Monday

Barrel Monster Bust


Raleigh resident, Joseph Carnavale probably had no idea he was going to run afowl of Raleigh's finest when he had the idea to build his roadside monster. Probably just sounded like fun. But John E. Law came a callin'. Yes he did. This from the site: "charged with misdemeanor larceny for allegedly building his orange monster from materials pilfered from a construction site. According to an arrest warrant, Carnevale "destroyed three road blocking barrels by cutting and screwing them together to form a statue." Police estimated that Carnevale's artwork caused $360 in damages to Hamlett Associates, the North Carolina construction company that owned the barrels." Glad my tax dollars are going toward hunting down vicious criminals like this! link Thanks Lindsay!

Update: I just read this story in the News and Observer (Raleigh paper) and in it I was surprised to find that the construction company didn't want to press charges and the project manager is quoted as saying: "Next time just ask for the barrels. The company would have handed them over. " and "I kind of wanted the Barrel Monster back," adding that the monster and maybe a clone around the construction zone would be more effective than the existing barrels in deterring traffic. So, what exactly is going on here? Seems like the only real crime committed was making the streets of Raleigh a little more safe. Let's let this kid off the hook, shall we?

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Posted by Paul Overton at 11:19 AM
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20 comments:

  1. The Deviant SaintJun 15, 2009 12:37 PM
    They must have removed the speech bubble that said "Stop breaking your own law, stupid Pigs!"
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  2. The online community needs to pay for his charges. That thing is awesome!
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  3. Looks nice, but I think he was rightfully charged. How would you feel if someone used your car's tires, without your consent, to make a statue? Or throwing rocks to the windows of your warehouse to make an artistic pattern? I'm all for art, but it's not right to damage other people's property for it.
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  4. Well, here's how I feel about it: I think it's actually a missed opportunity for the construction company. They could have photographed it and captioned it for an ad that said something like: "Hamlett Associates, because construction shouldn't be scary." How much would you pay somebody to make something like that if your marketing guy came up with the idea? Sure, the kid was wrong. It's not right to take other people's stuff, but, surely, a little creative thinking could have gone a long way in this situation.
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  5. That would convince me to move into the left lane. Really a service to the all to often run over construction workers.
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  6. not gonna lie, that is probally the coolest thing i've ever seen, if I were the construction company I'd use the monster as advertisement!
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  7. Dual-purpose marketing for the construciton company AND law enforcement. During the day, the sign could read: "Blewett Contruction. No monster overruns!" And at night, the police could change the sign to read, "Coney says, speeders will be ticketed. And quite possibly eaten alive."

    Or something like that....

    Peter F.
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  8. As an employee of a small barricade company I must disagree with your attitude towards the situation. We must adhere to strict municipal safety standards whenever roads are closed. Missing signage makes us liable for accidents and, god forbid, injuries within our workzones. A single case of negligence, easily caused by similar, but less entertaining, cases of vandalism could drive a decent sized company out of business.

    If this artist wished to create a marketting opportunity he should have contacted the company with his ideas like any designer trying to make an honest living would do. If he was trying to make a guerilla statement it would have been much more effective if he bought his own materials.

    This artist should be glad that he met with such a humorful company.
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  9. If he just asked for the barrels we wouldn't be talking about his work right now.
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  10. Lol, I don't think the company would have just handed the barrels over. Pardon my less than optimistic thoughts, but our main stream profiteering consumerist lifestyle kind of leaves the artist in the cold. Especially an artist who is ingenious enough that did something as amazing as that with some highway cones. When it really comes down to it, the end result of this situation could have been truly appalling.
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  11. Cut the Crap...It's just totally cool, right or wrong, it strongly get's the point across...Move the hell over,their tired of jerks behind the wheel not getting it!!!!
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  12. Wow! Anonymous has some strong opinions.
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  13. The only thing that really matters here, is that the construction company did not wish to press charges. They wanted the monster back... So esentialy what happened, is this guy did the company a favor by creating it (even if they didn't ask for it) and the police caused both parties issues by confiscating it and charging the artist with a crime..
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  14. Thank you, Elmin! The voice of reason. I just don't think any more time and money should be spent prosecuting a crime that nobody, except the police, want prosecuted. The kid has learned his lesson. No harm done.
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  15. Uh Paul, the police don't "choose" to prosecute cases, as you imply. They investigate all infractions against the law regardless of semantics. Hence, "justice is blind."

    Additionally, after the investigation is closed all evidence can be retrieved by the rightful owners.

    Seriously people, learn a little about the justice system before you start making "Fuck da police" blog posts. They were just doing their job.
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  16. Hey. Good to know. Thanks for the education. Maybe you can help further. If the party who was wronged in this case does not want to press charges, do the police still have to pursue it? BTW, no disrespect to police was intended by my post. I have friends who are cops. I just think this matter is overly silly.
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  17. No, they would not pursue the matter. However, you'll notice from the article the company never specifically said they won't be pressing charges. It was just a bunch of vague-speak for "this is a media shit storm that we want to avoid. lol barrelmonster lol."

    Additionally, if the DAs office finds enough evidence for the removed barrels to have endangered public safety then the state could prosecute on their own despite the wishes of the company.

    Either way the police are stuck in the middle, forced to gather evidence until the lawyers tell them not to.

    I'm not trying to flame you or anything, I'm just trying to set the matter straight: Get mad at lawyers, not cops.
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  18. It was awesome! And on my birthday, What could be better? If he needs support, I'll help him!
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  19. This is awesome. Taking the idea of street art to a whole new level.
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