Posted on 09/02/2006 9:11:47 PM PDT by beaversmom
STEAMBOAT SPRINGS, Colo. -- Two men who took fruit and vegetables out of a garbage can have been sentenced to six months in jail, a punishment they say is harsh and the only choice they had to avoid a felony on their records.
Giles Charle, 24, of Sumersworth, N.H., and David Siller, 27, of Wayne, Pa., were on their way to the Rainbow Family's annual gathering when they were arrested in June and charged with felony burglary and misdemeanor theft.
Authorities said they took five cucumbers, four or five apricots, two bundles of asparagus spears and a handful of cherries from a garbage can at Sweet Pea Produce. The two pleaded guilty to misdemeanor trespassing Wednesday and the felony charge was dropped.
"We didn't have any intention of committing a crime or doing anything wrong," Charle told the Steamboat Pilot & Today newspaper. "We had just come in town and we were prepared to buy groceries from a store but everything was closed."
Thousands of people were in the Steamboat Springs area at the end of June and early July for the Rainbow Family gathering north of town. At times, the relationship between members of the nomadic group and authorities was tense and a number of citations were issued.
Assistant District Attorney Kerry St. James said the men were facing the felony because they trespassed onto property without permission and took something that did not belong to them. He said the plea bargain was the suspects' decision.
"They had a choice between accepting a deferred felony with 90 days in jail or a misdemeanor conviction with six months in jail," he said. "They agreed to spend the six months in jail."
Don Wirtshafter, an attorney in Ohio who represented many Rainbow Family members over the summer, said Charle and Siller were forced to choose between two evils.
"A suspended sentence would have worked for these boys, but when a prosecutor is really going after you, the best thing you can do is plea," he said. "At best, this case is bizarre."
Charle's mother, Shaune McCarthy Charle, called the jail sentence a joke.
"It's really amazing and unbelievable how taking garbage out of a Dumpster became a felony," she said. "(St. James) is completely incorrigible."
Not after business hours, it isn't. Also, a business has the right to show anybody the door, even during business hours. It's called private property. IOW, these two were definitely trespassing. They had no right to be there and no right to handle the property of others, ie. the dumpster.
...and not only weak, but damaging to the court's credibility, and the faith of the public.... who must see the court as a rational arbiter of justice, or tremble at the thought of being on the wrong side of that institution. The outcome damages the court more than the two sentenced.
> I wondered where you were going until your last clause. It does not really matter what they are compared to you and me. It does not matter if they are pains to deal with. That does not excuse using the color of the law to mistreat them... If they commit crimes, then the authorities should gather evidence, charge them and earn a conviction. If they are not committing crimes, then the authorities that use the color of law to harrass them are commiting a crime. Charging someone with stealing garbage from a garbage can is a weak response by poor officials.
Agreed, no argument at all. I don't like what the authorities did, and I don't think it was justified.
I'm just not going to express surprise and shock that the City decided to over-hassle some hippies in the middle of a Rainbow Gathering. It happens all the time, and it's happened since I was a kid in the late 60's.
Maybe instead of saying "I think the City's over-reaction has an explanation" I should say something like "The City's over-reaction does not surprise or shock me, seeing as how I was 18 years old in 1970 and had long hair and played rock and roll and got hassled for hanging with hippies in Philly (and I wasn't making actual trouble either) and as the French would say, Plus ca change, plus c'est la meme chose."
You must mean what horrors will the 3 broken-down winos in the city lock-up face from these anti-social hippy freaks.
Steamboat Springs is a sleepy little town of ~9,000. It has no homicides/murders and about 35-40 crimes committed per year, of the type the FBI compiles data on.
These two scofflaws are not being sent away to Folsom prison.
I have been reading posts on this thread and not familiar with rainbowish hippies.
But years ago East of Eugene Oregon "hippies" took run of the natural public hot springs and local towns (now they are gone, so I hear) and one thing I remember passing through was the babies/toddlers were always without undies/cloth diapers/pampers.
I always wondered isn't it a health hazard to have your kid going potty where ever in the streets?
Perhaps they had a system for potty training but the young Moms seemed a little bit to sky larky to be clued in.
I absolutely HATE hippies but this is BS. If cops can go through your trash without a search warrent, then how could this be a crime?
Bingo!
And if you go to the rainbow family website I previously linked, you will realize they are heavily lawyered up and continuously engaged in major legal action.
Well, on average you're not far from the mark. But the majority of them are indeed idealistic folks who are taking the opportunity to avoid "real life" as the rest of us know it. It's unfortunate (and unfair) that they expect the rest of us to support their choice. Most of the Rainbowers I've know were sweet, but pretty damn parasitic.
Concerning the clean-up, see post #76 and this:
http://www.hearingvoices.com/webwork/golding/rainbow/index.html
The Gatherings are not all disasters for the areas, just some of them.
Ya know the answer could have been to toss the old veggies/fruit into a worm recycle bin thingy ma jig or simply set them aside for easy pickings for the transient type hippies.
I agree jail time for bin surfing was not cool.
The legal definition of ''misdemeanor'' is a crime punishable by a fine and up to one year incarceration, not to be served in a penitentiary.
You could look it up.
"Sky-larky" -- that's a great description.
Overall, a couple kids taking a pee or a poo in a public hot spring probably isn't going to do much damage. The volume of water will dilute the excreta and the high temperature will probably keep the bacterial level down (I'm guessing).
It'd be all different with a lot of kids, and a non-hot spring, or a public fountain, of course.
I'm no more grossed out by human poo than by doggie poo, which is found in a lot of city streets too. I think the same laws should apply consistently. Make the mothers of these kids carry little poo scrapers. Or better yet, put 'em in diapers when out in public. (The kids, not the mothers.)
I dealt with my daughter for her first couple years, doing the cotton-diaper thing, and finally settling on disposables even though it drove me crazy to think of all the poo in the city dump.
'Tis the price we pay for living in civilization instead of the forest, I guess.
Seriously? That's the place?
LOL! Ah, the gift that goes on giving...
I especially liked the rainbower's comment about "easing the culture clash." At the rainbow website, they reefer (misspelling intentional) to themselves as "counter-cultural." Last time I checked, "counter-cultural" types were not noted for "easing" culture clashes.
My state's definition is 'fine, and/or up to 2 1/2 years...county jail...not state prison (reserved for felony conv).
Why should I look it up? What did I say that makes no sense, if anything?
Ahhh...I think I get it. I was commenting specifically on the choice given the two defendants: misdemeanor or felony. I can't find a felony...unless FL law is radically different than most states' laws. Possible, but not likely.
CO law...pardon.
I think the way you said it was fine both times. The first time it was a bit of a surprise punchline. It is my fault if I don't read a post to the end as happens when I am in a hurry. And your post explained to me why the authorities behaved as they did and clearly did not endorse it.
It certainly seems to be hurting the faith of those here in prosecutors.
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