Kid Rock, judge differ on community service

updated 1:10 p.m. ET Dec. 3, 2008

LOS ANGELES - Kid Rock is upset that he can’t pick the good deed that will serve as his punishment for a brawl at a Georgia Waffle House.

In a post on his Web site, the rocker blasts a judge for denying his request to serve his 80 hours of community service by performing for U.S. troops stationed in the Middle East.

“Apparently he thinks it’s more important that I do something else rather than sing, shake hands, take pictures and spend time with the men and women who put themselves in harms (sic) way to protect the very freedom he and all of us live by,” the singer wrote in a holiday message posted on his site.

Georgia State Court Judge Alvin T. Wong, who denied the request Sept. 30, sees it differently.

He noted that Kid Rock, whose real name is Robert J. Ritchie, had performed for the troops before and “would do so even if he was not under a sentence to perform community service.

“Besides, giving him credit for something he would otherwise love to do in front of a camera completely defeats the punitive purpose of performing community service,” Wong wrote.

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Ritchie and members of his entourage were arrested last October after they became involved in a fight at a Waffle House in suburban Atlanta after a concert. He pleaded no contest to one count of battery and other charges were dropped.

He later returned to a Waffle House and helped raise nearly $20,000 for an Atlanta homeless shelter. Ritchie in his post noted the event, and that the judge didn’t give him credit for that either.

Ritchie wrote that Wong’s ruling was a “slap in the face” and he is having trouble thinking of a better form of community service.

The singer is currently on tour in Europe, and plans to participate in U.S.O. concerts scheduled for mid-December.

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