[van-announce] First Annual SPIT-IN for Just-us...and Against Police Harassment!

[Dave Olsen]

Come to the First Annual SPIT-IN for Just-us...
...and Against Police Harassment!

Your Participation is Expectorate!

When: 9am, Friday, October 11th, 2002

Where: Outside the Provincial Courts on Smithe Street, between 
Howe and Hornby in Downtown Vancouver (look for the bike rack!)

Who: Anyone who gives a spit about police harassment.

What: Spitting Contest for the Farthest, Biggest, Loudest, Greenest, 
and for best aim (at Gordon Campbell's head, of course!);
PRIZES include homemade wild apricot jam!  YOU be the Judge!

Why: 
-Because a bicyclist will be in court at 9:30am Friday, October 11th, 
2002 to contest the $100 ticket he received for "unlawfully 
expectorating in a public street" on April 19th, 2002.

-Because Police harassment of cyclists, squatters, homeless, street 
workers, youth, and political protesters must end NOW.

The Long Story:
Just after 10am on April 19th, while riding northbound on Main Street
between Hastings and Cordova, Dave Olsen stopped at the red light.  
A police car pulled up beside him and the driver asked, "do you want a
ticket for riding in the middle of the lane or for spitting?"  Dave
replied, "do what you need to do."  The white male officer (#113) then
commanded Dave to get onto the sidewalk, which he did.

The police car continued to idle during the 5 minutes that Dave's 
identity was checked and the $100 ticket was issued.  The white 
woman police officer (#1615) sat in the passenger seat the entire time. 
Dave noted that gasoline was dripping out of the car's tailpipe and he
found a fresh oil patch underneath where the car sat, once the police 
sped away.

Dave always rides as far to the right on a roadway as he determines is
safe, in this case just to the right of the middle of the middle lane,
since there was a lane full of parked cars in the right-most lane (Safety
Notice: never ride in the space between the dotted white line and 
parked cars because you can suffer injuries that can prevent you from 
both riding and walking ever again if a car door suddenly opens in front 
of you).

While riding a bike, it is common for cyclists to accumulate saliva and
snot in their noses.  What Dave did is blow out his nose onto the 
pavement in the middle of the road.  It is unlikely that anyone would be 
walking, crawling, or licking the pavement where Dave blew his nose.  
If someone did, however, the injury s/he would suffer from ingesting 
his saliva would probably pale in comparison to the thousands of toxic 
chemicals that s/he would ingest from automobile emissions and 
leaks.

If you think that this constitutes police harassment, or if you want our
police force to spend our tax money on more useful activities, please
contact mayorandcouncil at city.vancouver.bc.ca and make it an 
election issue!

If you have hours of free time, you can also call the Vancouver Police
Department at 604-717-3321.

But don't forget to...

Come to the First Annual SPIT-IN for Just-us...
...and Against Police Harassment

9am, Friday 11 October 2002, Outside the Provincial Courts on 
Smythe Street, between Howe and Hornby (look for the bike rack!)


For more information, please contact Dave at dolsen at vcn.bc.ca


And show your support for Political Prisoners in Canada by signing the
petition at:

http://www.petitiononline.com/april01