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# Police take away man’s checkers, judge gives them back
- URL: https://www.smdp.com/police-take-away-mans-checkers-judge-gives-them-back/
- Published: 2002-08-23T15:00:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-23T00:41:36.000Z
- Author: Andrew Fixmer
- Tags: Crime, Promenade, #archive-import

*Local game inventor says Santa Monica plays unfair*

Stewart Lamle is facing eight years in jail and up to $16,000 in fines for playing a game with the City of Santa Monica.

Lamle will appear in Santa Monica Superior Court today to answer to 16 misdemeanor citations that each carry a maximum penalty of six months in jail and a $1,000 fine.

For the past three years, Lamle has set up an impromptu table on the Third Street Promenade to demonstrate a game he has invented called “Farook.”

However, the demonstrations are not considered “performance” by the city, which refuses to grant Lamle permits or a business license for his game.

Deputy City Attorney Linda A. Mills, who is prosecuting Lamle, was able to be contacted for comment on Thursday.

Santa Monica police ticketed Lamle 34 times during the last three years for not having a performance permit, but he was able to have each ticket thrown out in court, Lamle said.

Lamle says his right to freedom of speech protects his ability to set up shop on the Promenade and sell his invented game.

“I believe my First Amendment rights protect me from paying a dime,” Lamle said.

Paul Mills, Lamle’s attorney, says those same constitutional rights go beyond just protecting Lamle’s freedom of speech.

“In this country you have a right to make a living,” he said. “Many freedom of speech cases are won because people have shown their careers are on the line. Well, these folks feel like the city is threatening the way they make a living.”

Playing and selling the game garners a lot of money for Lamle, who charges $1 to play a game with him and $15 for a copy of Farook, which looks like a tic-tac-toe board combined with Chinese checkers.

Then on July 6 at 11:30 a.m., police arrested Lamle on the Promenade and seized his game, his table and all his money for operating a business without a license.

“They are wrong, and they know they’re wrong,” Mills said. “That’s why they continue to harass him. It’s retaliation for standing up for his rights.”

> “They are wrong and they know they’re wrong. That’s why they continue to harass him.” — — PAUL MILLS Attorney

A Santa Monica Superior Court Judge later returned the property to Lamle, and police were asked not to further interfere with his activities until today’s court date.

Mills said the city is playing a game with his client. But when city officials lost when the 34 performance citations were thrown out of court, police issued him with misdemeanor citations for not having a business license, which the city refuses to issue to Lamle.

“The city claims these guys have to have a store front or rent a cart from the city for $1,800 a month,” he said. “But there is no law on their books that supports that.”

Mills said he has asked city officials for a copy of the municipal code that prohibits them from issuing performance permits to Lamle and refusing to grant him a business license. No such municipal codes have been provided.

And Mills said he believes city officials have deliberately written vague street performer laws to give them more leverage over controlling performers.

“The city is violating Mr. Lamle’s rights by creating a system of laws that define a performer in a way that nobody can understand,” Mills said. “It allows them to allow people to perform who they like and deny those they don’t.”

“It’s an unconstitutional system, and we intend to hold them accountable,” he added.

![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/55/9f/559f9abc-8372-4a2e-8c2d-27386da4e363/content/images/2026/10/082302-02_01.jpg)

(Photo: Andrew H. Fixmer/Daily Press)

*Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on August 23, 2002.* [Read the original PDF.](https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/smdp%5Fbackissues/082302.pdf?ref=smdp.com)