At a recent city council meeting, Moab Police Chief Alan West seemed shocked by attacks on his department. He said, "I've had the council come to meetings and say there's a complete lack of confidence in law enforcement in Moab, but I don't know why. I don't know what the complaints are." The chief's incredulity doesn't surprise me in the least After all, he is the same man The Blotter who writes the "Police Blotter" column in the Moab weekly is an 'aw shucks, down home, feel good' column that tries to see the lighter side of law enforcement in Moab....it's Alan in La La Land. If you didn't live here you'd think we were all a part of Mayberry RFD and our police force was composed of a bunch of good ol' Andys and Bamies. I quit reading the Blotter a long time ago when it even managed to find humor in domestic abuse. Many of us predicted years ago that someday, an event involving the Moab P.D. would occur, that would be so horrible and tragic, that not only would the story be inappropriate in the Blotter, the presence of the Blotter column itself would seem distasteful Sure enough, the week John Dinsmore's death was reported, the Blotter disappeared from the s pages. But it returned a week later. the weekly has been critical in its editorials Much to the credit of the of the Moab P.D.'s heavy handed law enforcement techniques and that has brought objections from the chief of police as well And again....no surprise there. If Chief West really believes that life and law enforcement in Moab is accurately portrayed in his Blotter column, then he has simply removed himself from Reality and I folly understand his shock. There is a strange irony here, however. Most of us in Moab are law abiding citizens and we are a small town. There is no reason, really, why we can't have a friendly personal connection to the police. So how about this? Get the cops out of their cruisers. Have them walk a downtown beat. Let them introduce themselves to every merchant and clerk and e basis. And let us get to know shop owner in town. Let them get to know us on a them the same way. In the meantime, who arc these guys? Our protectors? Our foes? We need some identification, please. Times-Independe- QTIZENS OF MOAB to MOAB POLICE: Can we see some identification? Last November 24, a Moab citizen, John Dinsmore, was shot to death by a Moab City police officer. He was struck once by the blast of a 12 gauge shotgun during a confrontation in the driveway of Dinsmore's own front yard in which he threatened himself and the officers with a knife. After being knocked to the ground by the force of the blast Dinsmore was actually handcuffed and transported to Allen Memorial Hospital where he died an hour later. If you live in Moab you know the particulars of the shooting the facts and the rumors- and you have most likely formed an opinion as to whether the use of deadly force was justified. This is a complex and difficult story and one I had hoped to be able to report on at length in this issue. But I want to be as thorough as I can be. So in the JunoJuiy issue of the Zephyr, I intend to take as much time and use as much space as I need to separate the facts from the gossip and to get to the core questions of the John Dinsmore tragedy: Did this really have to happen? And...Could it happen again? What is dear to me now, however, and what has been obvious to many people for a long time, is that there is an unhealthy adversarial relationship that exists between the Moab City Police Department and many of the citizens of the community to whom that department is obligated to protect. It has been adversarial for years and it's getting worse. Dinsmore's death has brought a lot of that adversity and anger to the surface. It doesn't have to be like this. In the last three weeks I have been contacted by a dozen or more Moab citizens who have recounted their own Moab Police nightmare encounters to me. Some of them have been in trouble with the law before; others have never even seen a parking ticket The stories are always similar and they have to do, first of all, with the intimidating demeanor of some of the department's officers. I mean let's get this out in the open why would any of the police officers in a little nt. T-'- Times-Independe- nt, first-nam- FOURTH ANNUAL MOAB FILM FESTIVAL There was a time when Springtime (to me) meant warmer weather and lilacs in bloom and mountain blue birds flitting about in celebration of the season. Then we became a hard core tourist town and Springtime meant hordes of bikers and jeepers and the price of gasoline going up and traffic jams on Main Street. And all that silly lycra. And yet, once again, oh the irony of it all. Because of all this phenomenal growth and change, something worthwhile like the Canyonlands Him Sc Video Festival can actually find enough support to survive in Moab. Now in its fourth year, the festival was conceived of and created by Nicholas Brown. Nicholas has always been a film buff and believes that film creates an opportunity to' educate as well as entertain. Says Nicholas: "I think the world situation is pretty intense right now with increasing environmental films and videos can in fact make folks stop and and social problems. Thought-provokin- g think about issues, as well as their own lives. It's the element of change that I am attracted to and especially in works that have a hopeful, positive vision. There is so much negative violent junk out there on celluloid, it seems appropriate to get a little of the other side shown." Such optimistic comments printed on the pages of the Zephyr. Shocking. This year's eclectic selection of films and videos includes feature length films, documentaries, short subjects, animation...a veritable plethora of visual opportunities. Here is the vital info... from 7pm to 11pm. Some additional if the demand is there. screenings may occur on Saturday afternoon WHERE: April 23 at Slickrock Cinema; April 4 at Grand High School Auditorium. TICKETS: Advance $8evening or $10evening at the door. $203 day pass also is available. Call or And tickets are available at Back of Beyond and at Music of Moab. WHEN: file photo The Moab Police Department town like Moab feel they need an image and public persona that includes shaved heads, leather gloves? By no means do mirrored sun glasses and black skin-tigwrap-arouthey all take on this look, and I can think of one Moab officer who is the antithesis of that look. But there is a feeling out there that the Moab Police enjoys its intimidating approach, in attitude more than anything else. It's ridiculous. A few weeks ago, a local merchant's storage shed burned to the ground with several thousand dollars worth of equipment in it. It was a really bad afternoon for him. The fire department saved what they could and, of course, the police showed up as well Now if I had been the officer on the scene, or if most of you had been that officer, we would most likely have approached the merchant with a few words of sympathy and eventually explained the need to fill out a report. But whoever the officer was, with shades in place, and a flat dispassionate voice that would have made Joe Friday envious, approached the man and said: "Are you the owner of the premises?' He nodded warily. And then the cop said, "Can I see some identification?" The "owner of the premises" suddenly felt more like a suspect than a victim. What was the point of such an intimidating approach? There isn't any point; it was completely unnecessary. I've watched kids on skateboards get harangued by the police on a daily basis. Some of them have received fines for skateboarding on Center Street but I still haven't seen the police write a citation to one trucker for blowing the red lights on Main. Where are their g of the priorities? And if skateboarding is such a threat to the safety and I to kids? talked a few community, why doesn't the city set aside some ground for these of them recently after a cop encounter; they're ok. All we're doing is creating a negative and hostile attitude toward law enforcement at a very early age. And there are some people in this community who have had problems with the law before, who arc now practically daily targets of police harassment. I'm no bleeding heart and I believe if someone breaks the law, they should pay the consequences. But once that debt is paid, they should be able to go about their business as easily and unobstructed as I anyone else. That has not been the case in Moab, especially in recent months. thought the days of carving scarlet letters on citizens' chests had passed. And no citizen should ever fear reprisals from any governmental agency or department for being openly critical of it well-bein- L 5 : .vs.-S-- a .v, meet 2, 3 & 4 259-63- ht nd April , (Thursday-Saturday- ), 259-913- 5t 88 JANE S. JONES..BUREAUCRAT? YOU HAVE OUR SYMPATHIES. Jane Jones used to write a column for the Zephyr and regularly made minced meat out of governments and the bureaucrats that run them. So I was shocked to learn recently that not only is Jane the new manager of the Solid Waste Management District but also, albeit reluctantly, proposing increases in tipping fees at the landfill Here's what Jane wrote in the April 1993 issue of the Zephyr, exactly five years ago... Its easy to overlook the concerns of the average law income person when you're not one. Most people placed in authority these days do have the basics...They have no interest in making basic human survival easier. They can't relate to that anymore. We've placed these people in control. They're not humanitarians, they are bureaucrats. They are administration an of individuals " doing their job," and spending our money foster and faster each year. Individuals in a bureaucracy don't look at the big picture. They don't have to sit down and decide what is more important, what is fair to society as a whole. But it's a lead pipe cinch that your average supervisorinspectorcity administrator plannerbureaucrat types will get whatever ordinances and regulations and increased funding they want. Their county councils and commissions and boards will be easily persuaded to provide increased funding for controlled growth. Now Jones faces the unpleasant task of dramatically raising tipping fees and finding mountain of state and federal regulations. I always ways to deal with an thought Jane would end up leading the charge to bum that bureaucratic pile of paper. Who would ever have dreamed that she'd end up being buried by it? Once again...Reality bites. ever-growi- ng WERE A PEARL Administrator Earl Sires is packing his bags and headed for greener County pastures in Montrose, Colorado. Their gain is certainly our loss. While I haven't agreed with everything Earl has done here in Grand County, he has always been accessible and he has always been a gentleman. His intelligence is only exceeded by his patience. As much as I hate to see Earl leave, I wish him the best of luck. And Earl, I hope we get to knock down a few more cuba libres before you head for Colorado. ; Vf t V - EARL-YO- jarnnr U I-