Theft of the Daily Californian

[Lynne Henderson]

Eugene, it has to be property of another to be theft.  Free newspapers can
be taken by anyone, there is no claim of ownership, further how do you
prove intent permanently to deprive the owner of her property? Basic theft
law--Cal. Pen. Code sec. 484.   Now whether it violates some University
student ethics code is another matter.
Best
Lynne

At 03:17 PM 10/26/2001 -0400, you wrote:
>         Any thoughts on this, especially in the broader context that such
> thefts at
>universities throughout the country apparently virtually never lead to
>conviction?  Would failure to investigate this with the same effort that
>would be addressed to theft of other property be a 1st Am violation?
>
>         One common argument is that this isn't theft because the papers
> are free,
>but I don't think that can be right:  I take it that few would doubt that it
>would be theft for someone to take all those papers and then sell them to a
>recycling center (or am I mistaken?); is there any real difference here?
>
>         Eugene
>
>http://www.dailycal.com/article.asp?id=6816
>
>Daily Cals Stolen, Replaced With Protester Fliers
>
>Fliers Call for Daily Cal Boycott
>
>By CYRUS FARIVAR
>
>Daily Cal Staff Writer
>
>Thursday, October 25, 2001
>
>Approximately 1,000 copies of The Daily Californian were stolen from
>newspaper racks on Sproul Plaza Wednesday, apparently in response to an
>advertisement titled "End States Who Sponsor Terrorism," paid for by the Ayn
>Rand Institute.
>
>In place of the newspapers were fliers that called for a boycott of the
>Daily Cal and alleged the Oct. 23 ad is "irrational and inflammatory," and
>said that it perpetuated hostility against the Iranian community.
>
>The ad featured an essay written by Ayn Rand Institute founder Leonard
>Peikoff, who called for the elimination of the "terrorist sanctuaries" in
>Iran.
>
>"What Germany was to Nazism in the 1940s, Iran is to terrorism today,"
>stated the ad. "Whatever else it does, therefore, the U.S. can put an end to
>the Jihad-mongers only by taking out Iran.
>
>"Eliminating Iran's terrorist sanctuaries and military capability is not
>enough. We must do the equivalent of de-Nazifying the country, by expelling
>every branch of its government."
>
>UC police are currently investigating the case but have no suspects, said UC
>police Capt. Bill Cooper.
>
>Past thefts of the Daily Cal have never resulted in any arrests or
>prosecutions, Cooper said.
>
>The flier found in the distribution boxes of the Daily Cal was unsigned, and
>no one has claimed responsibility for the theft of the papers.
>
>The flier stated that the ad was "the last straw" in perpetuating hate and
>violence, citing last February's printing of an ad authored by David
>Horowitz and last month's political cartoon by Darrin Bell as other
>examples.
>
>Copies of the independent student newspaper were also stolen after the paper
>ran an editorial in 1996 supporting Proposition 209, which banned the use of
>affirmative action in state programs.
>
>"We must take a stand against the continuation of a systematic policy of
>eliciting and reinforcing hatred and racism from our student newspaper," the
>flier stated. "Until the Daily Cal shifts policy we will not allow business
>to continue as usual. As a result, we have taken copies of today's issue of
>the newspaper." . . .
>
>The flier's authors, who anticipated such criticism, disagree that this is a
>free speech issue, calling the ad hate speech.
>
>"We do not believe that hate speech, which advocates the killing of entire
>nations and the innocent people who live in them, is protected," the flier
>states. "The Peikoff ad clearly crosses the line between reasoned debate and
>inflammatory hate mongering." . . .

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