Colorado man arrested at county fair
Published 6:43 pm Tuesday, May 11, 2010
Not everyone who got high at the Lincoln County Carnival was onthe Ferris wheel …
A Colorado man wanted on an arrest warrant in his home state foundhimself in a sticky situation Sunday when he allegedly decided tosmoke a little pot in the middle of the event. He is now being heldin the Lincoln County Jail.
It did the job for countless others, but apparently the inauguralcarnival didn’t generate enough buzz for Denver’s Norman RichardCatman Jr., 40, who was charged with misdemeanor possession ofmarijuana and giving false information to an officer after LincolnCounty sheriff’s deputies busted him at the carnival around 4:15p.m. Sunday.
Lincoln County Sheriff Steve Rushing said a citizen at the carnivalsmelled the skunky smoke of burning cannabis and pointed out Catmanto a deputy, who questioned him in the department’s onsite station.Catman allegedly provided a false name to officers and had a smallamount of marijuana in his possession.
“He was just wandering around, enjoying the fair,” Rushing said.”He wasn’t smoking it at the time the officer made contact withhim, but when they went and talked to him the complaint wasvalidated.”
When deputies ran Catman’s name, they discovered he is wanted bythe Colorado Department of Corrections on a probation violation.Rushing said Catman reportedly walked away from a work program andmade his way to Memphis, where he told local officers he had afriend.
Why Catman came to Brookhaven is not known, but after successfullyescaping authorities and traveling more than 1,000 miles on thelam, he probably needed a little something to take the edgeoff.
But his choice of a venue in which to turn on, tune in and drop outhas left Rushing a little puzzled.
“You come across all types in this business,” he said. “He came tosee the fair, you know?”