Show can cities ignore state laws says the salt lake tribune city offitt officials als in all parts 0 of f utah would do well to read and ponder the state statutes as they pertain to drunken driving under the utah statutes the courts are required to impose jail sentences for this offense yet it frequently appears that prosecutions are conducted under city ordinances which are wholly at variance with the state law over in ogden the other day a man was fined with the alternative of spending thirty days in lall jail tor for this offense the state law would have demanded a jail sentence le ie would further seem that cities are unmindful of law when they attempt to provide for lesser punishment if this prosecution had been conducted under the state law there would have been no judicial alternative A jail sentence would have been mandatory this punishment no doubt Is in line w with ith public sentiment the public wisely fears the drunken driver and seeks to suppress him not to punish him this no doubt accounts tor for the teeth in the state law it so happens however that the ogden prosecution was conducted under an ordinance and it so happens that the fine was high enough to amount to a jail sentence in this particular case the point Is that the ogden city ordinance does not follow the demands of the state s statute although the offense Is the same anywhere for this reason the ogden court Is handicapped since appeals from I 1 lall jail sentences under weak or detective defective city ordinances might nullify any determined action of the lower courts earnest and right thinking public officials might contribute much to safety as well as uniform law enforcement if they would see that their ordinances followed the general import of the state laws in spirit at least |