US Park Police arrest former Olympian for vandalism of Reflecting Pool
David Hearn said he only touched a loose section of the renovated pool liner as cleanup crews battled algae and peeling paint.

On Friday, U.S. Park Police arrested Olympian David Hearn, 67, near the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool on misdemeanor charges of destruction of government property after he allegedly touched detached paint.
President Donald Trump recently claimed the $14 million renovated Reflecting Pool suffered from "vandalism," alleging "Radical Left Lunatics" used chemicals to sabotage the newly restored site.
Conservative journalist Emily Miller posted video claiming Hearn "grabbed the hose" used by cleanup crews, though Hearn told The Washington Post he only reached to touch "American Flag Blue" sealant.
Separate images show National Guard members stationed along the walkways and stone edges of the pool, maintaining a visible security presence over the past two days.
Engineer Tyler Dailey noted reflecting pools lack typical filtration systems, meaning "there's no sanitization of any kind," making algae control difficult despite the pool's $14 million renovation.

https://ground.news/article/us...m-of-reflecting-pool

I hope both of the jackwads arrested spend several very long years in federal prisons where they can reflect on the fact that their blind hatred for the country has been returned.

Did you also notice that it appears that someone marked out 86 47 in the grass lawn area

On any project there are things that can go wrong. New roofs can leak, new concrete can crumble, new steel can break, and new coatings can fail.

Most of the photos I've seen show one small area of detached lining from 1,000 different angles.

Could this be a failure? Sure. Could it be sabotage? Sure. There are clearly vandals running around putting chemicals on grass to kill it to spell out 86 47. It's not that far of a stretch to believe that the same or similar vandals aren't dumping who knows what into the reflecting pool.

All of that said, those caught screwing around with it should get the same treatment as all of those "insurrectionists" that were invited in and given the tour.

I second what a1abdj said ^

Why wouldn't this qualify as a "hate crime?"

I suspect that crimes that damage public property do not warrant being treated as felonies (unless they present an imminent danger, e.g. arson), and that these jerks' lawyers will attempt to minimize the assault.

At the very least, they should be required to remediate the damage they caused at their own expense in addition to suffering whatever criminal penalties proscribed by law.

Perhaps they are just hoping to get a date with "Melo?"

"Davey" is feigning innocence, and it is definitely an act. A quick of review of Hearn's social media shows him to be a hardcore fascist.

He was there to disrupt.



.

quote:

Originally posted by architect:
Why wouldn't this qualify as a "hate crime?"

I suspect that crimes that damage public property do not warrant being treated as felonies (unless they present an imminent danger, e.g. arson), and that these jerks' lawyers will attempt to minimize the assault.

At the very least, they should be required to remediate the damage they caused at their own expense in addition to suffering whatever criminal penalties proscribed by law.

Perhaps they are just hoping to get a date with "Melo?"

Sigh.

Why is it that we only seem to agree with “hate crimes” when it suits us?

In most states, property crimes do reach felony status when the property value reaches certain financial limits. IE intentional property damage greater than $1000 is a felony. I don’t recall such a statue in the federal system tied to value.

None the less, I don’t want any arbitrary enhancements to criminal penalty based upon how the wind blows on what defines “hate”

Make these jack wagons work for their crimes.

I’m sure there’s laborers all over the place that wouldn’t mind a helping hand pushing wheelbarrows full of concrete. Or carrying buckets of concrete up floors for pouring pan stairs.

There’s also a few million trailers full of goods every day that need loading and emptying. Warehouse dock workers everywhere could always use help.

Get caught burning messages in the grass, spend a few weeks stacking sod onto pallets at a landscaping supply yard.

Not the first time he's been in hot water with the U.S. Park Police:

CHARGES DISMISSED AGAINST CANOEIST WHO TOOK ON RAGING POTOMAC

David Hearn, one of the world's top whitewater paddlers, broke no federal law by canoeing on the Potomac on a frigid January day when the river was swollen with near-record flooding.

U.S. District Judge Peter J. Messitte granted a defense motion yesterday to dismiss charges of failing to obey a lawful order and interfering with police against the Bethesda man, who last weekend qualified for the U.S. Olympic whitewater boating team.

Hearn, 37, had launched his canoe seeking the challenge of a cascading, riverwide standing wave in the Potomac at the Little Falls Dam on Jan. 21. Ordered ashore by U.S. Park Police, he paddled from the river and had crossed the inundated C&O Canal in his canoe when police wrestled him to land and handcuffed and arrested him.

He was accused of violating a closure notice imposed when torrential rains after a blizzard brought flooding to the area greater than any since Hurricane Agnes in 1972. Conviction could have resulted in six months in jail and fines of up to $5,000.

Hearn, who has trained on the Potomac for 25 years and last year won the world's slalom canoeing championship for the second time, expressed relief at the outcome of his trial. "I didn't feel I was doing anything wrong," he said. "I thought I was completely within the law to be in the river that day."

Messitte, presiding over the nonjury trial in Greenbelt, noted that Maryland has jurisdiction over the river. He ruled before any defense witnesses were called that "this is not a federal case. It does not belong in this court."

The case turned on whether Park Police were within their rights to order Hearn out of the river. An amateur photographer shot videotape, later televised, of police charging into the water at Lock No. 6 of the canal to pull Hearn, still in his boat, from the water.

Police earlier had closed the canal, a national park, because it was inundated by the flooding river.

According to testimony yesterday, the crew of a Park Police helicopter had spotted Hearn on the wave below Little Falls Dam and used loudspeakers to order him to leave the river.

Hearn paddled toward shore, crossing into park territory, which was covered by flood waters, where Park Police Officer Jason Raymos and Lt. David Stover ordered him out of the water.

Hearn paddled about three-tenths of a mile downstream, where Stover and another officer grabbed him about 10 minutes later.

Messitte said Hearn would have been in no trouble with Park Police if he had not left the river.

"I don't see how they can penalize him for coming ashore," he said. He credited the police with acting in good faith but said, "In effect, he was brought over and charged . . . with having come over."

Earlier, Lt. Louis W. Ritter, of Maryland's Natural Resources Police, testified that the state never closes the river but simply advises when it is dangerous.

Boaters could be charged with negligent or reckless operation if they refused to heed a warning to leave a dangerous river, but each such incident presents a judgment call for the officer at the scene, Ritter said.

Messitte took special note of a Natural Resources Police advisory issued two days before Hearn's arrest.

It said the swollen river would be dangerous for novice boaters.

"It's hard to avoid the fact that the defendant is a world class canoeist and kayaker," Messitte said. "He may have taken some risks, but he was there, from all that I can see, lawfully."

Assistant U.S. Attorney Hollis R. Weisman, who presented the federal case, would not comment.

Hearn, during a break in the trial, noted that the Olympic Games start in just two months.

He said he had feared that worrying over the charges would distract him from winning an Olympic berth -- something he accomplished amid stiff competition on the Ocoee River in Tennessee.

"When I made the team it was, hey, I'm in anyhow," he said.

Ah, Davey Hearn- that brings back memories. That asshole was arrested for violating a park closure of the C&O Canal nhp during a historical flood in 1996. Ole Davey felt that since he was an Olympic kayaker, the rules didn’t apply to him. As I recall, the charges were eventually dismissed but he claimed the “trauma” of the arrest caused him lose in the following Olympic showing.

He was a punk bitch then and I see he still is.

I'm not a chemist, I don't have a pool... I would like to know how an algae bloom developed that fast. Has this always been a problem in the reflecting pool, or is this a new issue?

Edited to add:

Yes, algae can take over in days.

Originally posted:

If I don't keep the chlorine levels up and pH right, then my pool will become pea soup in 3-4 days from the first sign of algea. If I catch it the first day, it'll take 1.25 gallons of 12% chlorine. By day 4 it could be 6 gallons and a half gallon of acid or more, plus brushing, vacuuming, and rinsing the filter daily for a few days. The pump also has to be run 24 hours a day until things get cleared up.

Edited to add:

The above is just for dealing with algae if I screw up. There’s way more to keeping the water balanced properly to keep the algae out in the first place.

I’m sure the reflecting pool uses different methods.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: trapper189,

To establish and maintain "clear water", you have to deal with pH/alkalinity, and fight sunlight UV, and a host of many variables.

It's fucking science and plate spinning real time show on the stage in front of a shit ton of paying customers, sitting at high top tiny tables waiting for you to kill the show.

One small "uh, oh!" and you lose, the venue loses, the guy the blew too many bux on the bimbo he wanted to lay, later loses, ad nauseum...

You miss one thing, and you might as well retire to the couch with a box of Kleenex and some lotion where its just you , and the dog.
(and you hope the dog is preoccupied with the snax you tossed over "there"...)

WTF?

Do monkeys ask AMI?

quote:

Originally posted by jljones:
None the less, I don’t want any arbitrary enhancements to criminal penalty based upon how the wind blows on what defines “hate”

Preach it, Brother.
We have more than enough of that as it is, not to mention the constant efforts to increase it by people who would gladly see the criminalization of thoughts as has served to all but destroy the society in places like the UK.

If he actually did it, and the USG failed to hire someone with the intelligence of a high school pool lifeguard assigned to maintaining appropriate chemical levels, the jackwagon should be required to pay restitution at the business rate (vice exploded goobermint rates)

And I’m out of popcorn. Damn.

quote:

Originally posted by Jraz:
With military law enforcement and cameras all around you are telling me nobody saw someone make a 300 foot gash and start dumping chemicals in as well. Lol ok. Come on MAGA even you aren’t believing this right? Please tell me you aren’t this dumb

??

Follow up question as I've only seen the reflecting pool with my own eyes once, and that was in February.

Is algae always an issue there?