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Hi Martin,
Jeff Caplan from Art and Revolution here. I'm on my first bike tour...an art and rev bicycle powered
circus riding from St. Louis to Washington DC. I'm looking for some help route planning as The
Rudabega Bike Circus is made of mostly clowns who have not biked this part of the country. The team
is 20 people from vermont, canada, austin, madison etc. Today we're talking about routes between St.
Louis to Louisville, possibly through Carbondale. [email protected]
Do you have any contacts in this part of the country that could make a decisive suggestion about
bike friendly routes?
p.s. We were all arrested and put in jail last weekend for riding bicycles without a st. louis bike
liscence. We're all out of jail and doing fine, just a little tense. We're trying to get back
on the road, but our show schedule has been dist\rupted by the incarceration...so we are
reweaving it.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
http://www.stlimc.org/ St. Louis Police shoot down the Flying Rutabagas May 21, 2003 The Flying
Rutabaga Cycle Circus traveled to St. Louis last week to kickoff their "Caravan Across the Cornbelt"
from St. Louis to Washington DC with a performance at the Biodevastation7 conference. The Flying
Rutabagas are clowns, stilt-walkers, and jugglers with ideas and opinions on the corporate control
of agriculture. For the weekend they had been offered to stay at the Bolozone, a south side
co-housing collective. That was their plan, before the St. Louis Police Department launched
"Operation Rutabaga Hunt." [ read on 1 | 2 | photos ]
On Friday, May 16, nine circus members were arrested for "biking without a license" in Tower Grove
Park. Their bicycles were impounded and they were held in jail for eight hours. When the police
realized that the charge had been taken off the books two years ago, they changed it to "obstructing
the flow of traffic," another bogus charge that is not intended to be used against bicyclists,
according to the Missouri Bike Federation. These charges have been dropped.
Almost simultaneously, another twelve Flying Rutabaga artists were arrested when St. Louis police
raided the Bolozone. The bike clowns were charged with "occupying a condemned building." Their bikes
were impounded and all their other possessions were locked up inside the Bolozone when it was
boarded up. Seven of the Rutabagas caught in the Bolozone raid were not released until Saturday
morning. Flying Rutabaga circus whips and juggling torches were taken, and Police Chief Mokwa
presented them as dangerous "weapons" at a press conference on Friday.
So far the Rutabagas had only about half of the groups' bicycles returned to them, with some of the
tires slashed while in police custody. St. Louis Police department called the park arrests "a
misunderstanding." On Tuesday May 20, Chief Mokwa apologized for the raid on the Bolozone and
allowed the owner to enter his own house. He managed to retrieve some of the things belonging to the
Flying Circus. However, the Bolozone remains boarded up.
The resilient Rutabagas still plan to cycle all the way to Washington DC, despite the trauma they
suffered at the hands of St. Louis police. They plan to arrive in DC on June 19, coinciding with the
Biotechnology Industry Organization Convention. They were scheduled to leave St. Louis on May 19,
but they are still being held back by the relentless arm of the St. Louis police.
[ Missouri Bike Federation's statement on the arrests : http://www.mobikefed.org/news.html#200305193
MARTIN KRIEG: "Awake Again" Author c/o BikeRoute.com 79 & 86 TransAms, nonprofit Nat. Bicycle
Greenway CEO Ever wanted anything so bad U were willing to die for it? Really die? By moving thru
clinical death and reversing paralysis, *I saw God* when I answered that question.
details. ]]
Hi Martin,
Jeff Caplan from Art and Revolution here. I'm on my first bike tour...an art and rev bicycle powered
circus riding from St. Louis to Washington DC. I'm looking for some help route planning as The
Rudabega Bike Circus is made of mostly clowns who have not biked this part of the country. The team
is 20 people from vermont, canada, austin, madison etc. Today we're talking about routes between St.
Louis to Louisville, possibly through Carbondale. [email protected]
Do you have any contacts in this part of the country that could make a decisive suggestion about
bike friendly routes?
p.s. We were all arrested and put in jail last weekend for riding bicycles without a st. louis bike
liscence. We're all out of jail and doing fine, just a little tense. We're trying to get back
on the road, but our show schedule has been dist\rupted by the incarceration...so we are
reweaving it.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
http://www.stlimc.org/ St. Louis Police shoot down the Flying Rutabagas May 21, 2003 The Flying
Rutabaga Cycle Circus traveled to St. Louis last week to kickoff their "Caravan Across the Cornbelt"
from St. Louis to Washington DC with a performance at the Biodevastation7 conference. The Flying
Rutabagas are clowns, stilt-walkers, and jugglers with ideas and opinions on the corporate control
of agriculture. For the weekend they had been offered to stay at the Bolozone, a south side
co-housing collective. That was their plan, before the St. Louis Police Department launched
"Operation Rutabaga Hunt." [ read on 1 | 2 | photos ]
On Friday, May 16, nine circus members were arrested for "biking without a license" in Tower Grove
Park. Their bicycles were impounded and they were held in jail for eight hours. When the police
realized that the charge had been taken off the books two years ago, they changed it to "obstructing
the flow of traffic," another bogus charge that is not intended to be used against bicyclists,
according to the Missouri Bike Federation. These charges have been dropped.
Almost simultaneously, another twelve Flying Rutabaga artists were arrested when St. Louis police
raided the Bolozone. The bike clowns were charged with "occupying a condemned building." Their bikes
were impounded and all their other possessions were locked up inside the Bolozone when it was
boarded up. Seven of the Rutabagas caught in the Bolozone raid were not released until Saturday
morning. Flying Rutabaga circus whips and juggling torches were taken, and Police Chief Mokwa
presented them as dangerous "weapons" at a press conference on Friday.
So far the Rutabagas had only about half of the groups' bicycles returned to them, with some of the
tires slashed while in police custody. St. Louis Police department called the park arrests "a
misunderstanding." On Tuesday May 20, Chief Mokwa apologized for the raid on the Bolozone and
allowed the owner to enter his own house. He managed to retrieve some of the things belonging to the
Flying Circus. However, the Bolozone remains boarded up.
The resilient Rutabagas still plan to cycle all the way to Washington DC, despite the trauma they
suffered at the hands of St. Louis police. They plan to arrive in DC on June 19, coinciding with the
Biotechnology Industry Organization Convention. They were scheduled to leave St. Louis on May 19,
but they are still being held back by the relentless arm of the St. Louis police.
[ Missouri Bike Federation's statement on the arrests : http://www.mobikefed.org/news.html#200305193
MARTIN KRIEG: "Awake Again" Author c/o BikeRoute.com 79 & 86 TransAms, nonprofit Nat. Bicycle
Greenway CEO Ever wanted anything so bad U were willing to die for it? Really die? By moving thru
clinical death and reversing paralysis, *I saw God* when I answered that question.