DV One sentenced
Toby Campbell wasn’t alone when he was sentenced Dec. 14 for assaulting a police officer at Memorial Stadium: The courtroom of Judge Greg Canova was packed with supporters as well as a juror who spoke on the DJ’s behalf.
DV One, as Campbell is known, was sentenced to 240 hours of community service for a Sept. 15, 2006, incident in which Campbell says it was police who assaulted and Tased him when he tried to intervene as they handcuffed his 14-year-old daughter.
Campbell won’t have to serve the sentence if he wins an appeal on the basis that he did not intend to harm the police officer who blocked his path.
The problem, juror Matt Roach told the court, is that the law doesn’t take intenton into account. Based on the court’s instructions, the jury had to find Campbell guilty because the definition of assault is so broad that “it boiled down to any unwanted touching of a police officer,” Roach says. “It’s a lesson to everybody that every time you have contact with a police officer, you have to be careful.”
—Cydney Gillis
Produce sold dear
Want to eat right? You’ll have to pay more for it these days.
A University of Washington study reported last month that fresh produce is getting more expensive relative to calorie-packed and highly processed convenience foods. While the energy-dense grains, fats, and sweets bear the same or even lower price tags than they did two years ago, the cost of fresh vegetables and lean meats is rising far faster than inflation.
Researchers found low-density and high-nutrient items like spinach, green beans, broccoli, cabbage, and cherry tomatoes in local Safeway, Albertson’s and QFC stores going for 19.5 percent more than two years ago. That kind of price change lends credence, says the report’s authors, to the supposition “that the ability to adopt more healthful diets may be limited by economic constraints.”
Croc bites the dust
This being the Food Issue, let’s sing the gastronomic praises of the Crocodile Café, the Belltown institution at the intersection of Second Ave. and Blanchard — dearly departed, according to the front page of Tuesday’s P-I, and more widely mourned for the performances.
Long before the present age of small plates and valet parking, the Croc was the neighborhood’s headquarters for $4 grilled cheese sandwiches in which you, the paying customer, got a choice of cheese. There were generous salads, meaty reubens, and hearty breakfasts in front of rows of windows with southern exposure. And french fries. The Croc had a fryer; not even the Two Bells could complement its superior hamburgers with slick, thick, peel-on fries. Crocodile Café, rest in peace.
—Adam Hyla