San Diego protester faces vandalism charges for sidewalk chalk drawings

[defacto7]

Source: Reuters

A protester is standing trial on criminal vandalism charges in San Diego, and faces a sentence of up to 13 years in prison if convicted, for a scribbling a series of anti-bank slogans in chalk on a city sidewalk.

Mayor Bob Filner has denounced the prosecution of Jeff Olson, 40, a man with no previous criminal record, as a waste of taxpayer money and an abuse of power that infringes on First Amendment free speech protections in the U.S. Constitution.

"This young man is being persecuted for thirteen counts of vandalism stemming from an expression of political protest that involved washable children's chalk on a city sidewalk," the mayor said last week in a memo to the City Council.

Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/06/28/us-usa-graffiti-chalk-idUSBRE95R04P20130628?feedType=RSS&feedName=domesticNews

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Free speech under attack again.

[Fire Walk With Me]

1. K&R. Move your money out of BofA into a credit union. n /t

[rhett o rick]

14. I agree. nm

[bhikkhu]

19. Done, last year.

I keep wondering who are all these people who still bank with the worst of them, BofA, Chase, Wells Fargo, etc. If they didn't have any customers they would just go away.

[jtuck004]

2. Arresting somone for a chalk drawing.

Writing slogans, such as 'No thanks big banks.' I wrote, 'Shame on Bank of America,'" got him charged with 13 counts of vandalism @ 1 yr in jail and $1,000 for each.

Idiot prosecutor talking about why this is good use of his time in pursuit of justice for the taxpayers (couldn't he do more by working on murder trials or something?)

"We don't decide, for example, based upon whether we like or dislike banks," Goldsmith added. "That would be wrong under the law and such a practice by law enforcement would change our society in very damaging ways."

Hey dipshit. You arrested and are wasting someone's time persecuting a guy writing messages on a side walk in chalk. WTF? They PAY you for THIS?

[think]

3. Well I feel much safer now thanks to the heroic efforts to bring this vigilante to justice

[SunSeeker]

4. WTF? They sell sidewalk chalk at Toys R Us for kids. Since when is that illegal?!

The kids in my neighborhood here in So. Cal. are constantly writing with chalk on sidewalks and driveways, drawing hopscotch boards and goofy cartoons. No one gives a shit because it WASHES RIGHT OFF with a hose.

[justiceischeap]

9. Arrest those kids! It's only fair. nt

[SunSeeker]

11. That City Attorney is going to be pretty busy!

I can count at least 6 kids...er...felons on my block that have put chalk to sidewalk.

[justiceischeap]

12. I wonder what the statute of limitations is

I did that as a kid too... except I don't think the chalk was "washable" chalk. It washed off eventually but still...

[Cronus Protagonist]

5. Chalk that one up to Fascism

It's the concept, not the chalk that's the crime. Thoughtcrime.

[silvershadow]

6. Up to thirteen years for sidewalk chalk protest? Gosh, I would assume then the penalty for illegal

foreclosures and all the related illegal stuff from BOA must be forfeiture of assets and liquidation of the "bank", ending their business forever, right? Right?

[newfie11]

7. Kick

[love_katz]

8. Kicking.

[Earth_First]

10. In Rochester, NY the local government and law enforcement agencies held a presser

on the 'vandalism' that was done to the sidewalks one night during a jail support effort during the Occupy protests. The invited the media out in full spectacle to witness the 'damage' that had been done. The coverage included 'photography is not a crime' written in 3" block lettering on the sidewalk. The public relations effort failed outrageously and resulted in ZERO arrests...

[Zorro]

13. Bob Filner and the city attorney Jan Goldsmith really dislike each other

and the San Diego Union-Tribune (now owned by developer Doug Manchester) hates the new Democratic mayor.

There's some feudin' agoin' on there.

[frylock]

23. yep. this is goldsmiith's FU to filner for dressing him down about dispensary closures

[stuffmatters]

24. Jan Goldsmith and the Republican Media in SD Detest Filner

That includes all the TV stations and Voice of San Diego that feeds Yahoo & the internet. They wallow in hostility and faux loutrage against everything Filner does. Last night the ABC affiliate was patting itself on the back for sneaking in a stupid question about Filner's trip to Paris in his press conference.

None of the news networks or Manchester's controlled media would think of reporting on the corporate priorities, misuse of office or waste of taxpayer funds that Goldsmith is committing in "protecting" B of A from this "evil (water soluble) chalker ". I doubt that Goldsmith has ever defended one San Diego taxpayer against even one of B of A's horrific foreclosure/property crimes against them.

At what point do laws and our justice system protect taxpayers rights from corporate power instead of being an enforcer for corporations? Jan Goldsmith obviously thinks that our City's legal resources should be used to punish taxpayers for speaking
(chalking) out against corporate crimes. And this judge, denying the mention of 1st amendment arguments in defense, that's, well, obscene.

It's painful to watch as Filner is probably the most honestly progressive mayor of any American City right now. Any coverage of him by Manchester's Tribune or tv stations drips with loathing...the ABC affiltiate even mentioned the "I' word the other night!

I don't know what the San Diego Democratic Party is up to lately, but they'd better start defending our popular and populist Democratic mayor, complaining to the tv stations and VOSD for their naked anti-Filner bias and also making a huge deal out of Goldsmith's war in this case against citizens' free speech (free chalk) to protect that fragile little flower, B of A.

[suffragette]

15. Wow. Apparently he's the latest in a new trend of arresting people for chalk use in public places

What the hell? Found this from 2012 and it looks like some cities have also been punishing people for this, even going after kids and their parents.
There's a map with the article showing chalk-related arrests.
Just how repressive of a society are we becoming?
http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2012/08/war-chalk-arrests

[NikRik]

16. another brick in the wall !

It appears to me that our goverment has a certain amount of corruption,if you dig and look for it,its there.Shame on those that would protect corperate wishes.Then to turn the knife stuck in our backs,by passing pro-bank policies that will hurt the middle class and the working poor !

[NikRik]

17. You must be joking ?

with all of the serious crimes being commited every day, of course its easier to go after the elderly ,working poor and the middle class!

[W T F]

18. I wonder if school children get arrested for drawing Hop Scotch squares on the side walk.....and...

Are they going to start locking up chalk with the spray can paint ant the hardware store?

[PoliticAverse]

26. I blame my parents - they bought me the chalk leading to my life of crime... n/t

[L0oniX]

20. Bob Boudelang: Dang sidewalk chalking terrorists! Stick with Hopscotch ya dumb arses.

[timstephens13]

21. .

I would like to see as many people as possible show up in front of the B of A building with chalk. Have everyone write whatever they want (without being vulgar or obscene) in chalk all over the side walks, messages of support, messages against B of A, pictures, hopscotch boards, whatever. Then lets see who gets arrested and who doesnt.

[Bonx]

22. The stupid. It hurts. -nt

[Eric J in MN]

25. "If I had drawn a little girl's hopscotch squares on the street, we wouldn't be here today."

Exactly. This is about prosecuting someone for expressing liberal ideas.

[PoliticAverse]

28. Followup: San Diego Judge Puts Unprecedented Gag Order on Sidewalk Chalk Protestor Trial

http://truth-out.org/buzzflash/commentary/item/18058-san-diego-judge-puts-unprecedented-gag-order-on-sidewalk-chalk-protestor-trial