080 San Miguel Road and Tioga Road due to a water main break. Those that use this street should find alternative routes. It’s estimated that it will be at least 10 hours until the road reopens.
The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that officials at Live Oak High School in Morgan Hill, a suburb of San Jose, acted properly in banning t-shirts and other patriotic, red white and blue clothing on May 5th, aka Cinco de Mayo.
School officials were worried about violence and disruption of school activities stemming from the students wearing patriotic clothing. The clothing and accessories according to Assistant Principal Miguel Rodriguez is deemed “incendiary” and “it has no place on a day celebrating Mexican heritage”.
Court documents said, a large group of students carrying Mexican flags had clashed with students who hung an American flag from a tree on May 5th, 2010.
The case started when the principal of Live Oak High School asked a group of students wearing American flag T-shirts to turn their shirts inside out or take them off.
Live Oak High School students from left, Daniel Galli, Austin Carvalho, Matt Dariano and Dominic Maciel were sent home from school on Cinco de Mayo because they were wearing American flag T-shirts.
Dariano’s mother, Diana, told FoxNews.com she and parents of the other four students have been demanding an apology from officials. “We want an apology,” Diana Dariano said Thursday. “Who in the United States of America would have an issue with that? It’s a sad, sad day.”
“I’m more hurt than anything,” she said. “It is so hurtful and disrespectful the way this has turned. These are American kids.” The boys told Rodriguez and Principal Nick Boden that turning their shirts inside-out was disrespectful, so their parents decided to take them home.
“I just couldn’t believe it,” Julie Fagerstrom, Maciel’s mother, told the Morgan Hill Times. “I’m an open-minded parent, but it’s got to be on both sides. It can’t be five kids singled out.” Galli told NBC Bay Area, “They said we could wear it on any other day, but today is sensitive to Mexican-Americans because it’s supposed to be their holiday so we were not allowed to wear it.
The day of the incident more than 100 students were spotted wearing the colors of the Mexican flag — red, white and green — as they left school, including some who had the flag painted on their faces or arms, according to the Morgan Hill times.
Eugene Volokh, a professor of law at the University of California-Los Angeles, said the students are protected under California Education Code 48950, which prohibits schools from enforcing a rule subjecting a high school student to disciplinary sanctions solely on the basis of conduct, that when engaged outside of campus, is protected by the First Amendment.
Check out the initial news report below:
Judges said the civil rights case forced them to weigh the difficult question of what takes precedence: students’ free speech rights or school safety concerns?
Opponents say it’s a slippery slope and could set precedent for safety to out weigh individual rights. They also point out that the school in question is a public school paid for by tax payers, stating that if the school was a private school it would be acceptable to ban the patriotic clothing but since it’s a publicly funded school, the oppressive ruling violates the student’s rights and goes against the First Amendment.
This ruling is reminiscent of another issue lurking around Concord. For the past few years the public has boycotted the City of Concord’s Fourth of July Parade because one of its yearly performers, a Mexican group with dancing horses, waves the Mexican flag throughout the entire Concord Fourth of July Parade. It was citizen out cry and protest that provoked the group in 2010 to add the American flag to its performance. Every year protesters have boycotted the parade in its entirety and instead opting for hosting their own private Fourth of July parties in homes and backyards across the East Bay.
What do you think? Do you support the courts ruling? Should the boys stop wearing the American Flag on May 5th? Do you think a Fourth of July Parade should wave a flag from another country?
IHOP restaurants in the bay area will offer each guest a free short stack of its buttermilk pancakes on Tuesday in observance of National Pancake Day from 7 a.m. – 10 p.m.
For every short stack of buttermilk pancakes served on National Pancake Day, IHOP guests are encouraged to make a donation to Shriners Hospitals for Children. IHOP hopes to raise $3 million this year, with a goal to bring the total amount of funds raised to nearly $16 million for Shriners and other local charities.
Here are some facts about National Pancake Day:
– IHOP served 4.5 million free pancakes on National Pancake Day 2013 and pancake lovers donated nearly $3 million to children’s charities.
– All of the free pancakes served on National Pancake Day 2013 would create a stack nearly 13 miles high.
– Since the inception of National Pancake Day in 2006, IHOP has raised nearly $13 million and given away more than 22 million pancakes to support charities in the communities where it operates.
Local Locations for IHOP include:
IHOP 4619 Clayton Road CONCORD, CA 94521-2932
IHOP 2910 North Main Street WALNUT CREEK, CA 94597-2003
IHOP 2290 Loveridge Road PITTSBURG, CA 94565-5022
IHOP 1190 Arnold Drive MARTINEZ, CA 94553-4133
For more information on National Pancake Day and to learn more about Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals, go to IHOPPancakeDAY.com.
What’s your favorite way to eat pancakes? Flavored Syrup? Add fruit?
It’s National Anthem Day! In 1814, a young lawyer named Francis Scott Key wrote a poem called “Defence of Fort McHenry.” Key penned the verses after witnessing the British attack on Baltimore Harbor during the War of 1812. The sight of the American flag flying triumphantly over Fort McHenry in the morning inspired his legendary words.
Key decided to set his piece to music, and borrowed the tune from a popular song called “To Anacreon in Heaven.” Not long after it was first published, people began referring to the piece as “The Star-Spangled Banner.” The song became an overnight success, and bands began playing it during public events and military occasions. In March of 1931, over a hundred years after Key wrote it, “The Star-Spangled Banner” became the official national anthem of the United States.
Check out our National Anthem sung by a very talented 9 year old.
Do you know all of the words to the national anthem (including verses two, three, and four)? Today’s a great day to refresh your memory. Happy National Anthem Day!
Live Oak High School students from left, Daniel Galli, Austin Carvalho, Matt Dariano and Dominic Maciel were sent home from school on Cinco de Mayo because they were wearing American flag T-shirts.
Diablo Reporter 