Last time New Jersey. This time in the UK. Local residents who live adjacent to the skatepark are very concerned with vulgar talk and behavior. However, we now feel that if we allow our children to spend time in our garden they will have vulgar language permeating through their ears. What affects us more directly are the youths who smoke and use very vulgar language towards each other, which is audible from our garden. This means that we are unable to sit out on dry days with family and friends whilst this abusive language can be heard so clearly. I felt kind of bad for them, until I learned where they lived. SOME Cockermouth residents and councillors claim a skateboard ramp in the town is causing them misery..

The Wall Street Journal has an article on the blank skateboards titled “Avid Boarders Bypass Branded Gear: The $15 ‘Blank Decks’ Work Just Fine — A Marketing Challenge for Industry.” Zoo York riders scored the photo incentives. If you’re hoping for the old school pen and ink renderings that they used to use for illustrations you’ll be disappointed. In fact the first composite illustration looks more like something out of a second rate USA Today. It’s like all those years without a photo editor have them crippled. One recurring theme is that the kids with real talent are the ones that are buying blanks, and the newbies are buying branded gear. I don’t know about your town, but I see mostly the opposite happening in Portland. The IASC is quoted, and even brings up their ill fated “A World Without Pros” campaign. Here are some interesting facts. There are an estimated 800 professional and semi-professional skateboarders on the industry’s payroll, and Santa Cruz (NHS actually) claims an R&D budget of $500,000 annually. There are a few factual anomalies in the article. Apparently in Sioux Falls Iowa you can buy a “complete” deck from Crown for $30, or a name brand…

the Home News Tribune (News that hits home in central Jersey!) reports that a new skate park irks neighbors. Noise complaints have neighbors starting a petition to remove the brand new $300,000 skatepark. HNT Staff photographer Jody Somers’ picture clearly shows that these noise complaints could have been avoided or severely curtailed had the city of Linden done a little research and gone with a concrete park instead of prefab. You can read the most compelling study statistics after the jump. Don’t worry, it’s a quick read.

Update: It turns out the press misrepresented the facts. Imagine that. Make sure you check out a reply from the twins father Michael after you are done reading my flippant remarks. From the Taipei Times (?) comes this article titled The Sky’s the Limit: A downward shift in the skateboarding demographic and the accessibility provided by the Internet has major labels seeking to endorse kids as young as seven. The article highlights the Puehse Twins success and rampant internet popularity: None of this would have been possible without the support of their father, Michael, a man with a vision, a video camera and a marketing plan. Nothing like a father with a “marketing plan” for his six your old kids. Yes, he started trying to market his kids at the age of six. I have nothing against the Puehse Twins. I think it would be fun to see them skate, and I wish them all the success in the world. It worked for Tiger Woods’ father, so why not Michael Puehse? Skateboards, safety gear, road trips, video camera and web site to market your skateboarding twins: $8000. The look on dad’s face when the twins reach adolescence and decide they…

Source: Asscciated Press (07-03) 08:48 PDT LITTLE ROCK, (AP) — A police officer who appeared to choke a skateboarder and put two others in a headlock in a video posted online used appropriate force when making his arrests, an internal police investigation found. The Hot Springs Police Department Internal Affairs Board found the use of force was within the police department’s policy on non-deadly force and recommended “no changes to this policy.” The decision was released Monday. Officer Joey Williams confronted a situation that “would have overwhelmed any single officer” when he stopped those breaking a Hot Springs city ordinance by skateboarding on a downtown sidewalk June 21, the report said. However, Williams was faulted for leaving a handcuffed suspect unattended while chasing another youth in the resort town’s historic Bathhouse Row. Williams has been on administrative leave since the video hit YouTube on June 25. Police said he would return to active duty Thursday in the city’s downtown. “I think it was fair,” City Manager Kent Myers said. Witnesses “consistently supported the actions of the officer and his efforts to control the situation.” Video from a business’ security cameras shows 10 skateboarders rolling down the city sidewalk at a…

This week Willamette Week recommends Pier Park as a good outdoor destination. They include a photo of Ben Wixon by Daniel Root. Strange to see skateparks in the listings of things to do in the newspaper.

Back in January, Local IQ: Albuquerque’s Intelligent Alternative included an article about their new skatepark. The article Skate City is available on their website and includes a feature about and photos by Mörizen Föche formerly of Thrasher Magazine. Looks like a cool setting if the pictures are to be believed, they did a good job referencing the local architectural and skate heritage. Too bad they obscured the photos with their fancy graphic designs.

The Examiner reports: “Skating a worldwide phenomenon.” Please click through for a thoughtful analysis of this late breaking news item.

From The Turkish Daily News (where else?) comes your guide to skateboarding in Turkey. It’s not really a guide but more of a fluff piece titled “Skating not just leisure but a sub-culture” that talks about the cost of equipment, and how you can actually buy skateboard gear and fashions in Turkey now. No great surprise there. They also have a separate breakdown of skate spots in Istanbul titled “Skating fun in Istanbul. Surprisingly, one of the hot spots listed is the New Mosque. A quick search for skatebording and Istanbul on the Interweb™ turns up a web site called KayKayci.com that carries the tagline (in English) of “This is Turkish Skateboarding.” The rest of the site is in Turkish (?) and doesn’t appear to have any photos whatsoever, unless maybe you have to log in to see the content. I also found one video on YouTube, which you can watch after the jump. I wonder if Foundation skateboards are big over there. Think about that moon and star logo, now where have I seen that? Turkish Skateboarding brethren, let’s hear from you.

Skate and Annoy is guilty of negligence. We ignored the story of the closing of a large percentage of skateparks in Nebraska last fall, due to the Nebraska Supreme Court’s decision that cities were not immune to personal injury lawsuits on public land. Basically, some lady twisted her ankle in a hole in a field at a public festival somewhere in Nebraska, and since we are the Jerry Springer nation, she decided to sue whatever public municipality held the event. Cities and the like are usually immune from frivolous lawsuits of the “I tripped on your sidewalk” variety, but this possible relative of Cleetus the Slack Jawed Yokel, had her day in court. Suddenly, Chicken Littles in cities and towns all over Nebraska decided they needed to close skateparks until the law changed. Curiously, as near as I can tell, no basketball courts or baseball fields were closed. The aptly named Omaha Sen. Mike Friend, stepped up to the plate (sorry, there’s no skateboard analogy for that. Should it be dropped in? ) and proposed a bill to change that. The bill has passed and the Governor intends to sign it. So please forgive us, last month’s 55 loyal readers…