KENTUCKY: Shufflin' Sam's Long Step

While he waited for his bus one chilly Saturday night, Sam Thompson, a bibulous Negro handyman, ducked into Louisville's Liberty End Cafe for a beer and a little fellowship. Under the influence of both and the rhythm of a blaring jukebox, Sam began shuffling a dance step. Two cops who happened by decided that his shuffling was in fact "loitering," and when Sam argued, they added a charge of disorderly conduct. A police court judge fined him $10 on each .charge. Under Kentucky law, Sam Thompson's case was closed—no fine under $20 can be appealed to another state court....

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