Just in time for the holidays — here’s something new to debate over Thanksgiving dinner. Florida Highway Patrol arrested two men on November 23 after troopers said they chalked the crosswalk at the Interim Pulse Memorial, the site of the 2016 mass shooting.
An arrest report identifies the two as Austin “Bubba” Trahan and James Houchins. Troopers said they reviewed surveillance video, tracked the pair to a nearby Dunkin’, and both men acknowledged using chalk on the sidewalk, but not the pavement.
The sticking point is the same one Orlando has been circling for months. FDOT labels the crosswalk as a traffic-control device, which means any marking on it — even temporary chalk — falls under state defacement laws. That interpretation has already led to previous arrests at the site since the rainbow design was removed earlier this year…