PBH Will Auction Bicycles Collected By Harvard Police

Phillips Brooks House this afternoon will auction 22 bicycles that have been collected by the University police over the past several years.

Jonathan D. Quick '73-74, executive vice president of PBH, estimated the sale will yield from $200 to $400 which will be used to support various PBH programs. The auction will begin at 3 p.m. in the courtyard between Phillips Brooks House and Holden Chapel.

Robert Tonis, chief of the University police, said yesterday PBH will be autioning off abandoned bicycles collected by his force. Some of the bicycles were abandoned by thieves who were chased by the police and others were abandoned by their owners, he said.

Tonis said the law specifies that the bicycles must be retained for one year. The police can then dispose of the property if it remains unclaimed. Tonis expressed surprise that more students do not check with the police to see if their lost bicycles have been impounded.

Tonis explained that in past years he has sold the bicycles to individuals for a price of between $1 and $2, regardless of the bike's condition. But this arrangement has become a nuisance, he said, especially when people who could clearly afford to pay more came to him for a $1 bike. Tonis said he was always being "bugged" by people who called him for a cheap bike.

Tonis recalled that he once sold a bicycle to his daughter. The bicycle apparently was in poor condition, he added, because his daughter eventually abandoned the vehicle in front of Grays Hall.

Neither Morgan Memorial nor St. Vincent de Paul were interested in the bicycles, Tonis said, so he offered them to PBH and suggested that an auction be held. He said PBH will receive all bicycles retained in the future if the organization wants them.

Two students with acting experience will auction off the bicycles, Quick said. The 22 bicycles, which include four ten-speed bikes, will be displayed today from noon until the aution begins