#Chalkupy #OO Cause for arrest & $60,000 bail?

Yesterday, the DA filed felony vandalism charges against Cincinnati for participating in Chalkoccupy - particularly for a few words he wrote on the side of the BART elevator in chalk.  Chalkoccupy has been on going for over 10 weeks, and there has been no other arrests.  They are alleging that with the few chalk words, Cincinnati has committed vandalism in excess of $400, and holding him on $60,000 bail. What BART has done is, instead of washing off the chalk, as they have done previously, and with the area around the elevator by Oscar Grant Plaza, they chose to paint it over, and they painted the whole elevator, so that is what they are probably basing their "$400" figure on.  It is clearly a fabricated set-up.  What is more ridiculous, is that by painting on the chalk (which is still visible through the beige paint), BART maintenance has now permanently fixed the chalk to the wall. I am asking everyone to call Robert Raburn - who is the BART director for the 12th STreet BART Station, and tell him that BART should not be suppressing free speech, that chalk is not vandalism, and that it's BART's incompetent maintenance choice to paint over it, they have made the chalk permanent, not the chalkers.  Tell Raburn BART needs to tell the DA to "DROP THE CHARGES". District:   District #4 Current Term:   December 2010 to December 2014 Counties Included:   Alameda Stations Included:   Coliseum/Oakland Airport, Fruitvale, Lake Merritt, 12th Street/Oakland City Center, 19th Street, MacArthur (partial) Cities Included:   Alameda, Oakland (partial), San Leandro Financial Information:    raburn.pdf Contact Phone:    (510) 464-6095 Contact Fax:    (510) 464-6011 Contact Email:    robertraburn@covad.net Pass this along to everyone you know - and let's get the phone calls and emails and faxes going.