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Show i ? 27 THE NATIONAL ENTERPRISE SEPTEMBER 14 1977 Cant get there from here Parker M. Nielson h Z o :S r r 4 I I CL VI OC LU I i i 1 i ? s 1 f i tj v f L ? O O t of knives, pipes, drugs, drunkenness and of 104 arrests several weekends ago. But Bathey and Oiher businesspeople on the Mall said they have never seen any violence and the police dispatcher (appropriately named Diane Lawyer) confirmed she knew of no arrests for assaults or destruction of property. Officer Lawyer said, gravely, that there were a lot of arrests for curfew violations and juvenile related offenses, however. The point is that Mayor Grange may not set himself up as a Utah County version of the legendary Buford Pusscr, to exercise a prior restraint on the use of the Mall, decreeing it for the benefit of businesspeople but not the young or the Short of violating the law, people, young and old alike, have a right to congregate and even to do and say things Mayor Grange may not approve of. Violations of law, moreover, are traditionally dealt with by arrests, not closing city to lawful use. Putting the Mall under the lock and key is surely an effective way to discourage youthful gaiety and draggin Main. Teenagers are nevertheless people and their congregations and antics under the equivalent of martial law does not impress me as an appropriate response. It was a virtual impossibility, for example to get through the maze that is now Center Street to the police station to near Dispatcher Lawyer's explanation of the emergency conditions which prompted the suspension of legal processes. - that being I did, however, see one car draggin Main Mayor Grange checking to see that no one was audacious enough to actually use his Sacred Mall. Provo Mayor Russell D. Grange has converted that well worn aphorism about rolling up the sidewalks at sundown into official city policy. I have reference to a Provo City ordinance declaring certain practices on the Center Street Mall its use after 9:30 p.m. - a public nuisance punishable as misdemeanor. The ordinance, moreover, was adopted pursuant to a declaration of an emergency in which the prerequisites of public notice and opportunity to be heard were dispensed with. All of which is highly questionable if you believe in human dignity, freedom of assembly and expression and equal protection of the law. -- out-of-towne- Mayor Grange reported that the Mall was constructed to humanize downtown and "make it enticing for people. The problem is that he has succeeded beyond his expectations by enticing the youth to congregate on evenings or engage in the traditional American pastime of draggin Main. So, the mayor has literally put a chain across the mall and locked it up. Not before 9:30 p.m., however, for that would interfere with business. The mayor unabashedly admits his real purpose (though not recited in the ordinance) is to chase groups he does not approve of out of the city. He evidently has not heard that such selective law enforcement is unconstitutional. Bob Bathey, manager of two theaters located on the Mall, said he had been on military posts where restrictions were not as severe and that his business was being damaged. The deputy sheriff who locked the street, in my presence, said it was necessary to prevent "gang fights, and Mayor Grange talked -- i i ! : I TEACH HOONOT t td eap 4 AUPHOO NOT ! : TZ m WRITE- - ij i t ' i,nrr r im ib I T&a HCIO WOT to emx A 60CQ m AFTER KISH veto lunmcs.' Lives mseveunes MS0J5R. to uuemoweur. AFTER m HW SCHOOL. SCHOOL.. &(t7r3llBCl q-- ii ' ffe m I . 13 v-5 f l I i 4 Utahs conservative senators, Jake Garn ! and Orrin Hatch, face a dilemma on airline deregualtion. They are caught in a bind I j between philosophic principle and political I h realism. If there be any belief in central to modern pj American conservatism, it is that - from the r j New Deal on - we as a people have been j There are too many laws, too j j many regulations, and too many bureaucrats. i In particular, conservative catechism holds there should be minimal governmental I I intrusion into the market place. Supply is King, Demand is Queen. And we, the populace, gain from their benevolent reign. Deregulate oil and gas prices, for instance, and the greater return will stimulate exploration and development, thus achieve energy independence. So it comes as no surprise that a recent i Senatorial newsletter states, It is most unfortunate that the airline industry, one of the i J j most progressive industries in the world, is being stifled, not by a lack of technical i 1 ' ; 1 over-governe- d. knowledge, but by unnessary federal regulation. Those are the words, not of a conservative, liberal Republican, Charles but of a H. Percy of Illinois. He is a sponsor of the Air Transportation RegulatoryReform Act of 1977, allows the free market which, he says, increased opportunity for lowered air fares, expanded routes and an accelerated pace at which new airlines can enter the market. so-call- ed ; I li j Unlike oil and gas regulations, which depress prices, airline rules keep them artifically high. Percy claims they "force air travelers to pay $1.4 billion more a year than they would without federal meddling.... Do you think this soundslike music to the ears of Garn and Hatch? Not necessarily. Why? Because they have been entreated by this state's predominate religious sect to oppose deregulation. While we recognize the benefits of the free enterprise system, the LDS First Presidency wrote them, "and are aware that some regulatory improvement may be Airline deregulation and hobgoblins "O by Kent Shearer 73 needed, we have concerns with the proposed legislation. Why would the LDS heirarchy, which values free agency, favor both government control and higher fares? Cynics avow it is due to what Percy prospects about and accelerated pace at which new airlines can enter the Those cynics continue that the market. church, or some of its leaders, have heavy investments in extant trunk carriers which could lose out to agressive new competition. So what are Garn and Hatch, strong convservatives, to do? Swallow hard, one suspects, and vote no as their spiritual mentors have asked. To do otherwise would be to risk their political power. If Paris was worth a Mass to Heny of Navarre, Washington must be worth airline regulation to Gam and Hatch. To conservative brethem who bridle at their departure from secular orthodoxy, the two can quote Ralph Waldo Emerson. A foolish consistency, Emerson proclaimed, is the hobgoblin of little minds, adored by little statesmen and philosophers and divines. O o C |