Hamburger Hash Affair

International incident arising from the arrest of two German citizens in New Haven CT in Aug 2007 who have been cited with felonious breach of the peace for laying a flour trail in the vicinity of an IKEA store.

The trail had been set for a group of Hash House Harriers to pursue later that day. Around 5pm, an IKEA customer saw the two Hares throwing flour in front of the store, as well as a series of arrows and circles: all traditional marks of the Hash. That customer notified an employee who consulted with his manager and the police were called. Shortly thereafter New Haven police, CT State Police, New Haven fire department and even the FBI arrive on the scene , .

The store was evacuated and the flour area taped off with yellow tape. By now the Hares have heard about the commotion and return to IKEA. They notify themselves to the police and tell them that it is flour. They are told to stand back and that a Hazmat team is on its way. Some two hours later, the Hazmat team determines that the white powder is, indeed, flour. The two Hares are then arrested by the police for a Class D felony of disturbing the peace.

The Hares were identified as Dr Daniel Salchow and his sister, Dorothee, both originally from Hamburg, Germany. Dr Salchow is an opthamologist who works with needy children through a Yale University program. He is recently returned from a charity mission to Colombia. His sister was visiting the US on vacation.

As of Sept 17th, New Haven mayor's office has moved from an initial threat to add a $50,000 restitution charge to the felony, to a charge of $4,100, to a charge of 50 hours of community service. Meanwhile, the Salchow's lawyer has released an internal FBI document from 2001 advising that "the first probability to be considered is that a 'trail' of handfuls of white powder is probably associated with a local jogging group," not an anthrax attack.

The Salchows were released on promises to appear in court. They are next due back in court in Oct 5th.

Main Menu

See Also

Main Menu