After checking with two city offices about the proper procedure to perform on city sidewalks, Lara Rines, of Dover, got no information. In fact, she was told by one office to call the fire department, which she had already called. Why was she looking into the procedure? She is a "fire dancer", and delights onlookers by performing special movements with flaming sticks.

Having gotten no satisfying information one way or the other, Ms. Rines set out to perform, and was promptly accosted by two drunk men. The men moved on, and, according to Rines, must have complained to police. Yelling at her, and throwing her still burning sticks onto the sidewalk, the police arrested her, and she is now being charged with reckless conduct, and failure to produce a permit.

One wonders if the police will be charged with reckless conduct after tossing her sticks away, and leaving them burning, for anyone to pick up, out of her control. One also wonders about the wisdom of arresting a young woman for not having a license for performing, when she could not get government officials to tell her if a permit was needed.

Ms. Rines will be on "Against the Grain", at WNTK 99.7 FM, and WUVR 1490 AM, plus streaming live at WNTK.com Thursday, December 1, 2005, at 12:30 pm. Feel free to talk to her by calling 1-888-299-3151.

For more information on the story, and to read Portsmouth Mayor Evelyn Sirrell's assinine comments about the event, go to :

http://www.theunionleader.com/article.aspx?headline=Fire%20dancer%20tell...