AND ONLY OUTLAWS WILL HAVE MARSHMALLOWS

Your tax dollars at work: a teacher’s aide hauled off a cruise ship to satisfy a bench warrant regarding a $50 fine for improper storage of food.

Vacationing from Riverton, Wyo., Hope Clarke said she had been rousted by federal agents at her cruise ship cabin door at 6:30 a.m. She was put in handcuffs on a bench warrant for failing to put away her marshmallows and hot chocolate while staying at Yellowstone National Park last year.

Now, the outrage here is not that she was fined for failing to store food properly. That is a serious concern when one is in the company of bears, as any visitors to Yellowstone must assume themselves to be. The problem is this:

The catch? Clarke said she had to pay the $50 fine the same day for the federal offense of improper food storage before she was allowed to leave the park. Nonetheless, a warrant claiming she had not paid went into the federal law enforcement database.

Bureaucratic screwup + random passenger manifest check = a bunch of money spent dragging somebody into court for a $50 fine. Thankfully, the judge involved displayed a modicum of sanity:

[US Magistrate Judge John] O’Sullivan had a copy of her citation indicating the fine had been paid and thought that her [nine hours] in jail more than covered the offense even if she hadn’t paid.

Yeah, the law’s the law. But what happens to the person responsible for ruining this poor woman’s vacation for no good reason?