Tars
09-30-2010, 07:10 AM
From the San Jose Mercury News (https://www.mercurynews.com/):
Ideafarm's home seized by Mountain View police (https://www.mercurynews.com/breaking-news/ci_16212663?nclick_check=1)
<!--subtitle--><!--byline-->By Diana Samuels
https://extras.mnginteractive.com/live/media/site568/2010/0929/20100929__spdn0930mvideafarm%7E1_VIEWER.JPG"Wo'O Ideafarm, the man known for parking a van covered in offbeat political signs around Mountain View, says the police department has seized his home and won't return it.
Ideafarm, a 55-year-old "civic speaker," has long tangled with Mountain View police in what he describes as a "game of cat-and-mouse."
Earlier this month, Ideafarm was arrested twice on suspicion of trespassing. While he was in jail, police seized the small, portable wooden structure he lives in, called "the doghouse."
Ideafarm used to live in his van, but he said he gave it away because his insurance company was dropping him, and the vehicle code "provided lots of opportunity (for the police) to harass me."
On Sept. 8, Ideafarm was arrested at Mountain View City Hall. Police said he was working on his computer in a non-public area -- a conference room -- and defied an officer's orders to leave.While the conference room is sometimes used for public meetings and was unlocked that day, it is not generally open to the public, according to police spokeswoman Liz Wylie.
Ideafarm contends that since the room was unlocked, in a public building, with no signs or notices indicating it had restricted access, he wasn't trespassing. He spent several hours in jail that day and was charged with trespassing and resisting, delaying or obstructing an officer.
Two days later, Ideafarm staged a sit-in at the Mountain View Police Department's lobby."I was kind of looking for trouble," he said. "I had allocated the whole day to making a protest of this trespass thing." Ideafarm said he sat on the floor next to the counter in the department's lobby, reading a book on the First Amendment several feet away from where people were being helped. "I was definitely out of the way," he said. Police disagree. Wylie said he was "impeding business."
"No one wants to walk up to a counter when he's sitting there under it," Wylie said.
Police spent a "long time" trying to convince Ideafarm to sit in a chair instead, but he refused, Wylie said. Eventually, he was arrested on suspicion of trespassing, interfering with the lawful business of a public agency, and resisting, delaying or obstructing an officer.
Ideafarm spent 13 days in jail before a judge lowered his bail. When he returned to Mountain View, the doghouse wasn't where he had left it on Shoreline Drive at Latham Street. Police told him it had been collected as evidence.
https://extras.mnginteractive.com/live/media/site568/2010/0929/20100929__spdn0930mvideafarm%7E2_GALLERY.JPGWylie said the department is keeping the structure because the city attorney's office is investigating whether it violates municipal codes."We were instructed to have it towed and kept as evidence while that's being investigated," Wylie said. She did not know how long that could take. The city attorney could not be reached for comment Wednesday evening.
Ideafarm quickly built a replacement "doghouse #2," though he says it's not as comfortable or secure. In the meantime, he said he is working with a public defender to get the first doghouse back.
"I'm intentionally asserting my rights and basically going 'na-na-na' to the police," Ideafarm said. "And when they take my bait, my basic goal is to survive the body blow and then get it to the courts." He is scheduled to appear in court next on Oct. 12, for a pretrial conference related to the trespassing charges, according to the Santa Clara County District Attorney's Office."
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Ideafarm's home seized by Mountain View police (https://www.mercurynews.com/breaking-news/ci_16212663?nclick_check=1)
<!--subtitle--><!--byline-->By Diana Samuels
https://extras.mnginteractive.com/live/media/site568/2010/0929/20100929__spdn0930mvideafarm%7E1_VIEWER.JPG"Wo'O Ideafarm, the man known for parking a van covered in offbeat political signs around Mountain View, says the police department has seized his home and won't return it.
Ideafarm, a 55-year-old "civic speaker," has long tangled with Mountain View police in what he describes as a "game of cat-and-mouse."
Earlier this month, Ideafarm was arrested twice on suspicion of trespassing. While he was in jail, police seized the small, portable wooden structure he lives in, called "the doghouse."
Ideafarm used to live in his van, but he said he gave it away because his insurance company was dropping him, and the vehicle code "provided lots of opportunity (for the police) to harass me."
On Sept. 8, Ideafarm was arrested at Mountain View City Hall. Police said he was working on his computer in a non-public area -- a conference room -- and defied an officer's orders to leave.While the conference room is sometimes used for public meetings and was unlocked that day, it is not generally open to the public, according to police spokeswoman Liz Wylie.
Ideafarm contends that since the room was unlocked, in a public building, with no signs or notices indicating it had restricted access, he wasn't trespassing. He spent several hours in jail that day and was charged with trespassing and resisting, delaying or obstructing an officer.
Two days later, Ideafarm staged a sit-in at the Mountain View Police Department's lobby."I was kind of looking for trouble," he said. "I had allocated the whole day to making a protest of this trespass thing." Ideafarm said he sat on the floor next to the counter in the department's lobby, reading a book on the First Amendment several feet away from where people were being helped. "I was definitely out of the way," he said. Police disagree. Wylie said he was "impeding business."
"No one wants to walk up to a counter when he's sitting there under it," Wylie said.
Police spent a "long time" trying to convince Ideafarm to sit in a chair instead, but he refused, Wylie said. Eventually, he was arrested on suspicion of trespassing, interfering with the lawful business of a public agency, and resisting, delaying or obstructing an officer.
Ideafarm spent 13 days in jail before a judge lowered his bail. When he returned to Mountain View, the doghouse wasn't where he had left it on Shoreline Drive at Latham Street. Police told him it had been collected as evidence.
https://extras.mnginteractive.com/live/media/site568/2010/0929/20100929__spdn0930mvideafarm%7E2_GALLERY.JPGWylie said the department is keeping the structure because the city attorney's office is investigating whether it violates municipal codes."We were instructed to have it towed and kept as evidence while that's being investigated," Wylie said. She did not know how long that could take. The city attorney could not be reached for comment Wednesday evening.
Ideafarm quickly built a replacement "doghouse #2," though he says it's not as comfortable or secure. In the meantime, he said he is working with a public defender to get the first doghouse back.
"I'm intentionally asserting my rights and basically going 'na-na-na' to the police," Ideafarm said. "And when they take my bait, my basic goal is to survive the body blow and then get it to the courts." He is scheduled to appear in court next on Oct. 12, for a pretrial conference related to the trespassing charges, according to the Santa Clara County District Attorney's Office."
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