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Take a look at this story from the Peoria (Ill.) Journal Star. Warning, it'll piss you off. Sounds like a job for AKTI.
In case you can't click through, here's the text:
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Switchblade on riverboat is wrong bet
January 28, 2004
So this guy from Lincoln takes his Christmas money and his mom up to the Par-A-Dice riverboat casino in East Peoria just like he does this time every year.
As they board, a security guard spots a small folding knife hanging from a belt clip and tucked into the watch pocket of his jeans.
"Can we hold your knife for you while you're gone? Write your name and phone number on a sticky note and claim it when you're done."
The guy jots his name and number on the note and he and mom go off to the slots.
A couple of hours later, "I was doing pretty good. I was up about $300" when he hears, "Ryan Sisk? Ryan Sisk? Please report to the security desk."
Back at security, an officer flashed his badge and said, " 'I'm so-and-so with the Illinois State Police. Can you come with me?' "
The state police guy says, " 'Is this your knife?' "
Sisk says it is, "so right away I knew it had something to do with the knife."
His mom, Ruth Hunt of Middletown, could not accompany him.
The officer told Sisk to have a seat, and then began reading him his rights.
" 'Are you arresting me?' " Sisk asked.
" 'Yes, just let me finish,' " the cop said.
" 'Are you arresting me? On what grounds?' "
" 'This knife is a switchblade and illegal in the state of Illinois,' " the trooper said.
" 'But I bought it at Wal-Mart in Lincoln, Illinois. If I'd known it was illegal, I wouldn't have bought it.' "
Sisk's protests made no difference. The trooper calls East Peoria police. They come, handcuff Sisk and take him to the station for processing.
"I've never been handcuffed before and let me tell you, they hurt," said Sisk, who stands 6-foot-3 and weighs 290. At age 29, Sisk has no more than a two speeding tickets on his record.
For the knife, he's charged with unlawful use of a weapon, a misdemeanor, and given a court date of 9 a.m. March 17 in Tazewell County Circuit Court.
He received a "deferred prosecution" notice from the Tazewell County state's attorney. Basically, Sisk could pay a $250 fine, go to a monthly rehabilitation class for a couple months and they'd take his conviction off his record.
Or, he could contest the charge, hire an attorney and slug it out in court.
"I figure I'd pay $800 for a lawyer and miss a day of work," Sisk said. "So I'll go and plea and get it off my record."
Karen Burk, the media contact for sporting goods at Wal-Mart headquarters in Bentonville, Ark., had heard about Sisk's dilemma because, once back in Lincoln, he returned to Wal-Mart to see if the knife he bought two years ago was still offered.
It was.
Sporting goods manager Darrell Wibben contacted Lincoln police to see if they thought the knife was legal. They did, but because of the nature of the inquiry, Bentonville was notified.
"We are hearing different opinions in the Illinois statute," Burk said. "But we have made the decision to remove the item from the shelf in this store.
"We rely on our suppliers to provide us with material that is safe and legal," she said. "We are working with police. It's unfortunate, because in this situation there are differing opinions. But we always act on the side of caution, so in this store we are removing it from the shelf."
Burk was told the riverboat casino was 45 miles from
Lincoln and several Wal-Marts between Lincoln and Peoria likely were selling the knife. Asked whether the knives would be removed from those shelves as well, Burk fell back on her statement "we rely on our merchandisers to provide us with merchandise that is safe and legal."
The knife in question is a Kershaw, Ken Onion "Chive" that sells for $29.95. Closed, it is about 2 7/8 inches long. The blade is just under 2 inches.
Wal-Mart sells a larger version of the same knife, this one with a 31&frac13-inch blade with deep serrations.
State police in East Peoria referred inquiries to headquarters in Springfield, where Sgt. Rick Hector kicked the affair back to the Tazewell County state's attorney.
"The statute is the statute," Hector said. "And we enforce the statute. We don't make the law; we just enforce them. That's our job. Other than that, we can't discuss ongoing cases."
Tazewell County State's Attorney Stuart Umholtz, who had seen the offending knife, said, "I think it's a switchblade. It has a blade that is automatically opened by pressing a button. You press it, the blade snaps out into a locked position.
"We're left with what the Legislature has left us."
Which is state statute 720ILCS5/24-1, subparagraph A-1. It describes a switchblade as one having "a blade that opens automatically by hand pressure applied to a button, spring or other device in the handle."
On the day Umholtz was contacted, he said he'd been trying to reach Sisk without success. That was easy to remedy because Sisk is a pressman at The (Lincoln) Courier and on duty at the time the newspaper's inquiry was made.
Sisk told Umholtz, "I would have never even bought it if I thought it was illegal. I was just freaked out. I've been freaking out since it happened." He then was heard to say, "thank you" several times.
Umholtz had good news.
" We are going to drop the charges. I wanted to be the one to tell Mr. Sisk," he said. "But Kershaw, the manufacturer, says they believe the knife is legal in all 50 states. Kershaw is a very reputable brand. Our concern is that a reasonable person can walk into a reputable store and purchase an item made by a reputable manufacture and not believe he has violated the law."
Umholtz said the knife will go to the Illinois Attorney General for review, but the office will probably send it to the state police and its crime lab.
"We can't foreclose on the possibility that (the knife) is legal," Umholtz said. "The cop (who arrested Sisk) was doing his job. There is no bad guy here."
One final note: Sisk said Umholtz could keep the knife. He didn't want it back.
- Jeff Nelson is editor of The Courier, a Copley newspaper in Lincoln.
In case you can't click through, here's the text:
----------------------------------------
Switchblade on riverboat is wrong bet
January 28, 2004
So this guy from Lincoln takes his Christmas money and his mom up to the Par-A-Dice riverboat casino in East Peoria just like he does this time every year.
As they board, a security guard spots a small folding knife hanging from a belt clip and tucked into the watch pocket of his jeans.
"Can we hold your knife for you while you're gone? Write your name and phone number on a sticky note and claim it when you're done."
The guy jots his name and number on the note and he and mom go off to the slots.
A couple of hours later, "I was doing pretty good. I was up about $300" when he hears, "Ryan Sisk? Ryan Sisk? Please report to the security desk."
Back at security, an officer flashed his badge and said, " 'I'm so-and-so with the Illinois State Police. Can you come with me?' "
The state police guy says, " 'Is this your knife?' "
Sisk says it is, "so right away I knew it had something to do with the knife."
His mom, Ruth Hunt of Middletown, could not accompany him.
The officer told Sisk to have a seat, and then began reading him his rights.
" 'Are you arresting me?' " Sisk asked.
" 'Yes, just let me finish,' " the cop said.
" 'Are you arresting me? On what grounds?' "
" 'This knife is a switchblade and illegal in the state of Illinois,' " the trooper said.
" 'But I bought it at Wal-Mart in Lincoln, Illinois. If I'd known it was illegal, I wouldn't have bought it.' "
Sisk's protests made no difference. The trooper calls East Peoria police. They come, handcuff Sisk and take him to the station for processing.
"I've never been handcuffed before and let me tell you, they hurt," said Sisk, who stands 6-foot-3 and weighs 290. At age 29, Sisk has no more than a two speeding tickets on his record.
For the knife, he's charged with unlawful use of a weapon, a misdemeanor, and given a court date of 9 a.m. March 17 in Tazewell County Circuit Court.
He received a "deferred prosecution" notice from the Tazewell County state's attorney. Basically, Sisk could pay a $250 fine, go to a monthly rehabilitation class for a couple months and they'd take his conviction off his record.
Or, he could contest the charge, hire an attorney and slug it out in court.
"I figure I'd pay $800 for a lawyer and miss a day of work," Sisk said. "So I'll go and plea and get it off my record."
Karen Burk, the media contact for sporting goods at Wal-Mart headquarters in Bentonville, Ark., had heard about Sisk's dilemma because, once back in Lincoln, he returned to Wal-Mart to see if the knife he bought two years ago was still offered.
It was.
Sporting goods manager Darrell Wibben contacted Lincoln police to see if they thought the knife was legal. They did, but because of the nature of the inquiry, Bentonville was notified.
"We are hearing different opinions in the Illinois statute," Burk said. "But we have made the decision to remove the item from the shelf in this store.
"We rely on our suppliers to provide us with material that is safe and legal," she said. "We are working with police. It's unfortunate, because in this situation there are differing opinions. But we always act on the side of caution, so in this store we are removing it from the shelf."
Burk was told the riverboat casino was 45 miles from
Lincoln and several Wal-Marts between Lincoln and Peoria likely were selling the knife. Asked whether the knives would be removed from those shelves as well, Burk fell back on her statement "we rely on our merchandisers to provide us with merchandise that is safe and legal."
The knife in question is a Kershaw, Ken Onion "Chive" that sells for $29.95. Closed, it is about 2 7/8 inches long. The blade is just under 2 inches.
Wal-Mart sells a larger version of the same knife, this one with a 31&frac13-inch blade with deep serrations.
State police in East Peoria referred inquiries to headquarters in Springfield, where Sgt. Rick Hector kicked the affair back to the Tazewell County state's attorney.
"The statute is the statute," Hector said. "And we enforce the statute. We don't make the law; we just enforce them. That's our job. Other than that, we can't discuss ongoing cases."
Tazewell County State's Attorney Stuart Umholtz, who had seen the offending knife, said, "I think it's a switchblade. It has a blade that is automatically opened by pressing a button. You press it, the blade snaps out into a locked position.
"We're left with what the Legislature has left us."
Which is state statute 720ILCS5/24-1, subparagraph A-1. It describes a switchblade as one having "a blade that opens automatically by hand pressure applied to a button, spring or other device in the handle."
On the day Umholtz was contacted, he said he'd been trying to reach Sisk without success. That was easy to remedy because Sisk is a pressman at The (Lincoln) Courier and on duty at the time the newspaper's inquiry was made.
Sisk told Umholtz, "I would have never even bought it if I thought it was illegal. I was just freaked out. I've been freaking out since it happened." He then was heard to say, "thank you" several times.
Umholtz had good news.
" We are going to drop the charges. I wanted to be the one to tell Mr. Sisk," he said. "But Kershaw, the manufacturer, says they believe the knife is legal in all 50 states. Kershaw is a very reputable brand. Our concern is that a reasonable person can walk into a reputable store and purchase an item made by a reputable manufacture and not believe he has violated the law."
Umholtz said the knife will go to the Illinois Attorney General for review, but the office will probably send it to the state police and its crime lab.
"We can't foreclose on the possibility that (the knife) is legal," Umholtz said. "The cop (who arrested Sisk) was doing his job. There is no bad guy here."
One final note: Sisk said Umholtz could keep the knife. He didn't want it back.
- Jeff Nelson is editor of The Courier, a Copley newspaper in Lincoln.
