Hinckle, Hinckle, Little Star (Part I)

There are two joys in life -- making things and breaking things -- and pirate journalist Warren Hinckle has excelled at both

A A A Comments By Jack Boulware Wednesday, Feb 14 1996

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"You Hinckle?" one of the cops asked.
"I allowed I was," wrote Hinckle. "It's hard to hide if you're fat and wear an eye patch."

This wasn't a CIA expose, but it was headline material -- one citizen against the cops. Hinckle paid $178 in fines and was released, and two days later wrote a column about then-Police Chief Con Murphy. It seemed the chief's boat was berthed at Fisherman's Wharf, but obvious favoritism was being shown upon the head lawman, because the berths were supposed to be reserved for commercial fishing boats, not pleasure boats.

The Chronicle bumped the column to the front page, accompanied by an incriminating photo of the chief, casually putzing around on his prized vessel. Hinckle then tallied the approximate cost to taxpayers in police overtime to bust the Mitchell theater and arrest Chambers -- $203,000. Then-Police Commissioner Jo Daly received over 50 calls from citizens protesting the Chambers raid. Hinckle's arrest was publicly denounced by the California Newspaper Publishers Association, and for once, Feinstein agreed with him, saying, "It was dumb, dumb, dumb."

Continued...