JUSTICE IN A PEACH BASKET:

Judge rules the court (GREG HARDESTY, September 2002, The Orange County Register)

The 20-year-old defendant told the judge that marijuana made him a better basketball player.

"Oh, yeah?" replied Judge Marc Kelly, peering down at Alvaro Alvarez, charged with pot possession. "I'm a 42-year-old man. I don't think you can take me on."

Kelly challenged Alvarez to a game of one-on-one basketball - not only to try to beat him but to persuade him that dope won't help him win.

Stunned, Alvarez accepted the challenge.

"I though maybe he was kidding," he said.

On Tuesday, a few weeks after the challenge was issued, Alvarez returned to Kelly's courtroom to show proof that he had attended a substance- abuse class. Then the judge and the pot smoker squared off.

Kelly stripped off his black robe and laced up his sneakers.

"You better not let him beat you," Alvarez's friends had told him after learning about the match.

Be sure to read this one, it's a hoot. Posted by Orrin Judd at September 10, 2002 4:17 PM