Jose Rincon Ghost Bike is Stolen
The AZ Star reports that the Ghost Bike for Jose Rincon has been stolen from its eastside location and all that remains are some of the flowers that were once part of the memorial. Ari Shapiro, who installed the Ghost Bike, was contacted by the city earlier this week and was informed that the bike needed to be removed from the signpost. Ari had plans to remove the bike and anchor it to something else, however, someone stole the bike before he was able to move it. The city was not responsible for removing the bike. I spoke with Ari on the phone today and we both agreed that an effort should be made to put another bike there for Jose…this time anchored to cement as the other Ghost Bikes are.
Similar to comments on the article yesterday, many of the comments on this article are also particularly alarming and insensitive, and again inconsiderate of the Rincon family, who are quoted in the article this time. Apparently the family visited the Ghost Bike on the day of six months since Jose’s death and released balloons. Rincon told the reporter that the family was comforted by the bike and stated, “The fact that they are white gives you a sense of peace and pureness…We liked it there; we’d like to see it there, and we are going to work on getting it back.”
Though many of the people commenting on the article seem to perceive the vandal as someone who stole the bike to get money for it and “had no clue what they were stealing,” I am really not so sure. The Ghost Bikes are not rideable and there isn’t really anything on them that can be salvaged for parts….my suspicion is that the bike could have been stolen by one of these carheads who views the memorial as “an eyesore.”
-lauren
July 18th, 2008 at 3:05 pm
Did you see the comment from Bruce Hedges’ daughter on the Star’s stolen ghost bike story? That comment, the one from Jose Rincon’s father and the response from Bruce Hedges’ widow totally confirms what a worthwhile project it is to set up ghost bikes.
July 30th, 2008 at 12:40 pm
[...] The past week has been a turbulent one for bicycle/driver/pedestrian relations. I’d just like to say to my fellow bike folks that if you can’t follow the tenets of my new hero Reama Dagasan of the Critical Manners bike ride, at least stop punching motorists and bashing in their windshields when they piss you off. No matter how justified it may be, this type of behavior only fosters bad feelings toward cyclists, and aggressive people have a poor way of dealing with their bad feelings. I like to stay out of politics on Fancy Notions, but this whole situation is getting very ugly and I think everybody needs to cool down and have respect for one another before someone gets killed. [...]
August 15th, 2008 at 10:28 am
[...] after the Arizona Daily Star published a piece on Tucson ghost bikes the Jose Rincon ghostbike disappeared, its flowers and other pieces left scattered on the ground. A new bike popped up quickly and was [...]
August 15th, 2008 at 10:48 am
[...] after the Arizona Daily Star published a piece on Tucson ghost bikes the Jose Rincon ghostbike disappeared, its flowers and other pieces left scattered on the [...]
August 28th, 2008 at 9:55 pm
Obviously, there is someone riddled with guilt and continues the suffering within their own family. This isn’t a crime against Jose or the Rincons; rather, the stolen bike represents the realization in the neighborhood of the accused – that a murderer lurks nearby. Who else cares to remove such a marker?
In Tucson, we are blessed with an abundance of ‘ghosts’ some good and some bad…the person(s) capable of this type of disrespect is ultimately a ghost, and is a bad one as the evidence shows when vandalism of this nature occurs so close to the death of a child as good and pure as Jose Rincon.