By Chris Drew

One moment I'm an artist selling art-patches for $1, the next Chicago Police Officers are leading me in hand-cuffs to a burgundy sedan to whisk me off to jail. Two days later, I'm trying to get out of Cook County lockup held on a first-class felony charge, just one step down from murder. How did this happen?

I've been organizing artists to show their art in locations around Uptown, Edgewater, Lakeview and Ravenswood communities for twenty years. For fifteen years I've taught artists the basics of screen printing for free. When the Iraq war came I began printing opinion patches on 100 percent cotton fabric and offering them to the public with a safety pin for immediate use. I started my blog in July of 2006 – Street Artist Adventures – the Free Speech Artists' Movement.

I gave patches away at first. Then I thought I could make a little money if I sold them and I paid for a peddlers license. On my first read of the peddlers license regulations I realized something was wrong. There were three pages of prohibited districts that made most of the good places and all the best places out of bounds for peddlers. Out of this affront to my rights I began my study of the First Amendment and its secrets.

Over a two year period that I paid for a peddlers license, I explored the nuances of it and its associated “speech permit.” I wrote in detail about both in my blog. The speech permit limits the audience for your speech in two very important ways. First you can't sell a new statement until it is passed through the City's review for the next month's permit. If Mayor Daley does something outrageous today it will be no sooner than next month that you can sell a statement about that downtown. Also, the speech permit nails you to a corner, you are not free to reach the audiences that frequent other parts of the Loop. These are real constitutional concerns.

I wrote about getting arrested for breaking the peddlers license law for years. I wanted to test it in Federal Court. My blog is filled with references to constitutional weaknesses of the peddlers license municipal code and my intentions to test the law. On my 59th birthday I walked out in front of the Arts Institute of Chicago and offered the art-patches of the Art Patch Project for sale for $1. It was a cold rainy day. I was interviewed by WBBM, News Radio. We did not see police out that day at all. I blogged the event.

It took five attempts, but we finally succeeded. The day I was arrested, December 2, they brought me into the station and took my shoelaces, belt, hat, scarf and everything else but my jean jacket. They cuffed me to a rail above a cement bench in a temporary holding room awaiting processing. Two other guys came through, cuffed opposite me, during the five hours I was cuffed awaiting processing, laying on a cold slab. The other two guys were out of there in an hour or so and assigned to a cell.

After two hours a detective uncuffed me and read me my rights, asking if I wanted to make a statement about my crime. I asked what I was charged with and he said he didn't know. I asked when I would be released. He said it depended on whether I was charged with a felony or a misdemeanor. “If you are charged with a felony, you will be sent to Cook County Jail in the morning. If you are charged with a misdemeanor, you will be set free sometime tonight.” When I had no more to say, he cuffed me back to the rail in the temporary holding room. They released me from the cuffs when they brought the prisoners left to fingerprint out of their cells around 7pm.

Before fingerprinting, they told me I had two charges, one peddling without a license and a second for eavesdropping. I asked the guy taking my prints if the eavesdropping charge was a misdemeanor, and he said it was. I was hopeful of getting out soon when I heard that. After fingerprinting and mug shots they offered us baloney sandwiches on cheap white bread. The officer asked me how many I wanted, one or two. How long am I going to be here, I asked. He gave me a second one. I took it just in case. My thinking was I had to be ready for anything.

They put me in a very cold cell by the back wall most exposed to the cold Chicago hawk blowing outside in early December. I spent the night in my jean jacket without my scarf or my hat, huddled much of the night, legs jack-knife pressed against my chest, arms folded with my fingers tucked between my thighs and calves, maintaining as much warmth as possible. Sleep was out of the question. Hypothermia was a real concern. Around 5:30 in the morning they moved me to a cell near the guards and it was much warmer than where I came from, while still being chilly.

I was on my way to Cook County Jail. Later I got my papers detailing my charges and realized the eavesdropping charge was a first-class felony. My bond at $20,000 was similar to what a major drug dealer would pay. I couldn't believe it. It is real to me today.

What did I do? There were many sandwich bags pinned to my scarlet poncho holding art patches. I had a audio recorder running in a sandwich baggy safety pinned to my red poncho by my chest. I document my experiences printing, selling and giving away art in public. I've done this for three years on my blog at http://www.c-drew.com/blog. My goals and methods are well-written about in my blog.

A ticket was issued to me on a previous outing for selling in a prohibited district listed in the peddlers license code (the entire Greater Loop is prohibited) and a paddy wagon was held at the ready to scoop me up when after receiving the ticket I continued to sell tempting arrest. They left me alone that day. The City was clearly thinking about how to handle me before my December 2 arrest.

My goal is an artist friendly city attracting artists from across the Midwest. To attract artists there must be creative opportunities at the first rung of the community arts ladder to support creative individuals who seek them. It would make Chicago a much more attractive tourist and convention destination, too.

We started out trying to reclaim artists' rights to sell art in public and we've fallen into a second challenge. The misplaced charge of felony eavesdropping requires logical citizens to wonder why it is OK for the State to audio tape our arrests to protect itself from lawsuits but we can't protect our selves by audio recording our own arrests?

This is a new day with audio-recording technology in cell phones, everyone could soon be a felon if the law is enforced. The law was established in 1963 and amended after the Rodney-King-settlement-scare swept state houses nationwide. Illinois responded by broadening our eavesdropping law to the point of absurdity. As such, it makes a perfect law to use very selectively as needed to quiet dissent.

We invite the participation of anyone supporting artists and freedom in Chicago. Now is your time to stand up.

E-mail me at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it , or call 773-561-7676 and leave a message. I promise to fight to the end of the process to allow both these laws to be tested for their constitutional correctness for the benefit of all of us.