Great Chalk-Mark Caper and Arrest of Two Women Arouse Peninsula Town

Everyone, it seems, has an opinion in the great Palos Verdes Estates parking bust.

Police Chief Gary Johansen said 50 people have called or written him--either praising him as a defender of the law or accusing him of turning the city into a police state.

The source of the feelings is the arrest, handcuffing, fingerprinting and frisking April 21 of two businesswomen who police say wiped chalk marks off their car tires to avoid parking tickets.

Police filed misdemeanor charges this week against Rosina Baur, manager of the Coldwell Banker real estate office in the Malaga Cove Plaza shopping center, and Anne Bisco, a receptionist with the same office.

If convicted, each faces up to a $1,000 fine and six months in jail. They are to appear in court June 6.

The case has aroused strong feelings on the Palos Verdes Peninsula, where Baur has lived for 30 years and where Bisco arrived several weeks ago.

Equal Criticism, Praise

Johansen said his department has taken equal doses of criticism and praise.

“Nobody is in the middle,” Johansen said. “Either we are the Gestapo, or they say, ‘Right on, you did exactly the right thing.’ ”

The incident occurred on a Friday morning at the shopping plaza, where finding parking is a problem. A meter maid reported that chalk marks she had left on Baur’s Mazda and Bisco’s Toyota had been wiped off.

The meter maid notified Officer Robert Connor, according to Johansen, who walked into the Coldwell Banker office and told Baur and Bisco that they were under arrest.

The women followed Connor to his squad car, where they were handcuffed and driven to police headquarters for booking, authorities said.

Bisco acknowledged that she wiped a chalk mark off her car’s tire.

Arrests Called Unnecessary

But Baur denied that she did, saying that she merely moved her car to another space when she saw the meter maid coming. Such a move is legal, since the one-hour time limit applies to individual spaces, not to the entire lot, a police official said.

The women said their arrests were unnecessary and that Connor told them he was going to arrest them to “teach them a lesson.”

Bisco said she expects to be through with the case after going to court and paying a fine.

But Baur has hired an attorney, Ray Legg, to fight the charge. Legg said several witnesses will verify that Baur moved her car and did not rub off a chalk mark.

Johansen said that Connor and other officers have been instructed not to comment but that the department is “feeling put upon” by publicity from the case.