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Show 1 Two rally speakers Charged with obscenity Assistant Attorney General Henry Nygaard signed complaints in City Court before Judge Robert C. Gibson Thursday charging two participants in the SDS-BBOS rally with "speaking obscene or lewd words in a public place." The complaint was signed the day following an opinion released by Attorney General Vernon Rom-ney Rom-ney that "obscene or lewd speech is not within the area of constitutionality" constitu-tionality" and is punishable as a misdemeanor. Jean Claude Chananot, local organizer or-ganizer of the Youth for Marx, and Victor Gordon, member of the Black Brotherhood Organizational Society (BBOS) received summonses. sum-monses. A statement released by President Presi-dent James C. Fletcher stated: "On April 15, 1970, the Attorney General responded to a request by the governor for an opinion to clarify Utah's obscenity laws. The obligations of institutions to enforce en-force these laws were reconfirmed. recon-firmed. The assistant attorney general was present at the antiwar anti-war rally held Wednesday at the University campus and in his opinion opin-ion there was a violation of those statutes as presently interpreted. He has signed a complaint Involving Involv-ing two non-students." In speaking of signing the complaint, com-plaint, Mr. Nygaard explained that "this is strictly a confrontation" confronta-tion" with the law. "I think any argument of free speech 5n this case is unreasonable." He continued to say: "I felt that when the words were used there was no justification therefore in the use of the language." He said that Gordon had allegedly alleg-edly used the obscene words in a direct affront to the law and "specifically "spe-cifically asked everyone to join in a chorus. They wanted to test the law to see if it's a legitimate law." |