Originally Posted by The Santa Cruz Sentinel

Pendulum pusher off the hook: Man successfully fights $250 ticket for pushing pendulum arm sculpture

By Cathy Kelly - Sentinel staff writer
Posted: 04/15/2009 01:13:56 PM PDT

SANTA CRUZ - Pushing the pendulum on a public artwork downtown became a legal push and shove, and a headache, for a Washington state man.

The Pendulum is one of a dozen sculptures installed on Pacific Avenue in November.

Days after the public art was unveiled, Lather Wieland gave into the impulse to give it a little push, he said, a move that earned him a $250 citation for violating a municipal code regulating conduct on or toward public monuments.

At a trial Tuesday, the infraction was dismissed, after Wieland and Santa Cruz police realized the code section requires that a person be warned before being ticketed. In a recent letter, the Police Department requested that the citation be dismissed.

Wieland said he had looked up the code at the county law library and saw the requirement for a warning, which makes sense to him.

"As a tourist, how was I supposed to know it was against the law?" he said. "There was no sign or anything. I was really dismayed. I even asked him, don't I get a warning?"

Wieland said he believes he was ticketed in part because he looks homeless.

He is on disability and has a home in Spokane, Wash., he said, but couldn't afford to drive home and back to take care of the ticket. So he and his wife have been sleeping in their van, he said.

Wieland was relieved that the case was dismissed, but said the battle was a pain in the neck. He said he came to court several times and was told the ticket was not yet in the system. Then, when he got a court date, he pleaded not guilty and was given a trial date several weeks later.
The Aaron Van de Kerckhove sculpture stands in front of Rosie McCann's pub, and an employee there said she sees people pushing the pendulum regularly.

"It's kind of common," Abbie Brown said. "I thought that was what it was for."

City Attorney John Barisone said the ordinance has been on the books since 1969.

"Not many require warnings beforehand," he said. "But a lot of times police officers or downtown hosts give warnings out of courtesy anyway."

Santa Cruz police could not be reached to comment.