Running Club Members Mark Trail With Flour: Now Accused Of Terrorism

[DeSwiss]

Running club members face felony charges for hazmat scare at IKEA

By CARA RUBINSKY | Associated Press Writer
5:24 PM EDT, August 24, 2007

NEW HAVEN, Conn. - Daniel Salchow and his sister, Dorothee, planned to spend a pleasant afternoon marking a trail for fellow members of their offbeat running and drinking club. Instead, they wound up in police custody after their clue of choice _ flour _ set off a bioterrorism scare and forced hundreds to evacuate an IKEA furniture store Thursday. "It was absolutely not in any way what we intended and not what we anticipated," Salchow said Friday at the New Haven courthouse. Salchow, a New Haven ophthalmologist, and his sister, who is visiting from Hamburg, Germany, were charged with first-degree breach of peace, a felony.

The siblings are part of the Hash House Harriers, which bills itself as a "drinking club with a running problem" and has more than 1,800 chapters around the world. The runs typically end with beer stops at pubs or homes. The club started in Malaysia in the late 1930s, when British citizens modified an old game called hares and hounds. The Salchows said they have sprinkled flour everywhere from New York to California without incident. "We had done the exact same thing in Washington, D.C., as recently as two months ago," Dr. Salchow said.

*snip*

To make things interesting, he and Dorothee, 31, decided to route runners through the massive IKEA parking lot. They were the hares, meaning they marked the trail for others, the hounds, to follow. The idea is to use symbols to direct runners, throwing in some dead ends and forks in the trail as challenges. Just before 5 p.m., police fielded a call that someone was sprinkling powder on the ground. The popular store was evacuated and remained closed the rest of the night.

Salchow was at home waiting for the other runners to arrive for an after-party when his wife called to say there was a problem. He biked to IKEA and tried to explain to officers that the powder was just harmless flour. City officials weren't amused. The incident prompted a massive response from New Haven police and surrounding towns. Mayoral spokeswoman Jessica Mayorga said the city plans to seek restitution from the Salchows and will meet Monday to decide how much.

She said they should not have used the flour if they knew it had caused scares in the past. "You see powder connected by arrows and chalk, you never know," she said. "It could be a terrorist, it could be something more serious. We're thankful it wasn't, but there were a lot of resources that went into figuring that out."

Read more: http://www.newsday.com/news/local/wire/connecticut/ny-bc-ct--beerrun-arrests0824aug24,0,7713844.story

*** - I refused to comment on this imbecility. Damn!

[alfredo]

1. We've turned into a nation of nervous Nellies.

[DeSwiss]

3. Noirvous Nincompoops! n/t

[spag68]

11. We really have become wusses

How about common sense for a change? Look what the rethugs have done to us.

[alfredo]

18. It doesn't matter to them, they want us fearful so they can rule

for 100 years.

[pansypoo53219]

12. maybe we need to remove home of the brave

in the anthem and insert home of the wimps.

[alfredo]

19. Yes.

[Stinky The Clown]

2. We are a nation made insane by the leadership of a moron

How sad.

I REALLY want my country back.

[DeSwiss]

4. Once we do get it back...

...I think we'll need to be in rehab for a while.

Some of us anyway....

[Double T]

5. Over reacting chicken little police.

[DeSwiss]

7. The line I loved though was the one from the Mayor's spokeswoman....

"You see powder connected by arrows and chalk, you never know," she said. "It could be a terrorist, it could be something more serious. We're thankful it wasn't, but there were a lot of resources that went into figuring that out."

So it takes a "lot of resources" to figure out that flour is.... flour. Even when you've been told its.... flour.

Dumbass!

:mad:

[Double T]

9. The overreaction by the government should NOT requitre........

the Salchows to pay ANY restitution. The Mayor is attempting to save face.

[DeSwiss]

10. A petition has already started....

Help The Hamburglar Hares!
http://www.petitiononline.com/HareHelp/petition.html

[Truth2Tell]

6. Boo! n/t

[DeSwiss]

8. Eeeek!!!

Run fer yer lives
its a terrararaist!!!!

[Canuckistanian]

13. Restitution? For what?

Their own paranoia? God, this is even worse than the Red scares of the 40's and 50's.

So, you can be arrested and fined these days for ANY non-obvious behavior?

I tell you, the Brits must be shaking their heads with disbelief. They KNOW how to handle REAL disasters.

[eppur_se_muova]

14. So, anything that **MIGHT BE INTERPRETED AS** a "breach of peace" is a felony??

Wouldn't that cover ... well ... EVERYTHING?

[The Straight Story]

15. Damn sad thing about it all? And this is really sad

Is that we can have an asshole like bush doing worse things to this country and the people in power won't even try to impeach him over it. someone with flour? we jump on. Someone killing thousands and starting wars, etc - we won't even attempt an impeachment because it may not work.

Totally fucked up.

[eppur_se_muova]

16. Quick -- send Bu**sh** some flour!

Oh, wait, maybe not ... "Interned indefinitely in Guantanamo for mailing a 'suspicious' white powder to the White House" is not something I want people saying about me.

[formercia]

17. Junior is the real terrorist

He has been terrorizing this country for years.

[Javaman]

20. This stupidity is right up there with the litebrites "scare" in Boston.

stupidity by our elected is never in short supply.

[ThomCat]

21. Isn't the law supposed to protect us from actual crimes?

Not paranoid fantasies of what might possibly be a crime?

If it becomes illegal to do anything that anyone could imagine a terrorist doing, then everything is illegal. x(

[Lex]

22. The chickenhawk republicans have turned the nation into scared babies

like themselves.

PATHETIC.