Oh, the bottle of alcohol in a brown paper bag, you're almost getting the respect you've been working for: Now if you get fined for having an open bottle of booze, en-brown-bagged, you just need to send in a check for $25 if you don't want to contest the charge. But, if you think you were unfairly accused to stumbling around the streets, smelling of your Colt 45, you can still go to court. The Times has statistics for summons for "open containers of alcohol in public" as well as rates of conviction and rates of cases being dismissed. Have any readers been busted for that? And have they gone to court? Gothamist was once in a car that was pulled over, and police were gleeful when they heard clinking bottles, only to find a stash of empty Snapple bottles.
