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Wo’O Ideafarm, the local man known for displaying signs with controversial and sometimes strange messages on the streets of Mountain View, may be heading to jail.
The self-proclaimed “public speaker” was convicted of charges stemming from an incident earlier this year, when police arrested him for allegedly blocking a public street and causing a disturbance. In a ruling issued on Oct. 28, Santa Clara County Superior Court Judge Allison Danner found Ideafarm guilty of multiple counts of willfully and maliciously obstructing a public street and of being a public nuisance.
He could face a maximum sentence of up to two years in jail. His sentencing hearing in Dept. 89 of the Palo Alto Courthouse, scheduled for Nov. 8, resulted in a six-week postponement.
Those familiar with Ideafarm may have noticed his absence of late. According to a string of emails Ideafarm recently sent to the Voice, the 58-year-old has been keeping a low-profile since he was arrested for allegedly battering and falsely imprisoning a 62-year-old woman on Jan. 14, 2011.
During that incident, Ideafarm said he was attempting to make a citizen’s arrest on a woman he had observed tampering with one of his signs. According to police statements from the time, he had the wrong woman and the Mountain View Police Department did not accept his citizen’s arrest.
Shortly after his arrest, Ideafarm, who at the time was unemployed, managed to bail himself out of jail.
He has kept mostly quiet since that incident — refraining from displaying any signs publicly for just over two years. But on Jan. 21 of this year, he decided to break his silence and hold a sign that read “One for all and all for one” while standing just off the sidewalk at the corner of Castro Street and El Camino Real.
While some, including the police officers who responded to the scene that day, might say Ideafarm was standing in the path of traffic, he argued that he was not breaking any laws, even though he admits he was not standing on the sidewalk.
On Jan. 22, he was warned by officers and given a citation after standing in a similar manner at the intersection of Central Expressway and Moffett Boulevard. He was arrested on Jan. 23, after returning to the same spot and holding a sign that read “Mtn. View vs. free speech.”
In his communications with the Voice, Ideafarm has maintained his innocence, insisting that the City of Mountain View and Santa Clara County District Attorney Jeff Rosen are bent on silencing him.
In an email to the Voice dated Oct. 6, Ideafarm wrote: “According to Ideafarm, all of this is an incredible waste of taxpayer money, that he was always very careful to obey the law, and that the only reason that the police interfered with his ‘speech operation’ is that they somehow think that they can get away with it.”
Yes, let’s give him more attention.
Never heard of this guy and he sounds like a bit of a nuisance. But this article comes across as very biased in favor of the MVPD. As usual for this newspaper.
I don’t agree with a lot of what he says, but I also don’t want to live in the kind of place that silences people for expressing ideas or opinions. I hope he can get back out there, politely and lawfully expressing his ideas.
So he was standing off the sidewalk.
I saw him standing at the corner of Castro and El Camino a couple times. He was not blocking traffic.
Who is the victim?
While I don’t agree with most of this guy’s message I do think he’s right. This is a waste of tax money. Leave the guy alone.
Now we’re going to put someone in jail for stepping off the sidewalk.
It costs more than $40K per year to house an inmate, plus healthcare “benefits”. Sure he is sometimes annoying. But prison is for much more serious crimes.
Otto, sometimes he is standing on the corner, which is completely legal. It’s the times he kinda walks out into the middle of traffic where he’s being a danger.
Also, the part about beating up a 62 year-old woman.
Well, at least he won’t be homeless anymore…
Oops. Read “unemployed” and thought “homeless.” Sorry.
Well, if you really want to hear more about him, just search his name on the Voice… lots of articles.
You wrote: “I don’t want to live in the kind of place that silences people for expressing ideas or opinions”. Me either.
But please remember that expressing his ideas is not what he was arrested for. Some of you may not have seen him blocking the traffic, but I have. One day, he created a bit of a mess and nearly 1 accident (that I saw) by blocking the street while traffic had a green light.
In addition, I do not have to agree with everything he says; however, I do draw the line at offensive speech – ie: the word F*$@ in a sign on a public street that I drive with my young children. If I stop them from watching movies & reading books because of that language, should I have to put up with it in my own community?
He is homeless though.
Mr. IdeaFarm is a bigot and a homophobe, an general annoyance, and judging from his MV Voice comments, a bit insane, but I’m not sure a jail sentence is warranted here. Would some sort of psychiatric facility be less or more expensive here?
@Oh Boy: You should just tell them it’s an agricultural term, meaning “to plow”. Because, technically, that’s where it came from.
@Moo,
Agreed! Counseling may be effective in correcting his inappropriate behavior. Jail should be reserved for criminals, not generally harmless, behavior.
At a time when overcrowded jails & prisons are court ordered release predators of far more danger to our public safety than a sign waving eccentric, Police & DA resources would be better allocated to solving local residential break ins & robberies IMHO!
I wish that people would calm down about this guy and his signs. We don’t need to drive every person out who is not exactly like the rest of us. I like to have people with different views in Mountain View.
I would rather have us spend time catching the person whose dogs poops at Landels School nearly every single day – that is someone who has some explaining to do.
Andrew Pumar, convicted of vehicular manslaughter in the death of William Ware, gets one year. And this guy gets two years for being a nuisance? This is not right and agree, a total waste of taxpayer dollars.
poor guy. I do think jail is a harsh sentence. I often saw him but rarely understood his messages.
i agree, some type of therapy/counseling might be better than 2 years in jail.
I am with Kathy!
The *maximum possible sentence* is two years in jail. I doubt the judge will come down that hard on Mr Ideafarm. The sentencing hearing was earlier this afternoon. Has anyone heard the final verdict?
Leave the guy alone and he would of already been in san mateo by now. What he has done is nothing compared to Murder, rape, or any other bad crime. He tried to make a citizens arrest on a lady 4 yrs older than him for tampering with his signs and of course there was a commotion where she resisted. The Bi**ch should of left him and his signs alone. She started it. So now he is going to get blamed for it. Unbelievable.
I’m all for Ideafarm and his innovative ways. If you listen to what he says, he is spot on at times. Oh, but the liberal media control freaks won’t allow that. So string him up on the nearest tree.
Hey, he has not been sentenced yet. Two years is the maximum. He will almost certainly get less time. In any case, the guy really is a public nuisance. If jail is what it takes to get him off the streets, so be it!
Hey, “What a waste of money,” he attacked the wrong person. Hell yes, she was terrified and resisted when some stranger tackled her. Try to read all of the words. Tough to do, but it helps keep you from confusing people by mixing incorrect facts with your abundant hostility and general ignorance.
Free speech is important to protect, but it is not protected when you physically endanger others. The guy is perfectly right at times on his free-speech rights and behaviors, and really wrong some of the time. Sometimes he gets out in traffic and creates a hazard, but then sometimes he keeps it within bounds. Creating confusion and attracting attention, then crying for protection, are elements of his game, repeatedly. I am all for tolerating whatever nut exercises free speech, but not at all sympathetic for someone who calculatedly games the system and crosses the bounds. If you want to do civil disobedience, fine, you are not entitled to claim you are innocent or protected. Part of the point is to get arrested in order to register your protest. Your choice.
Free Speech is fine, agree with standing on El Camino with sign. Don’t swear or be vuglar, block people or traffic, just be polite. You might find that your message or views will get noticed.
“According to police statements from the time, he had the wrong woman and the Mountain View Police Department did not accept his citizen’s arrest.”
Yes, I did read and I believe Ideafarm rather than the police hear say.
They were targeting him for anything they could to pick him up. And of course they won’t believe what he says.
Think about it.
Mr. Ideafarm may or may not be nuts… but the concept of being persecuted by the MVPD isn’t hard to imagine.
Next opportunity, verbally challenge a cop’s authority. No crime in free speach… If you see one not doing his duty, ask him why. Better yet, do it so as to attract public attention.
Afraid?
It’s about farmin’ time he was taken seriously by law enforcement. What a nuisance having that piece of junk wheel barrow, or whatever it was, that interrupted a turning lane. It’s a relief that he is off the street and probably out of Mountain View. Thanks MVPD and the other agencies. And good riddance to the nuisance man.
Funny, about the time this guy goes silent Mr. Roode becomes more vocal. Coincidence?
I’ve spoken with Ideafarm twice. I find him to be polite, informed, and well spoken, as well as humorous at times. I disagree with many of his viewpoints; however, he is patient and clear and listens well, so we can actually enumerate the details over which we disagree rather than make broad assumptions about the other person, as seems too often to happen in debate. My experience is that Ideafarm is simply far more open and aggressive about trying to help the world in a way he thinks he can than most people. Not surprisingly, many find his abnormal behavior — i.e., behavior outside of the norms of first-world suburban society — a nuisance.
I have no idea about the details of his various run-ins with the law. It is not clear from this article whether charges were pressed re: the citizen’s arrest gone wrong. If charges were dropped or he was cleared, then that case should have no bearing on anything in the present case. Frankly, I think the author of this article was a bit malicious in mentioning that case without providing the details of its resolution if there was one, or stating that there is no resolution at present.
In particular, the present case seems to concern only “obstructing a public street” and “being a public nuisance.” We are in sad times, and I would find Mountain View to be a scary place to shop or live, if these behaviors — even if completely and unambiguously true — were enough to lead to a jail sentence. A fine — like one would receive for driving too fast, say, in a residential area — would be commensurate with the activity (though I might oppose even a fine). But a jail sentence? Goodness.
Ideafarm is in it for the attention. He usually ends up posting on stories covering his shenanigans. Don’t see him here though. Unless he’s using an alias like, lets say….”What a waste of money”? Perhaps? lol
I’m here. I never post anonymously; if a post which purports to be mine does not have a “registered user” header exactly like this post does, then it is was posted by someone other than me. It is best if I don’t converse or discuss the issues being tried in Court. But I will be happy to answer factual questions.
On Oct. 28, I was convicted of two counts of public nuisance, Penal Code 370/372, and two counts of molesting a bicyclist, Penal Code 647c. Today’s hearing was for sentencing. There are several ways to attack the proceeding. One way is to file “Statements of Disqualification” against Hon. Allison Danner and/or District Attorney Jeff Rosen. My attorney, Mr. Andrew Tursi, did not intend to attack; in his opinion, his duties ended when I was found guilty. Today, I argued that I was being denied effective assistance of counsel and that I needed a continuance so that Mr. Tursi and I can prepare an attack the validity of the trial. Hon. Danner agreed and granted a continuance. Sentencing was continued to January 6 at 1:30 PM in Dept. 89, Hon. Allison Danner, at the Palo Alto Courthouse.
This is an important fight because I am challenging whether public nuisance law can be used to silence a speaker who is not violating any other law. First Amendment law is complex. Public nuisance law is also complex. The interplay between the two adds even more complexity.
Although the stakes are high, this fight makes me feel like I’m a student again. So far, Hon. Danner and Mr. Tursi have allowed me to argue the law, while Mr. Tursi focuses on arguing the facts. I’ve learned a lot about both the law and about how the Court works. Justice is a beautiful thing, and liberty is worth fighting for.
That “craziness,” Ideafarm says, came in 1992, when he hit his wife. He was arrested for spousal abuse, the couple separated and Ideafarm lost custody of his two daughters.
“I became furious at the system for setting my wife and me up for failure and making it impossible for my kids to have what we thought we were going to have.”
Ideafarm’s campaign is essentially a fight against the system he says destroyed his marriage — against the spiritless world he glimpsed back in middle school. “Now, I’m just as furious,” he says.
http://www.mv-voice.com/news/2010/11/04/fury-fuels-ideafarms-campaigns
The woman in this article was not the first woman he has laid hands on. As a child, I saw my sister get hit by her husband. It was always somebody else’s fault for his strikes. I am thankful that MVPD protected my family then & now.
Most big trucks and suvs parked on the streets are traffic hazards for people who are driving their cars and hard to see oncoming traffic on either side. I really think people who park big pickup trucks, Cago vans, and SUVs arrested and sent to jail and their kneecaps completely blasted.
If you don’t want him to go to jail and you want the police to focus on other crimes then get everyone to stop calling about this guy. The police respond to calls for service on idea farm, they are not hunting him down and trying to silence him. He creates numerous calls for service everyday he gets “active” in this city.
Kathy is right.
I don’t like Ideafarm but if you go to crimereports.com and put in Mountain View you can see all the crimes happening in Mountain View. Let’s get the real criminals off the streets.
Our government prosecutes Ideafarm for exercising his right to free speech, but our government says it does not have the resources or time to do enforce our immigration laws. Ideafarm did not commit a felony by forging documents and using fake IDs. Illegal immigrants drain resources from our schools, health care system, jobs, housing, etc. They drive down wages and drive up housing costs and have taken jobs that millions of unemployed US citizens would like to have. If we resolved our immigration problems we would resolve our economic, education, housing, unemployment problems, etc.
I don’t understand why some people/politicians are more concerned about the plight of illegal immigrants rather than the plight of our elderly, homeless, jobless, health careless, educationless, much of which is caused by the overwhelming needs of the illegal immigrants.
If our government has the time and resources to prosecute Ideafarm, then our government has the time and resources to enforce our immigration laws and require businesses and social services to use e-verify.
The day he said watching the NFL on Sunday was a sin is the reason why he deserves a life sentence.
Why did IdeaFarm always want to have dinner with local teenagers? I thought that was a bit odd.
I’m not making this up. It was on his website, when he wanted people to eat together. Basically, he said that strangers would meet at a local restaurant, and the dinner would be hosted by a local teenager.
I thought it was creepy.
A nuisance and a pain in the *ss? maybe. Worth all the time and resources the MVPD expends on him? Hmmm. They seem to have a different agenda than ‘public safety’ in prioritizing which laws to enforce.
What’s his real name?
I think he legally had his named changed. Yeah…..
My legal name is “Wo Of Ideafarm”. I changed my legal name in 1999 as a symbol of my decision to commit the remainder of my life to establishing and developing “IdeaFarm ™ City”, a sovereign state located on the Internet. IdeaFarm ™ City is, according to its Constitutional Declaration, an “external association” that exists under the protective aegis of, but is not subject to, the organic law of the United States of America. IdeaFarm ™ City – Federal Constitutional Protectorate of the United States of America, is a constitutional monarchy. I am, according to that declaration, a dual citizen of IdeaFarm ™ City and, by birth, of the United States of America. Within IdeaFarm ™ City, my name is “Wo’O Ideafarm”. Within the United States, my legal name is “Wo Of Ideafarm”.
Ideafarm tarted creating dangerous situations when he started leaving his sign *IN* the street at El Monte and El Camino. He consistently pushes the limits every time he sees what the public and police are willing to put up with.
I don’t know if he deserves jail, but needs some kind of help.
ideafarm usually posts here under his own, name, but maybe he has some fake ones now.
Ideafarm tarted creating dangerous situations when he started leaving his sign *IN* the street at El Monte and El Camino. He consistently pushes the limits every time he sees what the public and police are willing to put up with.
I don’t know if he deserves jail, but needs some kind of help.
ideafarm usually posts here under his own, name, but maybe he has some fake ones now.
Good riddance, Funnyfarm.
I’ve been here but unable to post due to a technical problem. That’s probably a good thing; my participation would have changed what has been a good converstaion. I will keep silent except to answer direct factual questions and correct factual errors.
Posted by gereninom, a resident of Gemello
“Most big trucks and suvs parked on the streets are traffic hazards for people who are driving their cars and hard to see oncoming traffic on either side. I really think people who park big pickup trucks, Cago vans, and SUVs arrested and sent to jail and their kneecaps completely blasted. ”
What exactly is this rant about? Comparing ideafarms trailer left IN THE STREET (in the street as not on the shoulder. Not on the sidewalk. IN THE STREET) with no lights, after dark. On more than one night. Either MVPD was being “nice” or didn’t know what to do at first. But finally they got rid of it.
Why are you threatening violence?
Doghouse and Doghouse #2 have been in police custody “as evidence” since Fall 2010. The seizures without a warrant are patently unlawful, but I chose to not challenge them because the government must store them indefinitely and cannot collect storage fees from me.
The idea that the Doghouses themselves are needed for evidence is preposterous. Neither of them are ever going to be wheeled into a courtroom. Any two year old can see that the seizures are to silence me. This is just the tip of the waste of taxpayer money involved in this proceeding, which is now at hearing #44.
The City could never find any law to use to silence me. Parallel parking the Doghouse is just as legal as parallel parking a motor vehicle. You don’t have to leave your lights on all night when you park your car at the curb!
It’s not parallel parking when you leave your cart IN THE STREET at El Monte and El Camino. It’s blocking traffic. There is no shoulder in the intersection
The El Monte position was exceptional in that there is indeed a hazard. Once I saw the hazard, I stopped using that position.
The hazard at the El Monte position is the result of the coincidence of two unlawful acts: (1) A driver making a “blind” right turn without being prepared for a pedestrian or bicyclist who happens to be crossing within the crosswalk, combined with (2) A bicyclist who crosses within the crosswalk without looking to his left to watch for someone coming around the “blind”. The Doghouse’s position at El Monte was, although unusual, perfectly legal.
This might sound like a rare coincidence, but I observed several motorists zipping around the “blind”, obviously not anticipating the possibility that a pedestrian would be there. I also observed several bicyclists riding right into the crosswalk without reducing speed or looking to their left, obviously oblivious to the danger of doing so.
The police could not prevent me from parking the Doghouse there because I had a right to park it there as a matter of law. (There is no law against it.) If a bicyclist had been killed, it would have been the fault of the motorist, since the bicyclist, using the crosswalk, has the right of way. In law, the Doghouse’s positioning would not have created any legal liability for me.
I tried to deal with the STUPIDITY of these motorists and bicyclists by posting warning signs, but those signs were not effective. That is when I abandoned use of that position.
The police actually contributed to this hazardous situation by attempting to strong arm me with various threats, such as a threat that they would tow the Doghouse if I continued to park it there. They turned it into a pi**ing contest. If they had just said, “Yes, the law says that you can park it here, but how will you feel if one of these STUPID drivers kills one of these STUPID bicyclists?”, I would have seen the hazard right away and not used the El Monte position.
I don’t want to hear any more about the El Monte position. It does not represent the general character of the speech operation. There are absolutely no reasonable safety issues with its location, for example, on the sidewalk in front of City Hall. Yet that is the location that incited the most severe interference by both the City and by private persons, including one incident in which I was almost killed and which left me permanently crippled.
My comment will surely be lost in this sea of useless comments .
There’s something WRONG with LAWS-COURTS-JUDGES-SENTENCING ,the whole ball of wax..
How does Ideafarm a pubic nuisance face a possible 2yrs lockup ….And this
Pulmar person sentenced to 1yr for driving reckless an taking someones life.
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Clearly , laws protect criminal…Ah whats the point..in commenting .. Its such a waste of time and energy….
Dear precious rolo8ab, the point of commenting is that a single comment such as yours has the power to annihilate the spell of comatose stupidity in this lobotomized “community”. Dialog with me here. Ask me factual questions. What is happening will stun you. The fact that it is happening right here, under your nose, and no one knows, will stun you even more.
If I can keep my *ss out from behind bars for just a few more weeks, THIS STORY WILL BE TOLD! But will anyone listen? Will anyone act? Will the story’s telling matter?
Someone offered to break me out of jail. I don’t need that. I just need a few people to help me tell the story and to spread the word, so the government cannot get away with SILENCING me and COVERING UP what they have done to me, with your money, for six years.
Do I need to post a photo of where your cart was at El Monte? It was not legal. give it up
Really. During the whole conflict with MVPD, I never got a single ticket. MVPD officers threatened to do all sorts of things, all of them illegal. Zero tickets. Zip. Nada.
You wanna know how MVPD got the Doghouses off of the street? The cowards seized the Doghouse “for safekeeping” while I was imprisoned at Elmwood Jail for 14 days. When I got out, returned to MV, and discovered the heist, I used the last $500 of my remaining credit to build Doghouse #2. Then I took Doghouse #2 to MVPD and had them allow me to transfer all of my equipment from the Doghouse into Doghouse #2 while Lieutenant Souza, (then) Sergeant Plamondon, and two other officers supervised. Doghouse #2 was then put into service and remained active up to November 30. On that day, the cowards seized Doghouse #2 while I was in Court for a hearing. Both Doghouse and Doghouse #2 have been in custody ever since “for evidence”.
During the whole time that the Doghouse and Doghouse #2 were being used, no MVPD officer was ever able to find a single law to cite me for.
One of the many hilarious audio recordings that will be released when the expose is published (on DVD) is of Officer Mello making a series of threats to try to get me to move the Doghouse from the El Monte position.
If you don’t believe me, go to the Court’s web site and view my traffic record by entering this information:
Wo Of Ideafarm
DOB: 10/08/1954
I’ve done it for you with these links:
http://www.sccaseinfo.org/tpa1.asp?name_type=individual&first_name_criteria=exact&first_name=Wo&last_name=Ideafarm&dob=10%2F8%2F1954&business_name_criteria=starts&business_name=&process_name=process_index_party&submit_button=SEARCH
http://www.scscourt.org/court_divisions/criminal/index_search.asp