Local News: More on Mr. Bane & Bikes in Hagerstown

The Richmond Human Rights Commission has made another announcement on local businessman David Bane: It will continue its investigation of Mr. Bane because it found "substantial" evidence to back allegation of harassment:

A report by the city’s Human Rights office also alleged that after Bane lent [Rachelle] Ditty $600, he asked her how she wanted to repay the loan, suggesting that he would "take it out in trade."

Ditty said she believed that meant sexual favors.

Bane, through his Richmond attorney Jeffrey Arnold, "vehemently denies all the allegations."

The Human Rights office report said two Bane employees witnessed the comment, though they disagreed on where it took place. The report also said that Bane denied the allegations but offered no proof.

Link. I wonder how you would go about proving that you did not say something to an employee. This is the second time the commission has made a pre-hearing announcement about a pending investigation for play on the front page of the Pal-Item.

Also in today’s Pal-Item is a story about The Town of Hagerstown’s decision to clarify the signage in its downtown region. Currently, a sign warns visitors that "Bicycles, Skateboards or similar devices are prohibited on sidewalks & Streets . . . ." The town now says that it did not intend to bar bikes from the streets, it only wanted to keep the sidewalks clear for pedestrians:

Town manager Carl Gideon called the confusing language on the signs an oversight and apologized for it, but said, "Anyone with common sense could figure out what we were trying to do."

Huh? I’ve got a little sense, and the sign clearly says no bikes on the streets. Bikers recently pointed out that similar signs in downtown Richmond seem to prohibit bikes on the streets. Local biker advocate Mark Stosberg recently launched a Petition drive to have the City clarify that bikes are permitted on the streets: Support Bicycles in Downtown Richmond, Indiana.

This entry was posted on Sunday, October 15th, 2006 at 3:24 pm and is filed under Local Items. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.