"Two Quartzsite chalk taggers arrested for criminal damage"

http://www.kswt.com/story/15574877/quartzsite

Story by Ruth Castillo, Reporter

Quartzsite, Arizona September 28, 2011 - Town workers in Quartzsite discovered tagging early Tuesday morning.




"Early morning about 7:30, some of the employees from the town of Quartzsite arrived at Town Hall, they discovered some tagging that had been done across the courtyard and the area entering town hall," says Quartzsite Police Chief Jeff Gilbert.



Onsite cameras caught the action.



"In viewing the video surveillance recording, they identified two persons involved in the tagging the night before," says Chief Gilbert.



46-year-old Michael Roth and 58-year-old Dana Stadler of Quartzsite were arrested and booked into La Paz County Jail on 12 counts of criminal damage. Roth says he's fed up with Quartzsite Town government.



"After a long train of abuses, I finally decided that I'm going to exercise my First Amendment rights, which they hadn't allowed me over maybe years now," says Roth. "I've been arrested several times for just simply speaking uncomfortable truths of power and they won't let anybody discuss anything in town hall meetings."



Roth says he wanted to express himself.



"So what I did was took some chalk that I bought from Walmart and I simply put words that they didn't like on the concrete that's leading up to Town Hall and I got arrested for it," says Roth.



Although he admits to the tagging, Roth sees nothing criminal about it.



"There was no damage. I wrote it in chalk. They used a hose to clean it up. It took all of 15 seconds to wash this away and there was no damage," says Roth. "I though this was and still believe this is a perfectly legal way to voice your displeasure with an out of control local government."



However, Chief Gilbert calls it a hate crime.



"Most of it were hate-associated messages," says Chief Gilbert. "One writing said 'Death to the [Town] Council,' another said 'Hang them all.' There's one that says "Hang [Chief] Gilbert.' And most of them contained swastika symbols on the things that written."



Kswt News 13 questioned Roth's use of a symbolassociated with Nazi Germany and white supremicists. When asked what he meant to say when he scribed a swastika alongside the letters QPD, Roth said the Quartzsite Police are out of control.



"Well, I do obviously because I wrote it. I mean, what is more Nazi than to have police departments come out and attack political opponents, to try to silence political opponents, to jail political opponents?" said Roth.



Chief Gilbert questioned Roth's Freedom of speech defense.



"It's interesting that [Roth] didn't come in at 8 o'clock in the morning when Town Hall was open in daylight hours and both these individuals used the cover of darkness, you know, to come in when nobody was there when Town Hall was closed and do this tagging," said Gilbert.

OK, so I admit, it's not a Julian Beever masterpeice, but they're both just as temporary!

DFP publisher Jones arrested after suing for police harassment!

Tuesday night's public meeting with the BLM and SolarReserve was crowded, informative, and constantly disrupted by the Quartzsite Police. 

Apparently, on her way into the meeting, Mrs. Jones was approached by QPD Sgt. Xavier Frausto (husband of the town magistrate) who wanted her to sign a citation for "simulating legal process".

A. R.S. § 13-2814

A. A person commits simulating legal process if such person knowingly sends or delivers to another any document falsely purporting to be an order or other document that simulates civil or criminal process.

B. Simulating legal process is a class 2 misdemeanor. 

Ms. Jones walked past Sgt. Frausto, and into Quartzsite Town Hall. When Jones refused to sign the citation in front of a crowded room of witnesses, Frausto reportedly tried to hand her the citation to which Jones responded "I'm not interested in anything that comes from you" and she took a seat. Quartzsite police approached her husband John with a citation for the same offense. Sgt. Frausto told him if he refused, the citation would be sent in the mail.

Witnesses report that Mrs. Jones got up from her seat in the second row and walked to where her husband was sitting in the back of the room. From halfway across the room and as she passed the rows of chairs, Jones gave "the finger" to Starr Bearcat, whom she believed had been actively filming the interaction between Quartzsite Police and the Jones', and who previously posted numerous false comments and defamatory videos about them on 

http://www.youtube.com/user/QWatchingEyes

Mrs. Jones spoke briefly with her husband and sat back down in her seat.

As the meeting began, John  was approached by QPD Officer Herlen Yeomans. Yeomans told John that if he refused to sign, he had been instructed by the sergeant to arrest him. John reports that he then asked to see the law he had allegedly broken, but when he followed Yeomans outside he was handcuffed.

Frausto and Yeomans escorted Jones to the unmarked black QPD SUV. Discussion ensued between the three, and Yeomans asked Frausto if Jones could sign the citation. Jones informed the officers that his wife had filed a lawsuit against Police Chief Jeff Gilbert, Town Manager Alexandra Taft, and the incorporated town for police harassment days earlier, and that Taft had been served several hours before the meeting. Jones was released, he signed the citation, and did not return to the meeting.

During the meeting, QPD officers brought Mrs. Jones her husbands wallet, and repeatedly tried to lure her outside to speak with her husband "before he went to jail" but she refused to speak, or leave with them. 

When the meeting ended, Mrs. Jones tried unsuccessfully to reach her attorney by phone. She then handed her belongings to Mayor Ed Foster and told him "Don't bail me out". 

Reportedly, as Jones tried to leave the room, she was handcuffed by Quartzsite Police Chief Jeff Gilbert, who had arrived on the scene and was blocking her exit. When she asked what she was under arrest for, Gilbert responded "I'll tell you later". Jones called out to the crowd "Hey everybody! These fine gentleman are refusing to tell me what I'm under arrest for!" She then asked Gilbert "Does this have anything to do with the lawsuit I served on you earlier today?" He responded "You didn't serve me." and Jones informed him "I served the town." She was then escorted through town offices to a cell in the back of town hall before being transferred to the La Paz County jail.

The next day, Mrs. Jones, who has no prior convictions, was released on her own recognizance by Judge Michael Newman.

The Jones case in County Superior Court is # CV201100065

and claims damages for "harassment and intentional infliction of emotional distress".

Duh! Do you think?