Criminal Defense in my personal life!

On Saturday, I threw a surprise party for my wife. There were two planned surprises- first the party itself and then a band that she really loved. It was the band that created trouble later.

I know the safe rule of thumb for parties- invite your neighbors and there's no one left to complain. The only problem to this is that I have a real strong anti-social streak. In my day job, I'm required to be on my most friendly behavior (except when I'm fighting, of course), so when I get home I often only want to socialize with people that I know. My average friend has been my friend for 5, 10, sometimes 15 years.

In short, I really didn't want to invite any of the neighbors. Somehow it didn't seem like a party with the religious bible study leader or the family with the pit bull taking up part of my small backyard. To me a party is mostly about hanging out with the people whose company that you enjoy- with a few new people sprinkled in. I guess I can be somewhat grumpy at home.

So, I didn't invite any neighbors- just checked my municipal noise ordinances and made sure there was enough tequilla.

The party was fun and filled with good spirits. Many of the spirits were in the myriad of margaritas that I prepared- from your typical blended green margarita, to a mango margarita, to a wildberry and strawberry concoction. The real men drank Poor Man's Island- which is a long island, without some of the ingrediants, but with a 50/50 coke to hard alcohol mix.

The band was fantastic and the dancing was constant.

Then, came the first noise complaint- at about 10:15 pm. A neighbor asked some of the kids playing in my front lawn when the band would leave. By the time this message reached me it got translated into a demand to turn off the music.

I went to go talk to the neighbor and patiently explained to him about the noise ordinance, etc.. He rightly pointed out that it would have been courteous to have told him about the party ahead of time, while I pointed out that it would be more appropriate to tell me directly if he had any concerns.

I returned to the party and it went smoothly. The band stopped playing at 10:55 PM per my directions.

At 11:05, the police arrived. My wife talked to them first. I arrived as they were telling her about a $1000 fine.

Five minutes later they left, having admitted that we were in violation of nothing, but perhaps being a bad neighbor.

Maybe I am.