Like any evening gone bad, Rod Amis' hinged on a series of tiny variables. Some beer. His roommate's cigarette. A surly convenience-store clerk. Seven dollars. And, Amis adds, two skin colors -- his and his roommate's.

Just after midnight on May 19, Amis, who is black, was coaxed by his roommate, who is white, to get out of the house and walk to a nearby party. On their way, they stopped by the Circle K on Esplanade Avenue, where his roommate lit up a cigarette and handed Amis $7 in beer money -- Amis was planning to purchase a 12-pack for the party. The clerk wouldn't go back to the coolers, says Amis, so he exited the store and returned the $7 to his roommate.

A few feet away, two NOPD officers were sitting in a marked squad car. They believed they'd seen a "hand-to-hand transaction," and so they frisked the pair. Amis' roommate had a baggie of cocaine on him. So the cops charged his roommate with cocaine possession. They charged Amis -- who had only a pack of cigs and some money -- with drug-dealing ("Reasonable Suspicion?" Sept. 2).

Amis would spend 10 days in Orleans Parish Prison before an attorney was able to get the bail reduced from $3,000 to $400, with the caveat that Amis would take weekly drug tests. The costs began there -- every Monday, Amis would head down to the Orleans Parish criminal courthouse for a urine test, each of which cost him a $20 drug-testing fee. He also paid about $1,000 in attorney's fees. He chronicled all of this, along with his thoughts about political campaigns and other current events, for his Web magazine (www.g21.net).

On Sept. 22, Amis' Web entry described his final court appearance, where the judge announced that he was no longer under the jurisdiction of the state of Louisiana. Then Amis finally heard the words. "You are free to go. Case dismissed."

Amis says that he can't put the case behind him. "I never forget favors people have done for me and I never forget my grudges," he says. "It's one of my worst faults -- I can't forget."