Ozzy Upset About North Dakota Arrests

Ozzy Osbourne is not very happy with the sheriff in Fargo, North Dakota. Ozzy and Rob Zombie recently held a concert in Fargo. That gave the sheriff there a bright idea. He decided to use the concert to cut down on some of the active warrants he had in his juristiction.

Sheriff Paul Laney sent about 500 invitations to a special pre-concert party at a Fargo nightclub, inferring that the invitees would get to rub elbows with rocker Ozzy Osbourne. About 30 people fell for the ruse and were arrested when they showed up at the nightclub.

Ozzy was incensed when he heard that his name had been used in connection with the ruse. He is demanding an apology from the sheriff. Meanwhile, the sheriff thinks he has done nothing wrong in using Ozzy's name. I'm afraid I'll have to agree with Ozzy on this one -- he is owed an apology.

I have no problem with law enforcement using a sting operation to arrest those with outstanding warrants. There have been stings where the arrestees thought they had won a TV or a trip or something else. I think those just showed some creativity on the part of law enforcement. But it's different when you use someone else's name, because it gives the impression that the person had something to do with the sting operation or at least approved it.

While you or I might not mind our names being used, it could be the kiss of death for a rock singer, especially one in the "metal" genre. This sheriff had no right to use Ozzy's name in connection with the sting, and should apologize to the rocker immediately.