Snoop Rapped on the Wrist

E!online ^ | Thu, 20 Sep 2007 05:40:32 PM PDT | Natalie Finn

[Paleo Conservative]

Despite the fact that seemingly half of his time is spent doing good works on behalf of the legal system, Snoop Dogg's court docket is looking refreshingly clear for now.

Scrapping a previous denial, the actor-rapper pleaded guilty to one felony count of possession of a dangerous weapon in connection with his arrest last September at Orange County's John Wayne Airport for trying to carry a collapsible baton onboard a flight to New York.

Originally, the hip-hop star had claimed that the baton, which airport security detected in his carry-on, was a prop for a music video and he did not know it was a forbidden item (having been so careful to stuff all his liquids into a little plastic baggie and all).

Snoop, real name Calvin Broadus, was sentenced to three years' informal probation and 160 hours of community service and was ordered to make a charitable contribution in the amount of $10,000, according to the O.C. District Attorney's Office.

"We are very pleased with the outcome," attorney Donald Etra said after court Thursday. "Snoop's goal is to make music, not make court appearances."

After he has completed his service, Snoop will be eligible in one year to have the charge reduced to a misdemeanor.

That time spent making the world a better place is on top of the 800 hours the Doggfather purveyor was assigned in April, after pleading no contest on felony weapon and marijuana-possession charges stemming from two separate busts in Burbank, California, in October and November of last year.

The Los Angeles judge who sentenced him on the more recent charges said that he could devote 400 of those hours to the local Snoop Youth Football League he runs.

In the meantime, Snoop is working on his ninth studio album, Ego Trippin', which he has said will drop either next year or, to narrow it down, 2009. The husband and father of three is also the subject of an upcoming E! reality show that will track his exploits as rapper, entrepreneur and family man. (E! Online is a division of E! Networks.)

The veteran performer is slated to fete the positive aspects of hip-hop alongside Raekwon, Talib Kweli, Mobb Deep and others Nov. 29 at the J.A.M. Awards at New York's Hammerstein Ballroom. Cosponsored by radio station Hot 97 and the Jam Master Jay Foundation for Music, the event is, according to cohost DMC, not just for music fans but for those who want to see rappers respond to their critics with a "resounding voice of hope and inspiration."

[maine-iac7]

Originally, the hip-hop star had claimed that the baton, which airport security detected in his carry-on, was a prop for a music video and he did not know it was a forbidden item (having been so careful to stuff all his liquids into a little plastic baggie and all).

I think this thing's just a bit overboard.

I'm a gray haired ole gramma - and on a trip last month from Maine to Florida - I also carefully put all liquids in a baggies and then put them in the check thru' bag - not even taking them though with me.

So I was taken aback when the security folk got all in a dither when x-raying my carry on.

After several of them gawked and pointed and commented, the supervisor loudly and with a big scowl, demanded: "Whose bag is this!"

"Mine."

"Come with me!"

So we go to a table -

"Open it!"

He then dives in and paws through my bag coming up with the dangerous goods: a still factory wrapped box of tubed watercolors - each tube less than 1/2 an ounce.

"You can't take these on the plane.!"

"But they're for my grandchild. I can't leave them here..."

He repeats his edict.

I repeat mine.

(At this point, I was probably fortunate not to've been hauled off in handcuffs to the back room.)

We danced this scenario a third time and he finally capitulated to the point of making me leave the security area, take the bag back downstairs and check it through with my big bag.

Mind you, this was the same week as it was announced that you could once again carry LIGHTERS on board. There's no smoking on board - but you can take a lighter. Had the shoe bomber had a lighter instead of matches - that plane would've gone down.

There doesn't seem to be a lot of common sense involved...

I can see them taking Snoop's music baton - but charging with a felony?