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Show page A4 Tuesday November 1996 19, Davis County Clipper in our Opinion 3iJSf H OH .-- W& WAKV 'fcj Moral majority must work within law, not above it Big Brother is alive and well in Utah County. That is the conclusion that many have drawn after the county attorneys office conducted raids on video stores in Lehi and American Fork. The raid on a Utah County Movie Buffs adult section last month has lead to a plethora of claims and counter claims about the incident. Attorneys for Movie Buffs believe the action by local police was unwarranted and that their clients good name will be cleared of wrong doing. Supporters of the raid, in which one thousand videos were seized, believe the material will be deemed pornographic by the courts. At issue is whether or not the videos in question are indeed pornographic. Along with the movies, authorities seized lists of customers who have rented the material. County attorneys will scour those lists looking for names of minors. A television talk show Sunday night pitted Movie Buffs attorney Jerome Mooney against Gail Ruzycki of the Eagle Forum. Callers were split in their support of the two. Community standards are at the center of the Eagle Forum argument against the adult movies, but there is something more important than community standards at stake. What about First Amendment rights? What about Fourth Amendment rights to privacy for those whose names were confiscated? If Movie Buffs did not break the law the county attorneys office is way out of line. How can they on the strength of a caller's complaint begin an investigation which effectively puts a business out of business? Common sense would dictate that an investigation would be w'arranted before using tactics and carting off a companys inventory. strong-arWere not defending adult movies. Were defending the Constitution. No matter how' much we wish there were not adult movies at Movie Buffs, or hundreds of other video stores across the stale, the police do not have the right to put legitimate businesses out of business. Thats the law. If we dont agree with the law then we should work to have the law changed, but we must operate w ithin the law. The ACLU has entered the fray with its lawsuit against the Utah County Attorneys office charging them with violating their clients civil rights by confiscating the lists of adult movie customers. The office has received many calls and will represent four or five John and Jane Docs in the upcoming suit. Carol Gnade, executive director of the ACLU said none of the movies seized are illegal. Pornography is an insidious, filthy part of our society which should be eliminated. Adult movies are not far behind, but they are far enough behind to be lawful and thats the difference. There are many choices in this world that are harmful, yet legal. Some would argue that adult entertainment and pornography are harmless. But Davis County courts are filled with fathers and relatives of small children whom they've sexually abused who admit to the court they view pornography. We may chose not to support video stores that rent adult movies. We may encourage others not to support them. But as long as the law supports them, we have no right to close them down. The question has been asked, if lists of video users can be confiscated, what about lists of library book users? What about lists of people using What about children using Ritalin? What about lists of unw'ed mothers? What other community standards might call for an investigation that would destroy the lives of citizens? In our zeal to clean up society lets not forget were living in America, land of the free! HW. vmR coffUMtnj mu. ciAuffr ultra-conservati- m law-abidi- Cougar athletes head list of best, worst The elections are over. ..The Utah Jazz are on the court. ..The BYU-Uta- h football game is less than one week away. ..Yes, Life Is Good! So what an opportune time to present the latest Best and Worst along the Wasatch Front. BEST QUOTE BY AN ATHLETE: Concerning the ESPN prediction that Rice would upset BYU, a Cougar lineman told a Stevie boy, you're supposed to be getting an education at BYU, not just tossing around a football!) tributed over $100 thousand to various charities... ($100 thou- THAT THE JUVENILE SYSTEM ISNT WORKING: Following his conviction on four felony counts, it was revealed that old Benjamin Eagle Dutchie of Salt Lake City had been previously referred to juvenile court 126 times by age 15. BEST ANGRY QUOTE BY A DAVIS COUNTY COACH: a Brighton High Leading 56-coach reinserted his veteran players to stop Layton High from scoring late in a state playoff game WOMENS BEST DEMONSTRATION 16-ye- ar earlier this month. That move prompted Layton head coach reporter. It made me so mad, and we decided right there we were going to eat Rice. Look, 70 percent of the world does, so we did! WORST QUOTE BY AN ATHLETE: role model and BYU quarterback Steve Sarkisian told an interviewer he never reads books for pleasure. To me. I'd rather just see the movie. It saves you, like 15 hours. Ten hours maybe." (Remember, Bn Carter Cook to say, Weve got a little bit more class than Brighton. I'm pretty old, but I dont forget stuff like that. One of these days, my turn will come around. MOST POORLY-WRITTEBUSINESS NEWSLETTER: The N Layton North Davis Area Chamber of Commerce monthly newsletter which routinely contains numerous spellinggrammati-calwritin- g First has con Security Corporation errors. Example: sand? Huh?) BEST QUOTE AT A CONFERENCE: Syndicated columnist Heloise told attendees to the recent Utah Womens Conference that they should freely use their best china and silverware. If you dont, the second wife will! she said. SECOND BEST QUOTE AT A CONFERENCE: WOMENS Heloise again. ..In noting that many young women lack kitchen training, she said, Macaroni and cheese is not difficult to make but unless you know how to do it, I it is! guess BEST REASON TO WORRY ABOUT A PARTICULAR BOY: A old Ogden boy allegedLabrador ly tortured a puppy by burning it with a firecracker, cutting its ear off with a pair of scissors, shoving a garden hose in its throat and beating it with a shovel. The case was later complicated when investigators found the dog was already dead before the boy went on his rampage. WORST PROMOTION FOR SEAFOOD: A Ogden man threatened his two roommates with a butcher knife, punched holes through a door and jammed a knife into a ceiling. The man was angry because his roommates had opened his can of sardines. BEST NEWS ON TAXES: The Utah Taxpayers Association reported that the property tax burden in Bountiful was 48 percent below the national average for suburban communities. MOST HILARIOUS ASSERTION BY A CRIMINAL: A prison inmate claimed that he was when only acting in he stabbed a man 67 times. MOST BORING DAILY NEWSPAPER COLUMN: John Youngrens mismash in his Salt Lake Tribune TV column. BEST DAILY NEWSPAPER COLUMN: Robert Kirbys wonderful religion columns in the Salt ' Lake Tribune. MOST JOVIAL AND HELPFUL PUBLIC SECTOR EMPLOYEE: Herb Jensen at the Davis County School District. After Herb was produced, God broke the mold! self-defen- Vcur Opinion Bountifuls defense of fire response time not credible Editor, City manager Tom Hardy took another jab at the Clipper for sullying the reputation of the Bountiful City Fire Department by repeating his letter to the editor in the Bountiful City Newsletter. What incredibly bad timing! His remarks arrived with our utility bills on the same day as a second home burned only two blocks from the unmanned Bountiful Boulevard fire station. There might be more arguing over response times to come but this time, the city's side wont be credible. A large number of people were watching their clocks and have some real time figures. When the station is unmanned, the red sedan might get up the hill in nine minutes but the big trucks probably don't clear first or at the most second gear in coming up 18th South and over 20 minutes for the effective response team is more realistic. Fire loss statistics may not tell the whole story. Although the average per capita loss is less than the state or nation averages, could we actually have fewer fires per capita? Could the amount of loss per fire show a different picture? How are duties prioritized? Is pumping water out of the city swimming pool taking a gamble on not being available for the next fire? Which tape of which 91 call is used to measure response time? Is the argument really to protect the reputation of the fire department or to protect the city fathers who want us to think everything is wonderful. No matter what is said, the Bountiful Boulevard fire station is not manned 24 hours a day. Maybe we are expected to schedule fires when the station is 1 manned. Thomas D. Coppin Cox claims Irvine is guilty of same actions he criticized Editor, David R. Irvines derogatory and offensive letter to the editor last week (1 296) tells us more about him than about me. The very things that he is complaining about in his letter are the very things that he is doing in his He commented on House Bill S97. Lets look again at HB S97. This bill takes away a persons drivers license if they are unable to pay a specific class of debt. That specific class of debt is the full amount of child support ordered by a court judge. Not only is this law directed to a specific class of debt, but more importantly, it is directed to and creates a specific class of people with less rights than those not in that class. The class of people in this case are parents, since they are the only ones that usually can owe child support. This bill creates inequalities among people. It creates a form of debtors prison. It is a loss of our rights. This is one of the ways that our Constitutional rights are eroded and quietly taken away. In 1776 we fought the War for Independence in order to have equal rights before the law and to have no classes of people in America. We fought another war in 1860, the Civil War, to free the slaves, and give all people equal rights and have no classes of people in America. Now we have to defend our rights from being voted away from us in state legislatures and in Congress. It takes legislators with real courage to vote against bills like these in the face of pressure to vote for them, and few there are with that courage. When we are willing to have laws that only apply to a specific class of people, we are then creating differing classes of people. These people become second class citizens. This sets up the evil of inequalities and classes of people before the law in our nation. parents have become the slaves of the 90 s. Some may think this bill is only for people who refuse to pay child support. This is not true and not the case. It also affects people who are unable to pay the child support amount ordered by a court. If a person is out of work, or in being out of work can only find work that pays less, the court judges keep the child support amounts at the previous higher earning amounts even though the person is no longer earning that amount. This is called Earning capacity (see Utah Code). The child support amount is kept at this higher earning capacity amount, even though, after all their efforts, the person is not earning that higher income. There may be some that would intentionally try to earn less to pay less but this, I think, would be a small few. Let voters remember me as a candidate who is willing to speak out for and stand up for the rights of the people, a candidate who will work to protect those rights, a candidate to vote for in 1998. Thanks again to the people of Bountiful, and may you see through any further attacks like this, by this person or others, for what they are without further response by me. al Sincerely, Ernie Cox Bountiful 1 letter. Does he think voters will not see through his letter for what it is? It is an attempt to get political gain for his candidate by attacking and attempting to degrade the personal character and reputation of the opposing candidate. He attempts to do this by using derogatory, degrading, and demeaning words What do we know about this person? He contributed $250.00 to my fellow candidates campaign (source: campaign reports Lt. Governors office, 32596). He was listed on my fellow candidates literature as an endorser. He has done legal work for the Utah Education Assoc.(UEA). The UEA supported and made significant contributions to my fellow candidates Subscription rate : Hand de oemd CO per year Maned $35 00 per year ISSN on iff,l 1233 fubMa'rn No (U3PS 49 80) published Tuesday and Friday fre;;t the weeF of rhristmas and New Years at Bountiful, Utah Pprir.rVai in, tape pad at Eountif il, Utah Address all correspondence to P O Box 267, Bountiful Uah 8401 0267 1 1 campaign. Using personally derogatory words and phrases against ones fellow candidate to influence peoples votes tells more about the person saying the words, than the one whom he is saying them about. I think voters will see through his derogatory effort. This person has also attempted to cast doubt and questions in voters minds by leaving hanging, unanswered questions filled with, in his words, innuendo. Student wants trees saved Editor, I think that cutting down the trees on 4th North is a stupid idea. If you can cut down the trees where are we going to have the picnics we used to have on Saturday afternoons. The maple trees on 400 North are one of the oldest landmarks in Bountiful. First you tore down Bamburger tracks, then Lees Cafe, now the trees. Whats next?? The trees have been there since almost anyone can remember. Those trees provide resting areas for hard workers. I think cutting down the trees is a stupid idea. I think the mayor should think this over very hard. Andrew Layne BJH student |