There are two lessons I learned from the following story:

1. Never go on a cruise if you owe the government money (or even if the government erroneously thinks that you owe it money); and
2. Yellowstone National Park is all about collecting its debts so don’t think you can get away with cheating it out of even a dime.

It all started in 2003 when Hope Clarke forgot to put her hot chocolate and marshmallows away one night when she was visiting Yellowstone. Helpful hint: if you are visiting a national park, do not forget to put away your food. There is actually a good reason for this: animals that eat people-food. So, when she forgot to put away her food she received a $50 fine that was probably reasonable and frankly would in no way inspire me to write about it. So why am I?

Courtesy of giphy.

To answer that, let’s move forward to 2004. Clarke, in another travel-related expedition, went on a cruise to Mexico. Everything was going great, and–I assume, but I did not ask her this myself–if you had asked her right before she exited the cruise when it landed back in the US, she probably would have told you that she had a good time; however, the government had something to say about this smooth sailing.

You see, Clarke did not exit the ship of her own accord. She was escorted out of the ship in handcuffs after having been awakened at 6:30am by federal agents. The agents then dragged her before a judge in leg shackles.

What happened?

Well, customs agents who meet ships at the port and perform random checks of passenger lists had found an interesting thing on Ms. Clarke’s record: that year-old $50 fine from Yellowstone. They did what they would have done to any hardened criminal and immediately threw her before a judge.

Clarke tried to come up with some defense for her horrid deed. She said something really lame like that Yellowstone would not let her leave until she paid the fine, and thus, since she was not still in the park, she must have already paid it. Of course, she might have said that a little more respectfully, but I wouldn’t know since I wasn’t there.

Clearly she was lying, though. There was no way this would have happened if that fine had already been paid. So basically, she should have been thrown in jail for both the unpaid fine and perjury. Only wait, the judge went a different way. Instead of buying either the story of the criminal or the claims of the feds, he looked at the citation itself, which said that the fine had indeed been paid. Understandably after that he dropped the case and Clarke was free to go while the government was left to ponder what exactly had gone wrong.

Courtesy of giphy.

All I know is that my mom was right: if you don’t clean up your mess right now, young lady, bad things are going to happen.

Ashley Shaw

Ashley Shaw is an Alabama native and current New Jersey resident. A graduate of both Kennesaw State University and Thomas Goode Jones School of Law, she spends her free time reading, writing, boxing, horseback riding, playing trivia, flying helicopters, playing sports, and a whole lot else. So maybe she has too much spare time. Contact Ashley at staff@LawStreetMedia.com.

The post What Happens in Yellowstone Does Not Stay in Yellowstone appeared first on Law Street.

Everybody loved Joe Rogan and the Fear Factor show when it was still around–there was just something about people doing crazy things on camera for money that was so enticing. When I was a kid and they would make people jump out of a helicopter or sit in a tank full of tarantulas, I always asked my mom, “what if something goes wrong?” She would always reassure me that there were trained professionals off-camera that would step in if anything were to go wrong, and that’s why they tell you not to do these stunts at home by yourself. That made sense to me, and I was comforted knowing that those people were surrounded by medics and professionals that would help them in case of a disaster. However, for some reason, people have taken these stunts to their homes, re-creating all kinds of “challenges,” and are harming themselves in the process. Here are my top 10 idiotic web challenges that have been attempted over the past couple of years.

[wooslider autoslide=”false” slide_page=”Dangerous-Kid-Games” slider_type=”slides” limit=”10″ thumbnails=”default” order=”DESC” order_by=”menu_order”]

This rant is specially dedicated to all the people who have engaged in the Fire Challenge and the Pass Out Game over the past couple of months; because without you this post would have probably never been written. First I’ll start with the people who thought it would be cool to be the human torch for a couple of seconds. Honestly, what were you thinking? I can assure you that no job is going to hire you because you slapped fire in the face, this is not something you can put on your resume, no person is going to date you because of your “fearless actions,” and honestly once people have moved on to the next fad in a couple of months; no one is going to remember you. 

The worst part is that there are actual burn victims out there that have lost ears, lips, noses, and are scarred for life. For life. These people have to wake up everyday and face the gruesome criticism that our society throws at them. And you? You take their worse nightmare and turn it into a game. Maybe there should be an “Acid Challenge”, where we pour acid all over ourselves. Or a “Poison Challenge” where we swallow poison and see who dies last? See how crazy these sound? Setting yourself on fire shouldn’t be any different; it is one of the worst ways to die and should not be taken lightly at all. So please do me, your loved ones, and yourself a favor: stop lighting yourself on fire and grow up.

For the kids that play the pass out game, I know most of you think that you are invincible. You’re young, you’re lively, and you’re healthy; so why are you trying to throw all of that away for a couple of laughs and some likes on a video? I know it is really hard to look at your actions from a different point of view, but I guarantee you when you look back at what you did as a teenager, the Pass Out game will be one of the things you regret. It takes three people to play this “game”–the person who is passing out, the person who pushes down on their chest, and the person filming. But all it takes is one of you to speak up and stop it from happening. We all do stupid things as we grow up, we all experiment, we all test our limits, we all make mistakes, but we should try and learn from these mistakes. We are given one life and one life only in this world, and however cliche that may sound, it’s true. Your parents did not give you life just so you can throw it away. So can we please stop abusing our bodies for the sake of a video? Because all it takes is one thing going wrong, and just like that you’ll be gone.

Mic Drop

Trevor Smith

Trevor Smith is a homegrown DMVer studying Journalism and Graphic Design at American University. Upon graduating he has hopes to work for the US State Department so that he can travel, learn, and make money at the same time. Contact Trevor at staff@LawStreetMedia.com.

The post Challenge of the Week: Don’t Be an Idiot appeared first on Law Street.