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Letters to the Editors'Interrogation' embarrasses beach bicyclist
© St. Petersburg Times, published January 31, 2001 The other day, I hurried home from work, grabbed my towel and book, hopped on my bike and headed to the beach. I stopped by the convenience store where I buy gas and incidentals almost daily. Business taken care of, I hopped back on my bike, only to be interrupted by two Pinellas County deputies. I was told that they like to "become acquainted with the men who ride bikes around the area." I was interrogated for 15 minutes. I was asked my address, business, Social Security number, date of birth, phone number, height, weight, and on and on and on. I finally had to say, "If there is nothing more, I'm going to the beach." I am unremarkable physically (shouldn't matter if I had purple hair) and I have owned the same house on the same street for 11 years. Never have I been exposed to such oppressive law enforcement behavior. I thought it was only in police states that citizens were detained in the streets for no apparent reason. The experience was embarrassing and demeaning and certainly changes my attitude toward law enforcement. The officers were polite; I have no quarrel with them. I do have a quarrel with an administration that promotes that kind of "big brother" attitude. If the deputies wanted to become "acquainted with men who ride bikes in the area," they might be told to try throwing up a hand and stopping to say, "Hi."
Stopped shopping at Winn-DixieI was moved by the stories of the three women humiliated by false accusations at Winn-Dixie (Winn-Dixie shopper sees charge dismissed, Jan. 21). I have stopped shopping at Winn-Dixie partly out of anger at these cases and partly out of fear that I could also become a victim of this nonsense. I wonder how many other women share my anger and fear about shopping at Winn-Dixie.
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From the Times South Pinellas desks |
