When Mark Barnhouse got pulled over by CDA cops he knew he had violated the law. He had just finished overpaying for a root beer at local favorite Pilgrims when his wife pulled out on 4th Street. He was in the passenger’s seat and wasn’t wearing his seat belt. He knew he was found out when the unmistakable cherries and berries of Coeur D Alene’s finest lit up behind him. What he didn’t know was that they weren’t after his seat belt. They were after his root beer. Officers Johann Schmitz, Mark Knapp and Jonathan Hernas were there to set Barnhouse straight. Nobody, no nobody, comes into their jurisdiction with an open container of root beer. They threw Barnhouse to the ground, cuffed him, and congratulated themselves on another criminal being taken off the mean streets of Kootenai County. After all, we can’t have people with open containers of root beer wandering natural food store parking lots.

Not sure why, but some liberal, good for nothing, Federal judge disagreed and told the City of Coeur D Alene that these great Boys in Blue violated Mark’s constitutional rights, or something like that – no one was really listening. The judge told the City to pay $100K to Barnhouse. When asked what he would do with the money, Barnhouse reported that he can now afford to shop at Pilgrims on a regular basis. Watch out though, you might see him heading North bound on 4th street with an open container of orange juice. If you do, please call 911.

As for one of our brave Officers, Johann Schmitz, he was promoted for his fine work in the great Root Beer Caper. Also taken into consideration was his killing of one of our citizens.

The movie rights to their heroic story has been sold to Hollywood. Here is a preview of the upcoming flick: