UA student busted after chalk is used to mark sidewalks

[Ptah]

Source: ARIZONA DAILY STAR

24-year-old man was arrested Thursday after he was suspected of marking up
the University of Arizona sidewalks with chalk during a pro-education rally, police said.

Jacob Miller, a UA graduate student, was arrested and cited for criminal damage
and interfering with an educational facility during a campus rally protesting cuts
to public education, said Sgt. Juan Alvarez, a UA Police Department spokesman.

He was later released, Alvarez said.

A university employee called 911 at about 8:30 a.m. to report someone writing
on the sidewalk, he said.


Read more: http://www.azstarnet.com/metro/310461

---

Well that's just a bit of ridiculous rule.

[Warpy]

1. Since chalk can be swept off

or hosed off, I doubt they'll make it stick as vandalism.

Somebody needs to give the police some useful work to do. Bored cops are making too much mischief.

[Bette Noir]

11. +1

[harry_pothead]

30. I was about to say, did the cops not get their donuts that morning.

[kestrel91316]

2. Oh, FFS. Chalk does no permanent damage. It is a natural mineral.

It washes off easily, and wears off over time without any effort.

[gmoney]

37. So is hot lead... and that can do PLENTY of damage.

mineral :sarcasm:

[LuvNewcastle]

3. Remind me not to play hopscotch in Arizona.

[Cha]

5. Especially Tucson~

:P I went to school there for a year back in '60s..my how things have changed.

[napi21]

4. Oh for God sake! I let my grandkids write on my driveway

with their chalk that I BOUGHT for them. Get the damn ho9se out and spray it off. No harm no foul. What the hell is the school's problem? I thought the post was going to say he was writing obscenities or something.

[Ian David]

6. If you outlaw chalk, only outlaws will have chalk.

You can take my chalk when you pry it from my, cold, dead, chalky hands!

[Dont_Bogart_the_Pretzel]

22. If you outlaw chalk, then what will the teachers use to teach with?

:shrug:

[JonQ]

7. Seems pretty ridiculous

it's chalk for gods sake, people do this all the time around here to advertise for things.

[Xipe Totec]

8. Chalk one up for the fascists. n/t

[Ptah]

10. Good answer.

:thumbsup:

[Downwinder]

9. I use chalk to mark my figures for inline skates in the Chase

parking lot. And they encourage it.

[Selatius]

12. "Criminal damage"? In what way? The rain will wash it all away.

I would understand it being "criminal damage" if he were using a fucking jackhammer to write shit into the sidewalk, but he wasn't doing that, was he?

[Ptah]

15. We are waiting for the rain. It never comes.

[struggle4progress]

31. Some schools are ridiculous about this. I remember a student organization being

charged for a maintenance man to hose down sidewalks, where kids early in the morning had chalked announcements of an educational event for that evening; everybody knew a major storm was coming in; and it rained hard the next day. Some administrator was just being a ****head

[CreekDog]

13. As a former University of Arizona student, I had 1 interaction with UA PD

I was working late in the computer lab one night and as a grad student I had permission to be there anytime I wanted to be and even had a key.

Late one night probably around 11, there was a pounding at the door to the outside (where the door to the outside stairs were --I couldn't see who it was). I went to the door and said "who is it?"...more pounding, then "Open the door!". I said, "who is it?". "OPEN THE DOOR NOW!" I said, "I'm not opening the door if I don't know who it is". "THE POLICE!!!".

Okay then. And I opened the door.

Freakin' geniuses.

They came in and generally were rude in the course of asking what I was doing there, and then they left. And I never felt the same way about University of Arizona Police again.

Good job guys. Was it worth it? :eyes:

[donco6]

14. Wow, that's really really dumb.

I go to Stanford frequently and see chalk on the sidewalks all the time. Protests, announcements, whatever. Who cares? It's kinda creative.

[thelordofhell]

16. They shot "Revenge Of The Nerds" on that campus

They also have desecrated sacred Native America sites to put up telescopes.

[rayofreason]

17. What do you mean...

...about "desecration?"

Got a link and more info?

[thelordofhell]

19. Link

http://www.mail-archive.com/[e-mail]/msg04028.html

[rayofreason]

24. Thanks...

...but the info you sent is from 1999.

Is there evidence that this issue has not been resolved amicably since then?

[thelordofhell]

28. Yup

They just went ahead and built the telescopes anyway.

[Ptah]

18. Which sacred Native America sites have been desecrated?

:shrug:

[thelordofhell]

21. Dzil Nchaa Si'an.........The Big Seated Mountain

Mount Graham

[Ptah]

23. Hoe does a scientific instrument desecrate?

[thelordofhell]

29. They built them on grounds sacred to the Native Americans

[HereSince1628]

35. No big deal FRANCIS

[gtar100]

20. *They* are terrified of protests upsetting their little world.

Flash back to 1975 in Boulder, Colorado, where the students blocked traffic on Folsom Street cutting right through campus.

Now there's a park there and the street is painted with "Birth of Folsom Park 4/2/75" in commemoration. No one knows who keeps painting it every year.

Different days back then. Still was very contentious back then but now the repubs and right wing nuts have had 30 years of rule to build their egos. And now they are paranoid. And they should be - of themselves.

[earcandle]

25. Chalk is for fun and for sending out public messages on whatever. To be arrested for using it on a

sidewalk is absurd.  Please make them drop these charges and
make sure stuff like this is not miscontrued like this
especially by idiot evil doers looking to make bucks on their
crime industry tactics.  Please.  This is mean and sick.  And
really damaging to people who play with children's toys.  No
harm here, unless you are the one being exposed and you should
be.  

[DBoon]

26. it's not the media, it's the message

Why is graffiti punished with caning in Singapore? Because writing slogans on walls is the only way to voice political dissent in that controlled society

Why is "chalking" illegal in Arizona? Well, draw your own conclusions

[MetaTrope]

27. Maybe that's how al-Qaeda got started?

http://www.azstarnet.com/sn/printDS/31354

● Hani Hanjour: Piloted American Airlines Flight 77 that crashed into the Pentagon. He attended the UA, studying English in 1991. He also lived in Mesa and took aviation classes in Scottsdale.

● Mubarak al Duri: A native of Iraq who lived in Tucson in the late 1980s. He procured weapons of mass destruction for Osama bin Laden.

● Muhammad Bayazid: Lived in Tucson at one time. He was an arms procurer and trainer for al-Qaida.

● Wadi el-Hage: Was believed to be bin Laden's personal assistant. Federal officials say there was evidence el-Hage helped a man who was conducting surveillance on Muslim Sheik Rashad Khalifa, who was assassinated in Tucson in 1990. He is serving a life prison term for his part in the bombing of two U.S. embassies in Africa.

● Wa'el Jelaidan: Co-founded al-Qaida with bin Laden in the late '80s. State records show he was president of the Islamic Center of Tucson from 1984 to '85. He left Tucson in 1986 and was believed to have gone to Afghanistan to help repel the Soviet Union's invasion.

● Muhammad Al-Qudhai'een: Was a UA student before 9/11. He was handcuffed and removed from an America West Airlines jet in Columbus, Ohio, after jiggling the cockpit door in 1999. He later sued the airline, but the lawsuit was dismissed. He was deported to Saudi Arabia.

An ounce of prevention...

[Liberal_in_LA]

32. OMG. to the person who called 911. Really! 911 for chalking the sidewalk?

[Ptah]

33. UA announces new policy after 2nd 'chalking' arrest on campus

The University of Arizona released a statement on Monday
reversing their policy to arrest students for using chalk.
There have been two arrests since a budget protest last week.

The statement said UAPD will no longer cite students for criminal
damage for using chalk on surfaces other than the ground and sidewalk.

According to the statement, UA President Robert Shelton
wants students to be sent to the Dean of Students Office
and these incidents to be considered as code of conduct violations.

UAPD is dismissing the charges against two students who were previously cited.
They too will be referred to the Dean of Students Office, the statement said.



http://www.azstarnet.com/sn/hourlyupdate/310919.php

[tyedyeto]

34. The way I read that statement

They will cite for ground and sidewalk but not other surfaces???

Seems like the statement was not said properly. That 'other than' implies they will continue that policy but if you were to chalk an 'other' surface, say a building, then that would be ok.

I'm sure they meant it the other way but that is how I am interpreting that wording.

[Vogon_Glory]

36. Did the UA Police ask him to prove his US citizenship? n/t