[Histonet] dinking defined

Fri Feb 11 13:27:14 CST 2005

I haven't used that term in a long time, but apparently the police do it
too...

Brett 

Brett M. Connolly, Ph.D. 
Merck & Co., Inc. 
MRL, Imaging Research 
WP26A-3000 
PO Box 4 
West Point, PA 19486 
PH 215-652-2501 
fax. 215-652-2075 
e-mail. brett_connolly <@t> merck.com 

Deputies altered ID tags in WTO set-to, report says
Just 'dinking around,' says sheriff spokesman

By KERY MURAKAMI
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER REPORTER

As King County sheriff's deputies engaged in a standoff with protesters
during the World Trade Organization conference last fall, a "handful" of
deputies removed or rearranged identifying letters on their riot helmets,
according to a draft of a Sheriff's Office report on the handling of the
protests.

The admission has led to speculation that the deputies were attempting to
avoid being held accountable for their actions, but sheriff's spokesman John
Urquhart strongly denied that was the case.

He said deputies, forced to stand for long stretches of time, were just
"dinking around" when they switched stick-on letters spelling out their
"nicknames."

According to the draft report obtained by the Seattle Post-Intelligencer,
the Sheriff's Office decided the deputies should be identifiable to
supervisors and to the public.

Names were stitched on their shirts. In addition, riot officers were
provided with 'stick-on' letters to be applied to the backs of their helmets
so that unit leaders could identify and direct them as individuals.

However, the names were covered at times by rain gear.

And "some individual team members rearranged/removed the 'stick-on' letters
from their helmets, making them identifiable only to those who knew them or
knew their 'new' name as created on their helmets," the report says.

That's a concern for some observers, including the American Civil Liberties
Union and a former Seattle police sergeant who serves on a Seattle City
Council citizens panel reviewing the WTO. Protesters have complained they
weren't able to identify officers they accuse of using excessive force
because their names were not visible.

Seattle Police spokesman Clem Benton said he did not know whether any
Seattle police officers changed lettering on their helmets.

When asked about the issue, Urquhart said "you're trying to make a mountain
out of a molehill," saying that deputies acted with discipline.

In one case, however, the Sheriff's Office was initially unable to identify
a riot-gear clad deputy who was videotaped pepper-spraying two art students
sitting in a car on Capitol Hill during the protests.

Urquhart said the students refused to provide the sheriff's office with a
copy of the videotape, and even if they had the roughly 15-second incident
showed the deputy only from the front and with a gas mask on. Sheriff's
officials called on the unidentified deputy to come forward, and Deputy John
Vanderwalker, a 19-year patrolman, identified himself about two weeks later.

Urquhart said a "handful" of deputies from one 15-member squad changed their
letters. Urquhart said the Sheriff's Office, reviewing videotapes of the
protest, identified one deputy from the letters on his helmet as possibly
using excessive force, and is investigating.

Urquhart said changing the letters to avoid identification would be
considered a violation of policy. However, he said the office was not
investigating because "there was no indication of any nefarious motive."

Nevertheless, ACLU spokesman Doug Honig said the office may not have
received more complaints because protesters couldn't identify the offending
deputies.

And Urquhart's explanation that the deputies were just "dinking around,"
Honig said, "was hard to believe . . . People shouldn't be fooling around
with their identification."

"If it's true, it's troubling," said Timothy Burgess, a former police
sergeant, and currently head of Seattle Ethics and Elections Commission.

Burgess also heads the City Council citizens panel reviewing the events
during the conference, and brought up the issue of the stick-on letters at a
meeting this week.

Burgess yesterday said he was even more troubled by other aspects of the
draft Sheriff's Office report. Even so, Burgess said, "police officers in
that kind of a situation shouldn't be 'dinking' around with their
identification. Anything that identifies them should be clear. Anyway, it's
kind of juvenile."

-----Original Message-----
From: histonet-bounces <@t> lists.utsouthwestern.edu
[mailto:histonet-bounces <@t> lists.utsouthwestern.edu
<mailto:histonet-bounces <@t> lists.utsouthwestern.edu> ] On Behalf Of Morken,
Tim - Labvision
Sent: Friday, February 11, 2005 1:14 PM
To: Histonet <@t> lists.utsouthwestern.edu
Subject: RE: [Histonet] dinking defined ... and amused!!

I understand "dinking" as takng the time to explore all the purmutaions  of
a given endevour. For me, it came to full fruition when I (along with a
group of like-minded souls) took a long, long bicycle trip, during which we
refined "dinking" to a fine art, spending quality time at cafes, pubs,
roadside views. It was the life.

Tim Morken

Free webhosting for US State Histotechnology Societies:
http://www.labvisioncorp.com/demowebsite/index.cfm
<http://www.labvisioncorp.com/demowebsite/index.cfm> 

-----Original Message-----
From: histonet-bounces <@t> lists.utsouthwestern.edu
[mailto:histonet-bounces <@t> lists.utsouthwestern.edu
<mailto:histonet-bounces <@t> lists.utsouthwestern.edu> ] On Behalf Of Gayle
Callis
Sent: Friday, February 11, 2005 9:35 AM
To: Marshall Terry Dr, Consultant Histopathologist;
Histonet <@t> lists.utsouthwestern.edu
Subject: [Histonet] dinking defined in terms of Warthin Starry and amused!!

Terry,

You have me laughing.

"Dinking" - One can dink with - an object, procedure and probably thoughts.
I have used fiddly dink, twiddle or fiddle with, or tweak(ing).   In terms
of the Warthin Starry, we tweaked, fiddled, twiddled and "dinked" this
method, but not the Steiner - our chosen method.

The term came from our electron microscopist's vernacular, year ago and he
was always "fiddly dinking" with things, usually to make whatever he was
doing work better.  A clever person with lots of creativeness.   Where he
got the term, I don't know.

Well, I am off to "dink" around in my the lab, it is a slow day and a
Friday.

Gayle Callis
MT,HT,HTL(ASCP)
Research Histopathology Supervisor
Veterinary Molecular Biology
Montana State University - Bozeman
PO Box 173610
Bozeman MT 59717-3610
406 994-6367 (lab with voice mail)
406 994-4303 (FAX)

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