John Aguilar sent in more construction pics of phase two of the Bellingham Washington skatepark. Here’s the links to his two previous pics.

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 good clip, followed by Williams, who sprints past the last skater.

A video taken by skateboarders and later posted on YouTube shows Williams on top of one of the skaters, apparently choking him. The video also showed Williams putting another two skateboarders in a headlock, and the officer can later be heard threatening to use pepper spray on a skateboarder lying on the ground.

Police said they arrested Matthew Jon McCormack, 21, and Skylar Nalls, 19, both of Hot Springs, and four juveniles. McCormack faces a misdemeanor battery charge accusing him of pushing or striking a 67-year-old city employee during the melee. Nalls was cited for skateboarding and faces misdemeanor charges of fleeing and obstructing governmental operations.

McCormack has previously disputed many of the police allegations, especially his battery charge. He has said he pulled on the city employee’s arm after the man lifted a girl off her feet in a choke-hold.

Hot Springs is a resort town about 50 miles west of Little Rock.

My son is about to turn two years old and he’s already obsessed with skateboarding. (Hmmm, I wonder why?) Seriously, one of the first 20 words out his mouth was “skateboard,” although pronounced as “sateboard.” I tried to make his first birthday celebration a small affair, but my wife nixed that idea, just as she’s vetoed all of my plans for sanity on his second birthday. While preparing for the over-celebration this year, she came across a mess of Tony Hawk’s Boom Boom Huck Jam birthday decorations and party favors. Yes, there’s more than just that excellent likeness of Tony on that cake topper.

The Simpsons Movie is having a so-called contest to see which city named Springfield gets to host the premier of the movie. I say “so-called” because it’s pretty obvious that Springfield Oregon is the inspiration for the city, given that Groening used to live in Oregon and lot of the character names can be found on the street signs of Portland predating the show. The contests involves each city making a video plea for their case. Why do we care? Because tony Hawk makes an appearance in Springfield Oregon’s video. [Source: Oregon Live]

There is a Bay Area arts website called Fecal Face that I read regularly. A lot of the names you see at those skateboard art shows show up on the Fecal.

This bowl showed up there recently. Sounds like it’s in Oakland. Anybody know what the story is here? Is it a DIY skate project or is it a fishpond? One more photo after the jump.

Not much to say about this 1981 clip of Tony Hawk on the old children’s show Captain Kangaroo. I didn’t know the Captain was still on the air in 1981. It’s a little disappointing actually, since Tony’s appearance isn’t live on set with the Captain. Instead, it’s just video footage of tony skating Del Mar on a Steve Caballero board no less. The Captain’s crew even managed to record an old sea chanty titled Skateboard Johnny, not to be confused with the song Skateboard Johnny featured in this collection of 70’s skateboard tunes, or this UK child molester named Skateboard Johnny. Watch the video after the jump.

[Source: Wall of Gray]

Hey. It’s summertime. The weather is nice. We’re out skating. This shot was taken in April of 2006 at West Linn Oregon. Don’t know who that is. I’ve been known to hang out with those two nerds in the background…

I get about a million emails a day. I’m trying to run two web sites while being a little absent minded already. Things fall through the cracks, to say the least. If I meet you, I will likely have to have several conversations before I remember your name. It’s just how my brain is wired. I just got OMSAZine #3 in the mail, and I recognized the name from something, an email address I’ve seen before, the combination of the OMSA letters somewhere. The Pool Skating issue is 32 pages of well printed black and white on glossy paper. there are interviews with Aaron Murray, Steve Alba, Arab, and Bill Danforth. There’s also a short interview with one of the owners of Riviera Pools, who doesn’t realize he’s being interviewed for a skate zine. Someone should have asked him why he has two completely different web sites for the same company – check the addresses. I can keep telling you about all the features of OMSZine #3, I just can’t tell you how to get one since there is no address printed in the zine or on the web site, which is of the MySpace variety. I don’t understand the popularity of MySpace, and I wish entities would stop using it. One last thing about OMSAZine, it’s got an unusual format. Letter sized, folded in half, but with a horizontal orientation. Very nice, and it comes from Germany. Why am I telling you about a zine you can’t get ahold of. I guess I’m just trying to imply that I’m cooler than you. What a dick.

OK, I don’t know if they are actually anarchists or not, but Flora Skatepark is being built behind a building called the Rote Flora in Hamburg, Germany that currently has strong ties with squatter and left-wing groups. Do right-wing squatters exist? The Rote Flora was one of the few theaters in Germany to survive WWII intact. According to Wikipedia, it was used as part of a department store from the 70’s until 1987. Here’s where it gets murky. For some reason there was an uproar by local shopkeepers and and “autonomous groups” (Anarchy!) when a producer wanted to turn it back into a musical theatre. There were clashes with police, and ultimately most of the building was torn down in 1988, only to be renovated and squatted in, leased and un-leased, made a focal issue in an election year, etc… The point is, most renegade concrete projects tend to be located in spots that don’t attract attention. Maybe this one will succeed in finding a permanent location precisely because the adjacent property has such a volatile “hands-off” history. The end result… Opening party for the first part of Flora Skatepark is June 30th, 2007. Thanks to Peter Diepes for the heads up.

The Wilmington Star has a short article on Chuck Treece and McRad’s new album and tour titled McRad is McBack The classic skate rock band returns with new tour, album. The new album, titled FDR has a release date of July 24, 2007. McRad had a 2001 release titled Absence of Sanity, but they are most likely still remembered for the “Prevent This Tragedy” track on Thrasher Skate Rock’s Blazing Wheels and Barking Trucks. You can still get a Prevent This Tragedy shirt, one of the best designs ever, in mandatory purple from Thrasher. I’m not a fan of purple shirts, but I love Prince! There is a planned release of a McRad skateboard by a company called Wreck Room, but Oregon’s own Poolside Skateboards (Scappoose, not Portland) already has a Chuck Treece/McRad model. Somewhere I’ve got an old video tape that has a segment with Chuck Treece hanging out with one of the Surf Punks on Sk8TV. I should have dug that up for this post. Lastly, McRad was part of the inspiration for the name of my old skate punk band, McWilson. We were going to be called Mr Wilson after the classic skateboarding slam, but changed it to McWilson because that seemed funnier. No word yet on a McWilson reunion.