Law enforcement officers of all stripes strapped on their running shoes Thursday for the Kitsap leg of the Special Olympics Law Enforcement Torch Run, where officers carry the Special Olympics torch by land and sea to Joint Base Lewis-McChord.

Here’s more information on the Special Olympics.

The list of agencies participating in the event is nearly comprehensive, and includes the departments of Bainbridge Island, Poulsbo, Bremerton, Suquamish, along with the Kitsap Sheriff’s Office, the U.S. Coast Guard (MFPU Bangor), N.C.I.S., the Washington State Patrol and the Kitsap Prosecutor’s Office.

And here are some photos from Deputy Tim Young.

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The rifle at the center of a legal battle halfway through its second decade is now in the custody of federal agents for inspection.

Earlier this week, a Kitsap District Court judge dismissed a suit against Kitsap Rifle and Revolver Club Executive Officer Marcus Carter that claimed he unlawfully possessed a machine gun. The rifle was seized in 1999.

Carter had asked that Judge Stephen Holman dismiss the case and return the 1970s-era AR-15 to him. Holman dismissed the case, but in his decision Holman noted that he would not rule on returning the rifle to Carter. A story in the Kitsap Sun on Wednesday, written by me, incorrectly stated that Holman ordered the rifle be returned.

Kitsap Prosecuting Attorney Russ Hauge said his office would file a motion to reconsider, and if that doesn’t work he will appeal the case to Superior Court.

By law, a machine gun doesn’t require the trigger be pressed for each shot, it can shoot five or more bullets per second and, most important to this case, has a separable device that can supply the rounds, or a magazine. Magazines are known commonly as clips, much to the chagrin of gun aficionados.

An affidavit from a deputy who tested the gun reported that he “used a 30 round magazine to test the firearm, and the rifle fired in full automatic with one jam.”

According to court documents, the state had to prove Carter had “dominion and control” over a magazine that could supply the rounds to the rifle. Carter claimed the state couldn’t prove it. Holman agreed.

Meanwhile, the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives has taken custody of the rifle at the request of the Prosecutor’s Office.

Deputy Scott Wilson, spokesman for the Sheriff’s Office, said the Sheriff’s Office has been the custodian for the rifle, which is considered evidence. He said it was removed from storage Wednesday and turned over to the federal agency.

Hauge said his office requested the bureau inspect the weapon.

“We asked the (bureau) if they are interested in looking at it and see if it is anything other than a machine gun,” Hauge said.

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A 47-year-old man arrested on a Pierce County warrant Wednesday offered a mind blowing reason for why a Kitsap sheriff’s deputy found a small bag of meth in his pocket: the pants he was wearing were not his.

In legal circles this is known as the “these are not my pants defense.”

The man was arrested in Port Orchard shortly after midnight when law enforcement officers received a call about a possible burglary at a house being remodeled, court documents said.

A Port Orchard Police officer was unable to get the man to come to the door. A sheriff’s deputy threatened to kick in the door and send a police dog inside. The man complied.

Officers discovered the man had been sent to the house by its owner to watch for burglars, but also found he had a felony warrant for malicious mischief.

While being booked in the jail, the deputy found the baggie of drugs in his right front pocket.

“As the bag was pulled out, (the man) said, ‘These are not my pants,’” according to documents.

A casual reader might think this is funny. That casual reader would be wrong. Dead wrong. Discovering that one is not wearing one’s own pants is a terrifying experience.

There are numerous accounts of other poor souls finding themselves railroaded by our criminal justice system after realizing they have been tricked into the pants of somebody else. And then had drugs planted on them.

Here is one. And another. And yet another.

So next time you are approached by a law enforcement officer, make sure you are wearing your own pants. If you are not, quickly strip naked.

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A 45-year-old Bremerton man was charged Wednesday with second-degree assault for jumping onto the bed in which his tenants were sleeping, brandishing a large knife and demanding they pay rent immediately.

When police arrived at the house on Tuesday they found the suspect apparently taken aback that the tenants had called the police.

The suspect “seemed surprised to see us as he was eating his breakfast from a bowl,” the officer wrote.

The victims said they were lying in bed in the basement they rent for $450 a month and woke up to the suspect standing over them with the knife, pointing the blade at their heads and “screaming that he wanted the rent paid now,” the report said.

One victim said he had paid $49 toward the rent the day before.

The suspect then folded the knife and went upstairs.

When questioned by police, the suspect said, “all he did was ask them to leave, and to get out of his house.” He refused to say if he had gone downstairs that morning.

Police inspected a knife the suspect had on him and reported it had a four-inch blade. He was lodged in the Kitsap County Jail on $100,000 bail.

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The New York Times, in writing about the U.S. Supreme Court rendering a tight, partisan decision that found prayer before town meetings was not a violation of the Constitution, published a related story on the partisan voting habits of justices.

Political scientists found that judges ruling in First Amendment cases favor speech with which they agree.

The implication is that judges are above passion and prejudice, and this research should come as a shock.

Of course, the thought that a person, any person, can be 100 percent impartial is very comforting, especially at a time when we are inundated from all sides with information and decontextualized data.

At least I find the thought comforting. Kind of like the thought that my cat won’t eat me if I should die while locked in my house.

I’ll be locking my cat out of my room at night from now on.

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