OCR Text |
Show JUSTICE - If all who visited our state carrying beer or liquor across our state line were arrested and thrown in jail, our jails would be filled with perhaps thousands each day, because Utah laws state that such acts are a felony. We would soon have very few tourists or other visitors and yet you might say that the law we upheld but justice would not have been served. The serving of justice ought to be the basis of all our laws and was the intent of those founding fathers who drafted the Constitution. Without justice all laws are a farce. Hitler had all the laws he needed but forgot about justice. No society can long endure without it. England had laws and our forefathers could not tolerate them because justice was forsaken. Now that we understand how justice and law relate to each other, lets talk about whats happening in our own community. Three persons, Don Clarke, Clarence Young and Keith Moore have been cited for selling beer to a minor. Each is, beyond any doubt, of the highest character and moral standard. They would not, in my opinion, under any circumstances, knowingly or willfully break any law period. Having unknowingly broken the law, two of these men, Don Clarke and Clarence Young, pleaded guilty. They were assessed and paid a minimum fine under the law for their error in judgment, supposedly paying their debt to society. The third man, Keith Moore, entered a plea of not guilty and is awaiting a trial by a jury of his peers. Now, for some reason, apparently the penalty imposed .upon the first two is not enough for some local leaders who would carry the law beyond' justice and take away even their livelihood. Are we without justice in Panguitch, acting like the Parisees of old who would impose always the letter of the law, forgetting that justice must always be tempered with mercy? I hope not ... for the sake of justice. David W.Williams |