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Show TheSaltLakeTribune OPINION Sunday, September 14, 1997 ——s Trashing of Newspapers Sends TroublingMessage Gunnarson Should officer, Uphold Free Speech, Not Impede It weekly, he was just reacting “as any man would.” { don't blame Gunnarson for Well, maybe. But whatis troubling about the City Weekly case is not so much the actitself, but getting mad at the press — weall son. But you've got to wonder what LOGAN — Whensomeonestole at Utah State University Attorney Neal do, and often with very good rea- BY TED PEASE bundlesof the student newspa District Gunnarson the Salt Lake CountyDistrict Attorney was thinking when he was overcomebywhatcanonlybe de- ias April, it was a shock to the editors, but seemed the kindof exer. cise in high-spirited bad judgment that is part of the educational process At thetime, | told the student journalists at USU that when someone bothers to steal your newspaper it's a pretty good sign that youredoing something right Whenthe same thing occurred two weeks ago on the streets of Sandy, the stakes seemed higher than just college hijinks during student-body elections. And the story becametruly bizarre when the culprit seen making off with armloads of the Salt Lake City Weekly turned outto be the coun- ty’s top elected law-enforcement brain cramp and took ntly unconstitutional cen: rship by stealing of newspapers off their racks and tossing themin a Dumpster | was infuriated,” Gunnarson act bout a caricature on the front pageof the City Weekly that he says imphed he had somekind the larger lessonit contains about attitudes toward the press and free expression in Utah, especially when the senderof the message is a district attorney. Oliver Wendell Holmes, as a justice of the U.S. Supreme Court early in this century, helped de- fine what the First Amendment wasall about, declaredthereis no such thing as a “false opinion” in a free society. Justice Holmes was noabsolutist on free expression — it was he of special relationship with May- whosaid that there is no defense in the Constitution for someone decided not to prosecute in her Giftgate” scandal. The cartoon depicts Gunnarson carrying a scantily clad Faye Ray (played by “falsely shouting fire in a theater and causing a panic,"’ which is the classic balancing act between free speech and public safety. But Holmes was quite clear — as Gunnarson and every otherattorney should be — on the overriding importance of the principle of free thought for everyone in a free society, “not free thought for those who agree with us,” the jus- or Deedee Corradini, whom he Corradini) over the headline. “Saved from the Law.”” ‘I'monly human,” Gunnarson says. The story and cartoon upset his wife. he says, and when he was seen making off with a stack of the freely distributed alternative tice said, “but freedom for the thought that we hate.” That's worth remembering in this context. Coincidentally, last Sunday's Sait Lake Tribune featured a packageof stories on socialactivists as an endangered species in Utah, where interpersonal comfort is sometimes more accepted than frank and a honest debate on important issues. “The perception hereis you shouldn't rock the “We just can't let this stand,” says Saltas, whois still eonsideringa civil lawsuit on First Amendment grounds against Gunnarson, while a group of city attorneys looks at criminal charges. “If someone is abusing the public trust, I think they’re fair game.” free expression in Utah — as he told the Deseret News, all he did was to take the papers and “put them in the garbage where garbage belongs.” Asdistrict attorney, Gunnarson should know about the parallel case in San Francisco three years ago, in which the police chief was found guilty of violating a news- The largerissue, from my perspective, is not just Gunnarson’s rash act, but the messageit sends to a society that already has shown itself far too willing to curb individual rights and press free- doms. paper's constitutional rights, and a jury found the city of San Fran- Speaking as a university profes- cisco liable for $35,600 in awards sor, in such an environmentit is has just con- to The Bay Times and as much as $500,000 in legal fees. The police have been caught in his moment of transgression — as well he fired) had stolen 2,000 copies of anissue of the paper featuring an unflattering caricature. Sound fa- alreadydifficult to teach about individual choice, free expression, free thought and individual rights. When elected officers of boat,” oneactivist said, which the district attorney firmed. Gunnarson is embarrassed to chief (who was subsequently the lawflout those bedrock democratic principles, even in under- should be — and he issued an miliar? apology of sorts in a three-paragraph statement faxed to various standable anger, they imply it’s City Weekly publisher Saltas says he has no way of knowing how manyof his newspapers were stolen from the open racks, be. yond the bundle Gunnarson took, but he thinks as many as 1,000 disappeared; editor Chris Smart said several racks were inexplicably emptied. OK for everyone to act against ideas — and people, cultures, reli- newsoutlets last week (although City Weekly didn’t receive one, Says publisher John Saitas). But it’s disturbing that Gunnar- son does not seem to be embar- rassed about the larger issue of the implications of his action for gions — with which they disagree. That's a dangeroussignal from a district attorney. Ted Pease is head of Utah State University’s Department of Com- munications. se Kirkham’s OPENS UNDAYS 11:00A.M.to5:00PM. mt 3125 So. 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