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Show Viewpoint.... Police Criticized Recently the police force has come under fire from the City Council and local merchants for what they term issuing unnecessary un-necessary traffic citations to tourists. Of particular concern are those citations cit-ations issued for going the wrong way down Main Street. City officials and merchants feel that because of the nature of warning signs and the confusing traffic pattern itself, it-self, it is very easy for an unsuspecting visitor to accidently miss the 'Swede Alley access at Second Street, thereby drivingthe wrong way down MainStreet.Suchanaction, according to merchants would warrant a warning on the part of the local police but not an actual citation. Of those citations issued to out-of-towners for the wrong way offense, all but two of them were issued by the same police officer. Merchants and City Officials feel that the citations are giving Park City a bad name in the eyes of the tourists, who are the life blood of Park City's economy. We agree with this. With the economy producing an adverse effect on the tourist trade, we feel that the last thing a town who's primary business is that of tourism tour-ism should do is constitute an undue burden bur-den on those who support that primary business. We agree that a warning, rather than an actual citation should be given in the case of a first offender who obviously committed com-mitted the violation by accident. After all the police are supposed to be a law enforcing entity, who's duty is to serve the public, rather than a vehicle of revenue collecting and a source of tourist tour-ist harassment. |