Antarctica Starts Here.

I've been silently waiting for word to appear on the Net about the sentencing of Dr. Peter Watts, which is schedule for tomorrow in Port Huron. To recap the highlights of squidgate, Dr. Watts was found guilty of obstructing law enforcement officers carrying out their legally appointed duties by asking them what was going on.

You really can't say anything more than that, though lots of people have already. Cutting to the chase, Dr. Watts is probably on his way back across the border into Michigan as I write this to appear in court tomorrow. The prosecution was pushing for no jail time; whomever writes presentencing recommendations was pushing for leniency - "very mild" is how it was put. The stated value of "very mild" is four to six months of jail time, regardless of the mess of things the arresting officers made on the stand, the lack of negative marks against Dr. Watts, and the numerous testimonials vouching for the character of Dr. Watts, yadda yadda yadda. It's been said that the person who writes the presentencing recommendations doesn't actually have access to the official court record. Somehow this says much, most of it about the left and right hands refusing to communicate with one another in any meaningful fashion. It also fails to surprise.

We're all pulling for him over here, but I have a nebulous bad feeling about this. We all have our appendages crossed over here, even Archie and Bandit.

Here's hoping. Be careful, Dr. Watts.