Pubdate: Tue, 30 Aug 2005
Source: Daily Freeman (Kingston, NY)
Copyright: 2005 Daily Freeman
Contact:  http://www.dailyfreeman.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/3269
Author: Paul Kirby
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/pot.htm (Cannabis)

GARFUNKEL HAD POT WHILE DRIVING IN WOODSTOCK, POLICE SAY

WOODSTOCK - Singer Art Garfunkel, who pleaded guilty last year to drug 
possession in Ulster County, faces troubled waters again after a state 
trooper charged him Sunday with having a marijuana cigarette in the ashtray 
of the car he was driving.

According to a report at the state police barracks in Ulster, Garfunkel was 
charged with unlawful possession of marijuana after Trooper Heath McCrindle 
stopped the 2005, four-door Buick the singer was driving. Police said 
Garfunkel, 63, the other half of the singing duo Simon and Garfunkel, 
failed to stop his vehicle at a stop sign at state Routes 375 and 212 
shortly after 3 p.m. Sunday.

The trooper, according to the report approached the car and "detected a 
strong odor of marijuana emanating from the vehicle."

"The driver and only occupant of the vehicle identified himself with New 
York driver's license as Arthur Garfunkel," the trooper's report said. 
"Subsequent search of the vehicle revealed one marijuana cigarette located 
in the ashtray."

Police said that Garfunkel, who lives at 9 E. 79th St., Manhattan, was not 
charged with driving while ability impaired because he may not have been 
smoking the marijuana. He was issued an appearance ticket and is due back 
in Woodstock Town Court at 6 p.m. Sept. 22., the report said.

Garfunkel was previously charged with unlawful possession of marijuana on 
Jan. 17, 2004, after state police from the same barracks stopped a 
limousine in which he was riding for speeding on state Route 28 in Hurley.

Police found a small amount of marijuana in Garfunkel's jacket pocket and 
he was charged with possession of marijuana, a violation equal to a traffic 
ticket. On Feb. 4, 2004, Garfunkel pleaded guilty to marijuana possession 
through his attorney, Michael Federoff of Kingston, and paid a $100 fine 
and a $100 state surcharge.

Born in November 1941 in Queens, Garfunkel met Paul Simon in grade school 
and they formed a musical partnership at a young age, initially performing 
under the name "Tom and Jerry." They released their first Simon and 
Garfunkel album, "Wednesday Morning, 3 a.m.," in 1964 and went on to record 
such hit songs as "The Sound of Silence," "The Boxer" and "Bridge Over 
Troubled Water."

Garfunkel also has recorded several solo albums over the past 30 years, but 
nowhere near the commercial or critical success of Simon's solo work. 
Garfunkel's notable songs as a soloist have included "All I Know" and "I 
Only Have Eyes for You."

In the fall of 2001, Garfunkel gave a concert at the Ulster Performing Arts 
Center in Kingston.
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