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In the “it’s too wild to be true but it is” department.
In Xenia, Greene County, OH, panhandling is a 4th degree misdemeanor. Greene County Herald editor Virgil Vaduva deliberately violated ordinance 13-31 on Saturday, panhandling on the sidewalk in front of the Xenia City Hall. He raised $41.98 for charity.
According to this screen capture from CounterCurrentNews, in a discussion of panhandling laws on the Green County Herald Facebook page, Dayton police office Paul Harris threatened to arrest Vaduva if he comes to Dayton.
Vaduva seems to confirm that exchange in a later thread:
This was my first experience with cops using the phrase “Breathe easy and don’t break the law” as a retort to “I can’t breathe”. What a perversion of “Keep calm and carry on,” a slogan devised should Britain have been invaded by Germany during World War II.
At least one city council is less than enamored with the sale of t-shirts with the slogan. “Police should not take the right to breathe into their own hands,” South Bend, IN District Council President Oliver Davis told the Daily News.
For historical context, “I can’t breathe” were the last words uttered by Eric Garner, who died after a New York City police officer placed him in a department-banned chokehold.
Known for gnawing at complex questions like a terrier with a bone. Digital evangelist, writer, teacher. Transplanted Southerner; teach newbies to ride motorcycles. @kegill (Twitter and Mastodon.social); wiredpen.com