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Access Atlanta > Blog > Archives > 2008 > September > 14 > Entry
Comic arrested on drug charges
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Blue-collar Atlanta comic Ron White was arrested Wednesday in Vero Beach, Fla., and charged with possession of marijuana.
Police had received an anonymous tip and were waiting for White when his plane landed at Vero Beach Municipal Airport, said Vero Beach police spokesman John Morrison.
When confronted by officers, White surrendered the less than 3 grams of marijuana and small glass smoking pipe he was carrying on him in a small bag, and he consented to a body search, Morrison said.
The entertainer told the officers the marijuana was for medicinal purposes but had no proof to back up that claim, Morrison said. Authorities also searched the interior but found no other signs of illegal drugs.
White, 51, was charged with possession of marijuana and possession of drug paraphernalia, both misdemeanors. He posted $1,000 bond and was released by the Indian River County Sheriff’s Office on Wednesday.
According to two pilots who formerly worked for White, it wasn’t the first time the comedian carried drugs onto his plane.
“They finally nailed him,” said Scott Wolcott of Conyers, a pilot fired by White in May after an alleged cockpit altercation. “He smokes marijuana like a chain smoker smokes cigarettes.”
The cockpit fight was about White’s drug use, Wolcott said, adding, “We put our foot down. Just by having any trace of his secondhand marijuana smoke in our bodies, we could lose our pilot’s licenses for good.”
The comedian regularly smoked marijuana during their flights, said former co-pilot Chris LaPlante — so much, in fact, “we wore oxygen masks” so they would not become impaired.
“Now it’s proven that we were telling the truth,” LaPlante said.
The comedian’s attorney, Terry Lloyd of Lawrenceville, said the pilots are “disgruntled former employees” who are seeking money they say they’re owed by his client. “The person making this complaint was fired,” Lloyd said.
Wolcott and LaPlante have said that on May 11, as they were flying White’s private jet over New York, an intoxicated White burst into the cockpit and threatened to fight them and crash the plane.
The Federal Aviation Administration has been investigating, though the pilots who made the allegations say they aren’t expecting anything to come of it. Lloyd said he’s tried to contact FAA officials “six times, but they have not returned my calls.”
Lloyd said he doesn’t expect any additional charges for his client after Wednesday’s arrest. He sounded optimistic how things would turn out. “As a general rule in these kind of cases,” he said, “he’ll likely end up with a fine and probation, with the charges dismissed, but each case varies.”
White, a Texas native, owns a home in Atlanta. He rose to fame this decade touring with his fellow “Blue Collar Comics” including Atlanta native Jeff Foxworthy, as well as Bill Engvall and Larry the Cable Guy.
‘SOMETHING’ SOLD
If you’re friends with Brookhaven author Emily Giffin, you may want to spring for a bottle of bubbly this weekend. Publishers Weekly is reporting that the film rights to the novelist’s 2005 debut, “Something Borrowed,” have been acquired by Oscar winner Hilary Swank and her producing partner Molly Smith as a potential screen vehicle for Swank.
Actually, you may want to pick up two bottles. The deal also includes the rights to Giffin’s sequel, “Something Blue,” as well.
PLAYING M. OBAMA?
While “Saturday Night Live” boasts former Atlantan Kenan Thompson, rival Fox show “Mad TV” now has its own Atlantan: newcomer Erica Ash.
“I’m one of those people who finds humor in absolutely everything,” said Ash, who graduated from DeKalb County’s Columbia High School and Emory University. “I can create characters from people walking down the street.”
After Emory, she ventured to Japan to teach — but quit the job soon after she arrived. Without telling her parents, Ash got jobs modeling, dancing and singing.
Soon after her return to the United States, she played Nala on the national tour of “The Lion King” for two years, followed by jobs in “Spamalot” with John O’Hurley in Las Vegas, then “The Big Gay Sketch Show” on the Logo channel.
Ash said she has plenty of characters up her sleeve for “Mad TV,” which opens its 14th season at 11 tonight. And she’s working on her Michelle Obama. “I’m going to claim that,” she said. “I’m being totally presumptuous but I am.”
CELEBRITY BIRTHDAYS
Today: Actress Eileen Fulton (“As the World Turns”) is 75. Singer-guitarist Dave Mustaine of Megadeth is 47. Radio and TV personality Tavis Smiley is 44. Atlanta actor-director Tyler Perry (“The Family That Preys”) is 39. Singer Fiona Apple is 31. Actor Ben Savage (“Boy Meets World”) is 28.
Sunday: Actor Walter Koenig (“Star Trek”) is 72. Singer-songwriter Beth Nielsen Chapman is 52. Singer Morten Harket of A-ha is 49. Singer Mark Hall of Casting Crowns is 39. Rapper Nas is 35. Singer Amy Winehouse is 25.
QUOTE OF THE DAY
“I hear her catatonic state is very good.
I’m a bit jealous. “
“General Hospital” actress Genie Francis to B98.5 FM’s Steve McCoy and Vikki Locke, on the brown wig worn by an extra while her legendary soap character Laura Spencer languished in a mental facility over the past two years. This month, the Emmy winner returns to her signature role on the ABC soap.
Contributing: Christian Boone, John Hollis, Rodney Ho and news services.
If you have a tip, call 404-526-2749. Or fax 404-526-5509. Or e-mail: buzz@ajc.com.
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