Willie Nelson

[roadrunnertex]

Oh!Oh!
Willie Nelson and four others were issued misdemeanor citations for possession of narcotic mushrooms and marijuana after a traffic stop Monday morning on a Louisiana highway, state police said.

The citations were issued after a commercial vehicle inspection of the country music star's tour bus, state police said in a news release.

"When the door was opened and the trooper began to speak to the driver, he smelled the strong odor of marijuana," the news release said. A search of the bus produced 1 1/2 pounds of marijuana and slightly more than three ounces of narcotic mushrooms.

There were enough drugs to merit a felony charge of distribution if they had been found in one person's possession, state police spokesman Willie Williams said. But all five claimed the drugs as their own, so each was charged with misdemeanors. All were released after the citations were issued.

Nelson's publicist, Elaine Schock, said she would have no comment Monday.

Also cited were Tony Sizemore, 59, of St. Cloud, Fla.; Bobbie Nelson, 75, of Briarcliff, Texas; Gates Moore, 54, of Austin, Texas; and David Anderson, 50, of Dallas.

Nelson, 73, has recorded songs including "On the Road Again" and "City of New Orleans."



I wonder why the Great State of Louisiana thinks that buses that are converted are a  a commercial vehicle?
So folks be careful when you are in Louisiana with your bus conversion.
jlv

[FloridaCliff]

JL,

I guess we will have one more question when someone says 'i was sure smoking up that grade"

Cliff

[HighTechRedneck]

JL,

I guess we will have one more question when someone says 'i was sure smoking up that grade"

Cliff

Kind of gives new meaning to "diesel smoke". 

[RJ]

W/o all the info, we're all going to be speculating, but here's MHO:

The trooper probably pulled the coach over initially for speeding, especially if it was pulling a trailer, as some musicians do.  Lots of entertainer coaches really haul A$$ between gigs, due to the tour organizer doing a poor job of venue scheduling.  Running 600 - 800 miles is not uncommon - something which is virtually impossible to do "logbook legal".   (Right, BK?) 

Toby Keith was just here in Fresno, and I noticed that ALL of his entertainer coaches had commercial plates on them, indicating that they were leased units - something that is becoming far more common nowdays.  Lease the coach & driver for the length of the tour, and let somebody else worry about maintenance, etc.

For more info on entertainer coaches, here's one company, based just outside Nashville:

  http://www.fsleasing.com/index.shtml


I guess the point I'm making is "don't do anything to draw attention to yourself!!" 

[Buffalo SpaceShip]

Russ is right. In reading the newswires, the driver was a commercial driver, so I'm assuming the bus was, also. His CDL is now suspended because of the possession charge, so Willie will be needing a new driver, looks like. Once one has a "professional driver", does this necessarily make his bus a commercial vehicle? I dunno for sure.

Apparently, Willie has 6 tour busses, and he touts them as all running B100 fuel.

I never much cared for his voice, but baked or not, the man can flat out play that guitar. And he's written some amazing songs along the way. Imagine Patsy Cline without Crazy...

So I say... Free Willie  

[kyle4501]

I say hang the bastard! He should have been in prison years ago for drugs and tax evasion. I can't stand him. And his biodiesel is just another tax dodging scam.

Wow, who licked the sugar off your frosted flakes this morning?

Ah, politics,

I'm not too crazy about his music & I think if these 'alternative' fuels had any REAL merit, they would stand on their own & would not need to be propped up by celebrities and legislation.

I don't drink or 'do drugs' (- If I'm this bad straight-up, I'd hate to think what it'd be like impaired!  )

That said, I also believe it is a free country. If someone is minding their own buisness & not affecting anyone else....... Leave 'em alone. (gray area here since he was on a public road, but was in a private coach, but the driver may have been imbiding in second-hand smoke......)

Alcohol & cigarettes are legal & can have a similar effect as pot. The difference is $$$ not morality.

(Hemp is a superior product than cotton for some things in industry & the cotton lobby got it banned to eliminate competition using 'drug scare tactics' .) Did you know Damiler-Chrysler uses a hemp based product to make the base for the mercedes door panels? Hemp makes a superior rope than cotton.

I gotta spend more time on my to-do list & less time watching History & Discovery.

[Mr.Hipster]

Yeah, that makes sense.  Hang 'em 'cause he likes a little hookah.  Spoken like a real expert on the subject.
There is no doubt Willie ain't too bright cruising around with 1 1/2 pounds of smoke, maybe he don't care.
The way I see it, those who don't adjust their attitude, have too many problems to adjust.  Usually connected to an over sized ego and a holier than thou demeaner. 

[Dallas]

Thankyou, Gentlemen, This is about enough on this topic.
We will not tolerate flaming, censure or attacks on any member.
This topic is now finished.

[/i][/b]

Your personal feelings and opinions are your own and should stay that way.
This is a forum for the purpose of buses, bus conversion and bus related interest.
NOT a forum to debate personal preferences.

Let's keep it clean!


Dallas,
 Your friendly, helpful moderator
 and generally all around nice guy.

[/i][/b]

[Busted Knuckle]

First off yes Russ, it makes it very hard on ANY commercial DRIVER when planners don't allow the drivers to help in the time schedule prt of planning trips. But it's an age old issue, and it' ain't likely to change now!

Second to whoever asked about "Willie's Private Coach" being seen as a commercial vehicle by the "officer". Anytime ANY vehicle is used for business IT IS considered a COMMERCIAL VEHICLE!  Even if you don't follow the law and license, and insure it that way! But MOST entertainer coaches these days are LEGALLY registered and insurred, which shows at a glance of the license plate that they are indeed commercial!

Third I don't codone or condem the actions of those invovled, but I do commend ALL of them for taking resposability and admitting that they all owned the drugs! (ussually everyone says "those ain't mine, I don't how they got there!" ) 

And Last but not least THANK YOU DALLAS! BK 
now I'll step back quietly and get to work making sure I have things ready for my Federal DOT audit on Thursday! and a good day to all of you !

W/o all the info, we're all going to be speculating, but here's MHO:

The trooper probably pulled the coach over initially for speeding, especially if it was pulling a trailer, as some musicians do.  Lots of entertainer coaches really haul A$$ between gigs, due to the tour organizer doing a poor job of venue scheduling.  Running 600 - 800 miles is not uncommon - something which is virtually impossible to do "logbook legal".   (Right, BK?) 
Toby Keith was just here in Fresno, and I noticed that ALL of his entertainer coaches had commercial plates on them, indicating that they were leased units - something that is becoming far more common nowdays.  Lease the coach & driver for the length of the tour, and let somebody else worry about maintenance, etc.

For more info on entertainer coaches, here's one company, based just outside Nashville:

  http://www.fsleasing.com/index.shtml


I guess the point I'm making is "don't do anything to draw attention to yourself!!"  [/s]

[chargePlus]

Ah, politics,

I'm not too crazy about his music & I think if these 'alternative' fuels had any REAL merit, they would stand on their own & would not need to be propped up by celebrities and legislation.

<political opinion>

Well, they could stand on their own, but the people that are currently producing them don't have the lobbying power in Washington, DC that the big energy producers have. The oil lobby is quite large and pushes hard against any "alternative" fuels that won't benefit them. Ethanol is mandated and subsidized because Archer Daniels Midland (ADM), Cargill, and other producers lobby the legislators hard and got them to replace MTBE (which is moderately effective but really, really bad) as a fuel oxygenate. Nevermind that corn is not the best source material for producing ethanol...

Current "conventional" petroleum fuels are also propped up by celebrities (President of USA, VP of USA, various Legislators, etc.) and legislation, and bought and paid for by the magnanimous US of A tax payers with additional "road taxes" added at the pump, too.

At a time of record profits in the petroleum business, our esteemed (and I use that term loosely) congress has seen fit to include BILLIONS of dollars of give backs and subsidies to oil/petroleum producing companies in their legislation. That is a major problem, but that's the way our government runs. Pay for play. S*cks to be us... 

</political opinion>


- John[/s]

[DrivingMissLazy]

As Dallas so eloquently stated, enough is enough. Any more posts on this subject will be deleted.
Richard

[Nick Badame Refrig/ACC]

This Topic Is Now Locked......