In the real world...

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Cow Creek Country Classic Justice

While several hundred recreational cyclists are riding around Waxahachie and Ellis County today...

Posted in the comments of ChipSeal's weblog:

Lee W. said...
06/25/2010
To whom ever cares about justice in this world,

I am writing this on the behalf of a person I know. His name is Reed Bates. He is an avid cyclist, hard worker good friend and all around nice guy.
As I type this Reed is on his 17th day in jail. When I met Reed just a few months ago he told me of a silly situation he was in the midst of dealing with in Ennis TX in Ellis county. He referred to it as silly only because of the BLATANT fact that according to the TX statute a freshman in high school could see he didn’t violate the law. As a cyclist and someone who cares about the environment he doesn’t drive. Using his bicycle as his primary mode of transportation he uses the roadways that all of our taxes pay for as the conduit to get him where he needs to go. He was ticketed in Ennis for using a particular roadway “recklessly“. As a man with a strong sense of right and wrong and just good old fashioned common sense he fought it and while doing so ran smack dab into what more and more is showing itself to be a very severe case of the “good ol’ boy” system of law enforcement and justice in Ellis county. They cited him with violations and tickets that were significantly out of proportion with the actual offense. To fight this Reed started a blog at http://chipsea@blogspot.com with all the details and play by play.

June 25, 2010 11:10 AM
Lee W said...
The purpose of this letter is to illuminate the further injustices of which Reed has been a victim. As I said Reed retained a Dallas attorney to help him with these legal issues. Reed now works for me as a direct marketer for a green energy company here in the Dallas/Ft Worth area. As law abiding citizens whenever required we obtain solicitor permits in whatever municipality we are in at the time. In preparation for working in the city of Rockwall TX we went to their police dept to apply for our permits when they told Reed he had an active warrant for his arrest for a failure to appear on an Ellis county charge. Reed having retained an attorney was completely surprised by this. They took him into custody on the 8th of June. The bond was set at $5000. After contacting Reeds attorney he assured me that he had no knowledge of this court date. This is where he eluded to the reputation of this particular county for “misfiling paperwork”. Forgetting to note on the file that the defendant had obtained counsel thus ensuring copies of all notices of court dates be mailed to counsel as well. Filing an additional charge after the original ones to create situations like this etc. At first I thought this was a case of an attorney who dropped the ball and was now trying to cover his butt. He attempted to speak with the powers that be in Ellis county to point out to them that Reed had retained an attorney and was EAGER to have his day in court and was the last person that would intentionally miss a court date. He ran into a brick wall there and now has essentially given up. I then gave Reed an advance on his pay for $300 in order to have another attorney take a look at it. The new attorney at first had high hopes of quickly resolving the mistake. She soon ran into the same stall and excuse tactics I believe the first lawyer encountered.
According to the procedures both Rockwall and Ellis county have told us they abide by, what is supposed to happen is when Rockwall took him into custody they said they notify within 24hrs via teletype the county who issued the warrant. If that county doesn’t extradite within 10 days they are bound to release the person. Ellis county said it’s policy states that they must pick up that person within 2 days of receiving the notice from the county in which the person was picked up. Reed got transferred on the 10th day. Someone is lying. He now is in Ellis county detention center and is supposed to get to see a judge today but from what we’ve seen of this good ol boy network in Ennis we’re not very optimistic.
Anyone who takes the time to look at this can see Reed is the furthest thing from a flight risk and again is EAGER to have his day in court. Any reasonable judge or D.A. should have arranged for the release of Reed weeks ago but instead he sits in a jail taking up a spot that could be being used for an ACTUAL criminal. Obviously I don’t have the power or the means to fight this for Reed alone. I am sending copies of this to any news organization I can think of. The Texas Attorney General the Texas Bar Association and anyone I can think of in the biking community.
Thank God that since Reed works for me that his job isn’t in jeopardy and I have been able to make arrangements to get his bills paid so other parts of his life aren’t crumbling as he sits in jail in his 3rd week. Had this been most people heaven only knows what other SIGNIFICANT problems this might have caused in their lives. It is situations like this that give all law enforcement and criminal justice workers such a bad name.

June 25, 2010 11:12 AM
Lee W said...
The purpose of this letter is to illuminate the further injustices of which Reed has been a victim. As I said Reed retained a Dallas attorney to help him with these legal issues. Reed now works for me as a direct marketer for a green energy company here in the Dallas/Ft Worth area. As law abiding citizens whenever required we obtain solicitor permits in whatever municipality we are in at the time. In preparation for working in the city of Rockwall TX we went to their police dept to apply for our permits when they told Reed he had an active warrant for his arrest for a failure to appear on an Ellis county charge. Reed having retained an attorney was completely surprised by this. They took him into custody on the 8th of June. The bond was set at $5000. After contacting Reeds attorney he assured me that he had no knowledge of this court date. This is where he eluded to the reputation of this particular county for “misfiling paperwork”. Forgetting to note on the file that the defendant had obtained counsel thus ensuring copies of all notices of court dates be mailed to counsel as well. Filing an additional charge after the original ones to create situations like this etc. At first I thought this was a case of an attorney who dropped the ball and was now trying to cover his butt. He attempted to speak with the powers that be in Ellis county to point out to them that Reed had retained an attorney and was EAGER to have his day in court and was the last person that would intentionally miss a court date. He ran into a brick wall there and now has essentially given up. I then gave Reed an advance on his pay for $300 in order to have another attorney take a look at it. The new attorney at first had high hopes of quickly resolving the mistake. She soon ran into the same stall and excuse tactics I believe the first lawyer encountered.
According to the procedures both Rockwall and Ellis county have told us they abide by, what is supposed to happen is when Rockwall took him into custody they said they notify within 24hrs via teletype the county who issued the warrant. If that county doesn’t extradite within 10 days they are bound to release the person. Ellis county said it’s policy states that they must pick up that person within 2 days of receiving the notice from the county in which the person was picked up. Reed got transferred on the 10th day. Someone is lying. He now is in Ellis county detention center and is supposed to get to see a judge today but from what we’ve seen of this good ol boy network in Ennis we’re not very optimistic.
Anyone who takes the time to look at this can see Reed is the furthest thing from a flight risk and again is EAGER to have his day in court. Any reasonable judge or D.A. should have arranged for the release of Reed weeks ago but instead he sits in a jail taking up a spot that could be being used for an ACTUAL criminal. Obviously I don’t have the power or the means to fight this for Reed alone. I am sending copies of this to any news organization I can think of. The Texas Attorney General the Texas Bar Association and anyone I can think of in the biking community.
Thank God that since Reed works for me that his job isn’t in jeopardy and I have been able to make arrangements to get his bills paid so other parts of his life aren’t crumbling as he sits in jail in his 3rd week. Had this been most people heaven only knows what other SIGNIFICANT problems this might have caused in their lives. It is situations like this that give all law enforcement and criminal justice workers such a bad name.

June 25, 2010 11:16 AM
Lee W said...
This is all over a BICYCLE CHARGE for crying out loud. He rides his bike on the road which the statute in the great state of Texas says he has every right to. When they tried to bully him into complying with a MIS-enforcement of a law, he fought them and that made them mad. He’s not a native Texan and from all outward appearances they have done whatever they could do to make this guys life tough. This needs to be looked into by an impartial outside agency I believe from both within the Texas judicial system and private investigative news organizations. Please someone step forward and help me fight to get Reed released so we then can help him fight this thing. This is the United States of America things like this should not happen to guys like Reed.
Thank you so much. I hope to hear from anyone willing to help ASAP. The poor guy has been in jail for 17 days. Wouldn’t you want someone fighting for you if you were in his shoes?

Lee Wiltsey Regional Sales Mgr
Global One Marketing LLC

lwiltsey@gogreenergy.com

Readers write rightly.

Cheerleader wearing megaphone as a hat - adapted from an unknown source

“I explained educated cycling vs. experienced cycling to a non-cyclist today and he said it explained everything he's seen cyclists do while he's driving. He had no idea there was two different worlds of cyclists.”

Squint.

Bike Friendly?

unknown source

Let's say your goal is to get more people on motorbikes (because you get underwriting money from the American Motorbike Dealers Association). You want your hamlet to be known as being "Motorbike Friendly". What do you do?

Surveys show people think motorbikes are dangerous, so you work to get mandatory crash helmet laws passed to show how serious you are about safety. Then, once you've firmly established your position as a vendor of fear (motorbike safety advocate), you work on people's next fear about motorbikes: falling over.

To prevent falling over, and to get more "butts on motorbikes", you push for "motorbike stability devices" (a.k.a. training wheels) on all motorbikes. This too needs to be mandatory, because of the risk of some "leaning tolerant" motorbike riders saying they don't need them, which undermines the efforts to appeal to the "lean fear" crowd. Motorbike riders must ALL be treated as children, as the lowest common denominator must be pushed as the norm, or else we won't get "more butts on motorbikes".

There are drawbacks, sure. You can't turn easily on a motorbike with training wheels. If you try to turn too fast, you'll flip over. Now, you've actually increased the danger of falling over as you've increased the perception of safety from falling over. That's OK, because perception of safety is more important than real safety, and now you are going to have more butts on motorbikes (you think).

That's the goal, more motorbikes and more butts... but not more mobility, and not more safety. After all, motorbikes are unsafe, so you better keep them where they belong. Off to the side where they'll be safe.

Happy Father's Day from Cycle*Dallas.

Teach someone the responsible freedom of riding a bicycle anywhere they want. Remove their training wheels and give them freedom. Fathers must cut the apron strings that mothers lovingly tie their babies with.

Thanks, Dad.

The Pain in Spain is Mainly in the Lane.

¿Habla Español? Chasque aquí.

¿No? Chasque aquí. (Click here.)

Why does this picture irritate me?

Illustration from the cycling section of the REI website.

This image bugs me. Why?

1962 Fixie

In the early-mid 1960s, I rode a black J.C. Higgins "English racer" style bicycle, built by Puch in Austria. It had a Brooks saddle and a three-speed Strumey-Archer rear hub, fenders, lights, and a rear rack with side baskets. Pretty much the exact bicycle can still be purchased today. It was my transportation to school and to recreation. But it wasn't cool.

Cool was a single-speed Schwinn Stingray. Many kids rode those, or bicycles like them, with banana seats, ape-hanger bars, small wheels, low gearing, and rear "slicks". Fun bikes, but they tended to not be ridden more than a mile or two (usually just a few blocks). Their range was about 1/10th of mine at the time (I was a regular at three different slot-car tracks, and multiple hobby shops and movie theaters).

In ninth and tenth grade I kept riding, while most of the cool kids moved on to Vespa scooters, motorcycles, and cars (I did move on to a 1949 Morris Minor 1000 my junior year... and a Dawes Galaxy when I went to college).

Not terribly cool. But, as seen below, all cool things come to a silly end.

Irving: The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly.

Alternate heading: When Bad Things Happen to Good Intentions.

Irving, nice try, but no cigar.

Trails, paint, trails, more paint ("WE MUST HAVE PAINT ON THE GROUND!"), good cop, great volunteers, bad advocate, clueless bureaucrat, and a few lies and disingenuous statements thrown in for good measure.

Tell me what you saw and heard... and what you thought you saw and heard.

How to be a Bike Friendly Urban Planner: Part 2

Save yourself.

Really.

Magick Paint™

Jonathan Simmons, Boston Globe

Bicycle Priority Markings.

"...in the ceremony the priest applies sacred paint to the taboo area surface, to create a channel through which the people could travel through the taboo area without upsetting the evil deities. While the effect is incomprehensible in the mind of the modern man, it is very real for these primitive people; when forced to trespass the sacred domain without the taboo being removed, the people showed signs of great distress, many had strong feelings of inevitable death resulting from disrespecting the domain of the evil deities..."

...quotation courtesy of Kalle Mustonen, bicycle commuter in Finland.

While this unique application is certainly better than the door-zone bike lane it's meant to replace, it's really only designed to pacify magick believers who don't have the luxury of a 3' wide mystical bicycle passage zone as seen in the oncoming lane. It's amazing the lengths people will go to (and the paint slathered) to avoid simply saying forcefully and consistently "bicycles may should use full lane" (wouldn't that be a better stencil?). Sadly, I envision lane-based cyclists now weaving between platoons of parked cars to go through the "magick passage gates" before scurrying back to the safety of the curb.

Grade: "B" for effort. "Incomplete" for effect.

Passing fancy in Vermont.

Don Freeman

Vermont has become the latest state to enact a safe passing law to protect "vulnerable users". Interestingly, the new Vermont law reads more like the existing law regarding passing in the current Texas Vehicle Code than the one that was vetoed by Governor Perry.

Unfortunately, the new Vermont law contains some strong "far right as practicable" language that damages an otherwise helpful statute.

Morning diversion.

So many things to puzzle over... not the least of which is how does this slip street work?

Going where?

Good Afternoon,

As follow-up to the May 19 Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Committee (BPAC) Meeting / Mobility 2035 Workshop, we have created a webpage containing all meeting materials presented for your review. The webpage can be accessed at the following link: http://www.nctcog.org/trans/sustdev/bikeped/comments.asp.

Included on the website are the four presentations given, the series of county-wide maps with the draft version of the updated Regional Veloweb, and the comment forms that were provided. In addition, there is an electronic survey form that allows comments to be submitted directly via the website. Please keep in mind that all comments are due by June 30, 2010 in order to be considered as part of the Mobility 2035 Update.

As part of our continued efforts to allow ample opportunity for input on the Bicycle and Pedestrian Chapter update of the Mobility 2035: Metropolitan Transportation Plan, we will be holding a supplemental BPAC Listening Session on Thursday, June 24, 2010 at 10:30 am in the Regional Forum Room of the NCTCOG offices. This meeting will provide an opportunity for BPAC members and interested parties to further discuss ideas and offer feedback on the proposed policies, programs, and projects to be included as part of the Bicycle and Pedestrian Chapter update. For those unable to attend, please visit the Mobility 2035 – Bicycle/Pedestrian Chapter webpage for a list of options on how to formally submit comments.


Mobility 2035 BPAC Listening Session

June 24, 2010

10:30 am – 12:00 pm

North Central Texas Council of Governments
Regional Forum Room
616 Six Flags Drive, Centerpoint Two
Arlington, TX 76011


A map to the NCTCOG offices can be found here.
Please RSVP by Friday, June 18, as space may be limited.

I look forward to seeing you there. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me at anytime.

Thank you,

Deborah Humphreys
Transportation Planner I
Bicycle and Pedestrian Program
North Central Texas Council of Governments
616 Six Flags Drive I Arlington, TX 76011

Direct: (817) 608-2394
Fax: (817) 640-3028

Have fun, play safe, and don't worry about who has the right of way.

Just a dash of criminally negligent advice.

Cynthia Thornhill wrote a letter to editor of the Dallas Morning News. A good one.

Danger on the Katy Trail
1:10 PM Mon, May 31, 2010

I cross the Katy Trail at the McKinney Avenue and Abbott Avenue area every day. The cars have a yellow light, which I believe means the cars are to slow down and be careful.

The people on the trail have an actual stop sign. However, I never see anyone even yield at this crossing. Rarely does anyone even slow down as they run, bike and push babies across the intersection.

As a driver, I slow down and look both ways. Once as I started to cross the intersection when no one was there, as I was almost to the trail, someone dashed across in front of me and was wagging a finger at me -- and I did not have the stop sign. This runner simply ran across the intersection without slowing down.

This is a dangerous intersection, as the folks on the trail make no attempt to stop or even yield to the passing motorist. Will someone tell me if that is, in fact, a stop sign that these people are supposed to be paying attention to?

Cynthia Thornhill, Dallas

This problem has been well known for years. The original trail crossing design, one that tried to force users to slow down and scan traffic on Knox Street in both directions, was first modified with shallower curves, and then replaced with a landscape architect's plaza design that removed the scanning. At the same time, local merchants were allowed to take over the sidewalk for outdoor dining. This blocked the sight lines of trail users and vehicle operators alike. For aesthetics, commerce, and politics (three areas I approve of, but never at the expense of safety), decisions were made that dramatically increased risk at the crossing.

Too often in cases like these, there is a tendency to ignore the recommendations of professional traffic engineers and trail safety experts in favor of the desires of landscape architects. Aesthetics over safety.

Saturday, there was an "official" response in the Dallas Morning News to Ms. Thornhill's letter.

Take Care With Trail Crossings

Throughout the day, there are people of all ages on foot, skates, bikes and with kids or pets enjoying the Katy Trail and crossing at Knox and Harvard streets. Simultaneously, there are cars and trucks using Knox and Harvard. Occasionally, trail users and motorists aren't in peaceful co-existence.

Thornhill stated her concern that not all trail users obey the stop signs on the trail before crossing at Harvard, near McKinney Avenue. Safety at this crossing and Knox Street is a concern of the Friends of the Katy Trail. That's why our nonprofit organization is working with the city to improve safety at intersections for trail users and motorists.

Everyone traveling through Katy Trail intersections with Knox and Harvard -- whether they are on foot, bike, skates or in a car -- should take extra caution when crossing. Don't worry about who has the right of way. Show concern for your safety and the safety of others. Slow down, be aware -- then proceed. It's the commonsense approach.

Robin Baldock, executive director, Friends of the Katy Trail, Dallas

"Don't worry about who has the right of way." Think about that. The current problem at the Katy Trail is that trail users do precisely that: they don't worry about who has the right of way. 90% (I'm not exaggerating) of the trail users cross Knox Street without stopping at the stop sign, looking for traffic, or even slowing down. Even the Dallas bike cops ignore the stop signs.

Somehow, we have created a sense of entitlement for trail-users that the rules don't apply to them. There is a misconception being spread by many (including Mr. Baldock, I presume) that trail users have the right of way, and traffic on Knox must stop for them. They are wrong, and could be dead wrong. Traffic on Knox must yield to pedestrians in the crosswalk (notice two words: "pedestrians" and "in"), but pedestrians can't enter the crosswalk if the right of way isn't clear. There is a stop sign on the trail, and it's not there for decoration.

Oddly, if you watch that trail crossing, you'll see most motorists yield to trail-users when they don't have to, to avoid collisions. Thank God for that. But one of these days, the odds are someone won't surrender their right of way, while a trail user will attempt to take the right of way from the automobile or truck. Or, a car will pass another car that has stopped to wave a trail user on... striking the unseen trail user (as happened twice with fatalities on Greenville Avenue where the White Rock Creek Trail crossed, before Royal Lane was built and the crossing was signalized).

"Don't worry about who has the right of way." What have you got to lose? Maybe everything.

Camouflage

Where "invisible cyclists" park their invisible bicycles.

In the dark on bike lanes?

News from Florida.

Film at 11:00. Stay tuned.

Tell me again why this is hard or dangerous or only for a few "road warriors"?

Riding Big on Orange Ave from Keri Caffrey on Vimeo.

Here's what the League of American Bicyclists has to say about the ability to ride a bicycle as demonstrated above:

"In limited circumstances, bike lanes may inhibit the ability of skilled cyclists to achieve their peak efficiency and speeds. This is similar to the effect of most traffic control devices on the mobility of the fastest and most skilled users of any mode. However, bike lanes also make cycling much more accessible to many more people and that benefit far outweighs the relatively minor costs incurred by a limited number of highly skilled and traffic tolerant cyclists."

LAB/League Cycling Policy on Bike Lanes

Pure propaganda. Tell people it's dangerous to ride a bike like the vehicle it is. Tell people only super elite cyclists can do it. Tell them you can save them from the evil cars if they don't mind being segregated and put at a higher risk of being struck by both passing and turning automobiles and trucks (something craftily avoided with the straw man arguments). Nothing sells quite like fear.

Why watch the Tour de France when you can watch a death-defying "highly skilled and traffic tolerant" newspaper desk-jockey/reporter ride her bike in downtown Orlando?

The soft prejudice of low expectations.

Cycle-Track in the can.

Bernard Frippiat

Well designed cycle facilities should combine safety, comfort, directness and convenience. This fine example from Brussels shows how these properties can be combined - with emphasis on the convenience that is sadly often missing in US UK facility designs.

From the Warrington Cycle Campaign's Crap Bike Facility of the Month... literally.