Re: Last week’s “Gene Pool Monitor” post: I got to thinking about it, and it occurred to me that there is plenty of evidence to bring a criminal case of reckless driving against our friend, the intrepid Mr. Stone. So I e-mailed the public information office at the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office.

I summarized the video for them, gave a few examples of things that were done and provided a link to the clip in case they somehow missed it. Here was the take-home line:

I would be interested in getting a comment from the DA about his reaction to the video and what he thinks of Stone making his point this way. I would also like to know whether the DA has any plans to charge Stone with reckless driving, given that he’s provided the world with enough evidence for his conviction.

Friday afternoon, I got an e-mail back from a friendly PIO. Here’s what she said:

I was not familar with the video, so I watched it. It does appear to have been done somewhere in the San Fernando Valley.

Since there has been no case presented to us and we are not an investigative agency, I think you need to contact the Los Angeles Police Department, which polices most of the San Fernando Valley, or the California Highway Patrol about the video. If violations occurred, it probably would have been in LAPD territory. And the CHP would be able to provide you the best information about the cell phone law and other traffic violations.

The Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office will not be making a comment on the video. As I said, no case has been presented to us. It would be improper to speculate about something that we really don’t know anything about.

You too might consider some unanswered questions before you do a column. You need to check with the LAPD or whatever agency you call to determine the type of crime or infraction involved. If it were misdemeanor crimes, the case in all liklihood would go to the Los Angeles City Attorney. We prosecute all felony crimes in Los Angeles County, but in areas such as the City of Los Angeles (and that includes the San Fernando Valley), misdemeanor crimes are prosecuted by the City Attorney’s Office. So we would not even be the appropriate prosecuting agency.

Another unaswered question involves a permit to film. I do not know if the video makers notified authorities that they were making the video. We have a lot of filming of various types in Los Angeles County because of the proliferation of movie, television and recording studios. There is a joint city-county film permit office that you might want to contact. If the filming was done with the knowlege of authorites. it would be no different than filming a police chase and shootout on shut-down roads and freeways. Happens all the time out here.

Sorry to spoil a column for you.

(I told her not to worry about spoiling the column; I had already written a post, and she had provided more than enough fodder for a follow-up. You gotta love it when people are agreeable.)

She made some good points. So ... guess what I’ll be doing tomorrow?

If you guessed, “Calling the LAPD and/or CHiPs,“ ding ding ding!! You’re right on the money. Who knows? Maybe I’ll luck out and get to talk with Officer Jon Baker.

And one more for the road:

I e-mailed my brother-in-law to thank him for putting me on the trail of that Obama’s-goin’-NASCAR story. I asked him if he was going to be contributing to get his name on the car, since I know he’s an Obama supporter. He responded with the understated wit that is his signature:

Nah, you know I’m a Juan Pablo guy. The question is will Bill and Hillary’s be on there. If so, they should put them near the rear. I hear Bill has experience dodging drafts.

It’s rare that I read or hear something that I wish I had thought of first ...

This was one of those times.

Hope everyone had a relaxing weekend! We got rain in our neck of the woods. Scuttled some of our plans, but I’ll take it over last summer’s devastating drought any day.