Internationally famous bubble performer, long-time local Santa Cruz resident, and co-writer of Santa Cruz's unique Street Performers Guidelines, Tom Noddy was taken by police to jail yesterday. I heard of the arrest from his partner Kate, reached by phone at their home in downtown Santa Cruz when I tried to interview him for my radio show last night at 7:15 p.m.

Kate reported he had been arrested around 4 p.m., handcuffed, his car towed, and was being held in jail. Holding a person in jail is unusual for a minor infraction. Police usually give an individual is usually given an opportunity to sign a citation on the spot or is released at the jail prior to booking. With the recent crackdown on hippies, youth, homeless, and street performers downtown--including a new "Banning" proposal by the District Attorney-- pre-trial treatment has worsened.

At 2 PM Noddy set up a small display device at a legal distance in front of the Downtown Information Center (the Hosts Headquarters).

Watching were two print reporters (Dan White of the Sentinel and Sarah Phelan of the Metro Santa Cruz), a tv crew, a radio reporter (me for Free Radio Santa Cruz), and several sympathetic street performers (Angela and Justin), Noddy juggled lemons, rubber balls, and light-weight bowling pins. As an encore he also juggled crumpled up copies of the municipal code law itself.

A police officer passing by refused to stop and answer the repeated question "is juggling legal?" Hosts walking by repeated the two words "no comment". One host added that since Noddy was a "bubble street performer", the law [see below] made the situation ambiguous.

The day before, Hosts in that center had rudely refused to answer his question "is juggling legal in Santa Cruz?" He was also told by a police officer to "stop harassing them" in response to what he described as a mild inquiry.

Noddy had recently brought to the attention of City Councilmembers, the City Manager's office, and the City Attorney that during the debate on this law before City Council, then-Mayor Krohn had specifically asked the City Attorney if the wording of the law [see below] made juggling illegal and the City Attorney publicly said "no".

In this situation, Noddy suggested, the clear intent of the Council was not to make juggling illegal, and so it wasn't. Mayor Emily Reilly reportedly expressed great relief on hearing this. But the evening before the arrest, Assistant City Manager Martin Bernal informed Noddy by phone that juggling was illegal. In response, Noddy decided to clarify what the situation was by doing some public juggling.

Attorney Kate Wells drove by to witness Noddy's curbside juggling performance near the Del Mar Theater (which is next door to the Hosts HQ). She advised him that if the wording of the law was clear, the courts would not necessarily delve into the "intent" of the legislators.

Noddy is a strong advocate of restoring the Voluntary Street Performers Guidelines--eliminated by the Downtown Ordinances last summer.

No mention of the Noddy arrest appears in the on-line version of this morning's Sentinel. Reporter Dan White was captured on audio tape at Noddy's juggling display as loudly rejecting the idea that the story would be spun or downplayed, when I suggested that would be the case in this morning's paper.

City Municipal Code 9.50.020d reads "No person, after having been notified by a law enforcement officer that he or she is in violation of the prohibition in this section, shall: In the C-C Community commercial, C-N neighborhood commercial, C-B, commercial beach, CBD central business, and R-T tourist residential zoning districts, intentionally throw, discharge, launch, or spill any solid object (including but not limited to footballs, hackeysacks, baseballs, beach balls, Frisbees, or other similar devices) or liquid substance (with the exception of bubble street performers who otherwise comply with all applicable statutes & ordinances) or otherwise cause any object or substance to be thrown, discharged, launched, spilled or to become airborne.

According to his partner, Noddy was still in jail as of 9 PM last night, awaiting release on his own recognizance