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Judge Howard Manning, famous for slapping the N.C. school system for inequality in education, entertained a packed courtroom this week as the visiting judge in Orange County Superior Court.

As assistant district attorney Lamar Proctor called out names from the court docket Tuesday, some offenders were not present in court. Typically in that situation, a judge will ask the bailiff to repeat their names three times then issue an order for their arrest. But not Manning. He wanted to "bullseye" them but circling their names on the docket, then order their arrests after Proctor had gone through the entire docket.

After all, Manning said, "They might have stopped in for a tall 40 on the way over," causing the courtroom to erupt in laughter.

 "They don't smoke blunts over here in Orange County, do they?" Manning asked, referring to a cigar with marijuana instead of tobacco. "How many of you know what a wrap is?," Manning asked, waiting for an answer. I'm pretty sure he was talking about the cigar wrap that goes around the cannibis, but maybe someone can enlighten OrangeChat. "Well, I'm not going to tell you because only three of you know," Manning told the crowd. "I guess we'll have to wait till we get a few more folks over from Durham County."

Then Manning mused on another possible explanation for the no-shows from Chapel Hill and Carrboro: "All the mopeds won't start."

Manning also poked fun at Chapel Hill's ban on public consumption of alcohol, as a man charged with that crime waited for his case to be heard.

"He's got the most benign charge on the docket," Manning said. "It used to be perfectly all right to do so.

"We used to drink beer on a bench and smoke in Chapel Hill," he said. "I did it for four years until I quit smoking, and then I continued to drink beer."

Manning wondered why the law does not apply to outdoor dining areas such as the third-floor balcony at Top of the Hill.

"You can lean over and drink your beer and look at Franklin Street, but that's not in public?"

"I like this guy," said a man waiting to address his cocaine charges.