Special Legislative Session Continued...

Well, got a little closer to the action with my chalk today, and really pissed off the guy who does security or something for the legislature.

He insisted that I stop chalking (I was up near the road, but on the Capitol side of the street this time), but got flustered when I challenged him on whether or not it was against the law for me to do so. He made a special point of finding out what I could be charged with - "criminal damage." Sounds serious.

I finished my artwork by then and took my photos, so I figured I'd better go before he discovered all the other spots I've chalked this morning, since he was doing me a "favor" by not calling the police. I still think there's something fishy about this being "criminal damage". It washes right off...

Governor Brewer: Prisoners have families, too.

Prisoners Have Families, Too.

The best part about this action this morning was all the prisoners who got to see what we'd left on the sidewalk yesterday, and who saw me arguing with the cops after writing this today (thanks to the guy from the state who declined to press charges, by the way).

This poor guy had the job of cleaning up after us once already this morning, and now had to do it again. As he approached my masterpiece he said quietly, without looking up: "I hope you appreciate the irony of what I'm about to do." Then he smiled.

I didn't want to get him into trouble by talking to him, so we kept it short and sweet. When I apologized for the mess I told him there are more people than me working on this, and he thanked us all for our support and solidarity. He was pretty touched. It helps prisoners a lot to know there are people in the community who care what happens to them, even though we may be strangers. It validates that regardless of their guilt or crime we at least recognize their humanity, and will defend certain basic rights.

So, when you're doing stuff and taking pictures, imagine being a prisoner getting a postcard with a photo of your action on it. It may make them laugh, smile, or maybe even cry, but it should tell them that they and their families are not alone in this.

I'll have more on this morning when I get my 35mm roll developed, but that's the main thing I wanted to share for now. Oh, yeah - and a shout out to Timothy with the Grounds Department.

Sidewalk Chalk Wildcat

This article addresses some of the issues I ran into at the Capitol this morning when they called the cops to stop me from chalking up the sidewalk...silliness. This attempt to suppress 1st Amendment rights begs to be challenged.

Anway, I'll post my blog and photos on all that shortly. I think we need more clarification about whether or not chalking sidewalks on public or state property constitutes criminal activity in Phoenix, so I'll keep researching this tonight and post with what more I find. I know I can be charged with pretty much anything, but drop me a line if anyone out there knows if you can really be convicted (criminal or civil) for using sidewalk chalk.

- Peg

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University of Arizona
Outrage at U. Arizona artist arrest intensifies
» September 28th
stateuniversity.com



Students upset by University of Arizona Police Department’s arrest of Jacob Miller, a 24-year-old graduate student who used sidewalk chalk to advertise a protest Thursday, have been speaking out on campus and online.

On Facebook.com, a group called Support Jacob Miller started Friday and had grown to 172 members by press time Sunday.

The group’s founder, Tom Shea, is a biochemistry junior who decided to start the group after reading about Miller’s arrest in the Arizona Daily Wildcat.

Shea, who doesn’t know Miller and couldn’t even find him on Facebook, said, “I was completely outraged by what I read in the article.”

Shea is trying to organize an online petition and a protest on Miller’s court date.

“(This arrest) can be compared to being arrested for playing hopscotch or finger-painting,” he said. “The entire idea behind chalk as a medium is that it does no damage and is easily removed. It’s not something akin to spray paint or graffiti—it’s quite the opposite.”

On the Daily Wildcat’s Web site, readers are also talking. Many were upset by the university’s initial claim that it cost $1,000 to clean the chalk from sidewalks and walls.

UA officials have since backed off their initial estimate.

Chris Kopach, associate director of facilities management said the actual figure is closer to $350.

Kopach said $1,000 was the initial approximate estimate, before he knew the writing was in chalk.

Anne Ranek, a graduate student and member of Arizona for Education, the group that organized Thursday’s protest, said she was excited by the amount of support Miller is getting from undergraduates who probably don’t know him.

Dave Talenfeld, president of the Graduate Professional Student Council, told the Wildcat the arrest was “very silly.”

Talenfeld said the anonymous faculty member who reported the chalk probably had a problem with the content, not the medium, of the message.

“I would not be surprised to learn that political considerations were involved,” he said.

UAPD spokesman Sgt. Juan Alvarez said he hasn’t received any comments about the case and declined to comment on the ongoing investigation.

Miller, at his lawyer’s request, declined to comment on the matter any further.

His lawyer, Cornelia Honchar, said she found it surprising that a student would be charged with criminal damage, because the crime “seems so banal.”

“He’s also charged with disrupting the operations of a university,” she said. “So we’ll see how a campus of 35,000 or 40,000 was interrupted by Jacob Miller drawing something on the student union sidewalk.”

Hank Dean Stephenson – Copyright © 2009 Arizona Daily Wildcat via UWire

Read more: Outrage at U. Arizona artist arrest intensifies - StateUniversity.com News http://www.stateuniversity.com/news_items/1676#ixzz0XMdHxD9S