Man Arrested for Wearing Grinch Mask

[Tony]

http://apnews.myway.com/article/20050526/D8AAUV9G0.html ...full article

WHEELING, W.Va. (AP) - City and county attorneys are defending Wheeling police who arrested a man for wearing a Grinch mask while walking along a city street.

Norman Eugene Gray, 42, was arrested Tuesday. He was arraigned and released on a personal recognizance bond.

Officers saw Gray about 8:45 a.m. Tuesday, told him to take the mask off and not put it on again. Gray removed it and asked why he could not wear it, according to Wheeling police reports. Officers told him wearing masks in public is illegal.

Gray said he felt he had a right to wear it and said it was not illegal. He put the mask back on and was arrested. The mask was confiscated.

Wheeling City Solicitor Rosemary Humway-Warmuth and Ohio County Prosecutor Scott Smith said masks as well as dark window tinting in vehicles can pose a safety hazard to law enforcement officers and hinder efforts to identify criminal suspects.

Looks like another case of giving up freedom for security.

 

[Upchurch]

Traditional Halloween masks, safety gear used in occupations, theatrical productions, civil defense or protection from bad weather also are legal.

A Grinch mask would not be considered a traditional Halloween mask?

Granted, the Grinch is usually associated with Christmas, but there were non-Christmas Grinch stories out there, IIRC. Something about meeting that Cat in the Hat.

 

[Mycroft]

"Gray said he felt he had a right to wear it and said it was not illegal. He put the mask back on and was arrested. The mask was confiscated."

Sometimes your feelings don't count in deciding what is and isn't legal.

 

[Cain]

First they take away masks, next they put us in concentration camps.

Apparently there were some robberies committed in Illinois and the offenders were wearing Darth Vader helmets. I bet few in Los Angeles would oppose a law saying you're not allowed to walk around public wearing a ski mask (because it can be construed as threatening). I bet it's a different story mountain towns, community norms and all of that.

Anyway, if I was lame enough to wear Grinch mask and the cops took me aside, I would make an uber-dramatic statement about the "masks" they have on.

 

[TragicMonkey]

I didn't think that kind of law was rare. I was under the impression that most cities outlaw concealing the face in public, except for religious reasons, holiday things, performance art, parades, weather, medical stuff, etc.

I don't see how this is really that burdensome on civil rights.

 

[Mosquito]

I didn't think that kind of law was rare. I was under the impression that most cities outlaw concealing the face in public, except for religious reasons, holiday things, performance art, parades, weather, medical stuff, etc.

I don't see how this is really that burdensome on civil rights.

But if members of the Monkeys Are Great religion can wear monkey masks in public at all times (for religious reasons), why can't non-members?*

How to defend treating people differently based on their religious preferences/artistic preferences etc. without being discriminatory?


Mosquito (against laws making exceptions for religion(s))

* Aside from the security of non-members when members attack, that is.

 

[The idea]

Suppose he had a mask made based on his own face and then he had plastic surgery to look like the Grinch. Then would he not be permitted to wear the "original face" mask while walking along a city street?

 

[Mycroft]

Suppose he had a mask made based on his own face and then he had plastic surgery to look like the Grinch. Then would he not be permitted to wear the "original face" mask while walking along a city street?

What if the man was William Shatner and he was wearing a Captain Kirk mask?

 

[demon]

I hope "Skeptic" was on hand incase the Grinch mask had slipped.

 

[varwoche]

What if the man was William Shatner and he was wearing a Captain Kirk mask?

 

[Ed]

hinder efforts to identify criminal suspects.

It seems to me that finding a Grinch is a hell of a lot easier than finding a human.

 

[jj]

One wonders what we don't know here.

 

[gnome]

Is there a reason he couldn't just say, "My religious beliefs require me to wear the Grinch mask at this time" and be done with it?

 

[Ed]

Is there a reason he couldn't just say, "My religious beliefs require me to wear the Grinch mask at this time" and be done with it?

or say "I am a member of a protected class and you f!ck with me at your peril."

 

[webfusion]

What's a grinch?

 

[Lisa Simpson]

What's a grinch?

From the Dr. Seuss classic "How the Grinch Stole Christmas" and later an animated special by the greatest animation director of all time, Chuck Jones.

 

[The Fool]

what about face painting?....this could be a good way to get rid of those annoying street theater mime acts.

 

[asthmatic camel]

Wheeling City Solicitor Rosemary Humway-Warmuth should be arrested for using such a silly name in public.

 

[Sushi]

I don't see how this is really that burdensome on civil rights.

A typical sentiment here, it seems-- if a particular right doesn't really effect you, it's OK to abolish it.

 

[TragicMonkey]

A typical sentiment here, it seems-- if a particular right doesn't really effect you, it's OK to abolish it.

Yeah, not letting people conceal their faces in public is going to lead us straight to a new Soviet Union.

The point of such laws is to make committing crimes more difficult. Do you think it's unreasonable that it's against the law to conceal your license plate? The point of that is to make it more difficult to commit crimes as well.