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LOS ANGELES, California (CNN) — Former Vice President Al Gore’s son, Albert Gore III, was arrested early Wednesday morning in Orange County, California on suspicion of possessing marijuana and prescription drugs, Jim Amormino of the Orange County Sheriff’s Department told CNN.

Gore, 24, was allegedly driving a Toyota Prius at 100 mph on the San Diego Freeway at 2:15 a.m. when a police officer pulled him over. The officer reported that he smelled marijuana and a search of the car yielded less than an ounce of the drug. The prescription drugs Valium, Xanax, Vicodin, and Adderall were in the car as well, police reported.

Amormino told CNN Gore did not have prescriptions for any of the drugs found.

Gore was booked into a Santa Ana jail under a $20,000 bond, the Sheriff’s Department said.

Gore III completed a substance abuse program in 2004 after he was charged with possession of marijuana in Maryland after police observed him driving without his headlights on.

He was ticketed for reckless driving by North Carolina police in August 2000 when he was clocked going 94 mph in a 55 mph zone.

Military police arrested him for drunk driving near a military base in Virginia in September 2002.

With Live Earth three days away, I'm sure his Dad is not happy.

This might be the best fodder for anti-enviromentalists since Sheryl Crow's toilet paper remark (http://www.abcnews.go.com/GMA/story?id=3071833) which she said it was a joke.

:woot:
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2003776945_prius06.html

Car buffs buzzing about 105-mph speed of Gore's son's Prius
Gore's cruel caning of Toyota's greener-than-thou hybrid — powered by a four-cylinder engine and electric motor that together produce about 125 hp — rippled through talk radio and the blogosphere Thursday. Many were simply amazed. Others wondered if the episode represented some kind of viral marketing coup for Toyota.

Actually, the Prius — the unofficial merit badge of environmentally conscious Californians and officially the most fuel-efficient car on the road — is capable of going even faster, according to Mike Michels, a spokesman for Toyota. But the car, which uses an electric booster, is speed-limited to 103 mph to avoid depleting the battery.

"It can go 103 mph indefinitely," he said. At least until the gas runs out.

Statistics from Car and Driver magazine suggest the slowest car on the road is not the Prius, but the hairy-chested AM General Hummer H1, with a top speed of only 88 mph.

The question remains: Why is the Prius such a screaming hot rod?

...........

But for Prius advocates, the Gore affair underscores a point they have tried to make all along: Efficiency is just another way to spell performance.

The Prius is, for example, one of the most aerodynamic vehicles on the road, with a low 0.26 coefficient of drag. That means the car doesn't require a lot of horsepower to push through the air.

The car also rides on tires with low "rolling resistance," which lessens friction between the rubber and the road. It's also a bantamweight, weighing only 2,932 pounds, among the lightest cars on the market.

"The way the car is optimized," said Michels, "from aero resistance to rolling resistance, cooling systems, the powertrain itself, all of those things any hot-rodder is interested in as making the car go faster."

And, although it's probably no comfort to young Gore, his arrest is being seen by some as a testament to the little Prius' performance. "Now there's proof positive the Prius can GO," wrote a poster on the Priuschat.com Web site.

Hi All:

___Looks like Al junior pleaded guilty but will get off with some time in a drug rehab program. After a year, nothing of consequence will be attached to his name with the charges dropped.

Gore's son pleads guilty to drug charges in O.C. (http://cbs2.com/local/local_story_211133448.html)

LAGUNA NIGUEL, Calif. Al Gore's son pleaded guilty Monday to possessing marijuana and other drugs, but a judge said the plea could be withdrawn and the charges dropped if he successfully completes a drug diversion program.

Authorities have said they found drugs in Al Gore III's car after the 24-year-old was pulled over July 4 for going 100 mph in his Toyota Prius.

He pleaded guilty to two felony counts of drug possession, two misdemeanor counts of drug possession without a prescription, and one misdemeanor count of marijuana possession, the district attorney's office said.

Jaime Coulter, senior deputy district attorney, said Gore's sentencing will be continued until Feb. 7. If he has complied with all the conditions of the diversion program, the sentencing will be continued again for another year, with charges possibly being dropped in 2009.

"At that point, he will be able to withdraw his guilty plea as if he never entered it," Coulter said … http://cbs2.com/local/local_story_211133448.html

___Good Luck

___Wayne