Selective Enforcement

["John Danahy" <JDANAHY@turbonet.com>]

     I have been puzzled by the city council's reference to selective
enforcement when it comes to laws.  When the flashing lights go off behind
me, does this mean I have been selected?  Why?  Because my last name is not
Hill, Guyer, or Thomason?  Because my skin is black? Or I speak with an
apparent accent? Or is it because I live in a rental, or a trailer?  Why
does law enforcement select some people but not others?

     Despite its lack of perfection, law enforcement and the judicial system
work because we have a core belief that Lady Justice is blind.  Now,
however, our city council has decreed this not so!  They have done so
because they are attempting to support a poorly written ordinance.  This
ordinance can not be enforced on an every day basis because it would
overwhelm our court system.  Only specific individuals, predetermined by our
male-dominated city council, will be cited.

     If the ordinance cannot be enforced universally, why then write it?
What does the council hope to gain?  The legal declaration of all womankind
as indecent?  Sadly, the council's defamation of women will succeed as it is
too expensive to overturn in such a short period of time.  We must wait
until the next election, or hope that one of Moscow's police officers
actually cites someone.

John Danahy

jdanahy@turbonet.com