Great Moments in Local Government

Since we've been talking about the snow, here's a story about city that must have no real crime. At least, that's the only sensible thing to conclude after reading that cops in Harrisonburg, VA, arrested (on felony charges!) two college kids for the horrific offense of tossing snowballs (technically they were charged with "throwing a missile at an occupied vehicle"). This would be understandable if the kids embedded rocks in the snowballs, or even if they compacted slush to make ice balls, which also can be dangerous. But the city's press release offered no evidence of anything other than kids having fun. The Smoking Gun has the details:

Felony snowball throwing charges have been leveled against two Virginia college students for allegedly pelting a city plow and an undercover police car during Saturday's blizzard. Charles Gill and Ryan Knight, both 21, were nabbed by cops in Harrisonburg, where they attend James Madison University. According to police, the pair first targeted a city plow last Saturday afternoon. ...If convicted of the felonious snowball tossing, the men each face between one and five years in prison, and a maximum $2,500 fine.