Editorials
The police and the public
John Moore, Lane County Deputy
District Attorney, who works closely with the
Lane Interagency Narcotics Team (LINT),
said yesterday “It’s not our purpose or in
tention to prevent people from taking
photographs in public buildings.” A noble
sentiment. Hopefully this augurs a new at
titude among police and their affiliates
concerning the treatment of citizens when
police are offended by their actions.
Moore’s statement was made in con
nection with the harassment of a
photographer at the county courthouse
Tuesday. A photographer, while attempting
to photograph witnesses entering a court
room to testify before the grand jury, was
accosted by members of LINT, told she was
under arrest for “harassment” and detained
in the District Attorney’s office for the better
part of an hour. During that time the
photographer’s film was confiscated, she
was given a lecture on the problems of
protecting narcotics agents and their
families and was then released with no
charges filed against her.
Since then, LINT agents have been told
to refrain from such actions in the future and
the film has been returned with apology.
There is no question as to why the agents
grabbed the photographer. They wanted to
protect their anonymity.
There is no question that the ef
fectiveness of narcotics agents depends on
their anonymity and that their lives and the
safety of their families is also affected by
public exposure of their faces and-or names.
But to grab the photographer is the wrong
way of going about protecting these agents.
The District Attorney should have taken
precautions in advance of the grand jury
hearing. He could have had the agents enter
the courtroom through the judge’s chambers
or the agents could have been disguised with
masks—a method they have used when
identifying suspects at the scene of a nar
cotics arrest. To have them walk down the
hall, a public place, is asking for someone to
take their picture.
As Moore realized, probably right away,
the agents had no right to interfere or rather
harass the photographer. A judge may have
the right to extend the boundaries of a
courtroom but a narcotics agent does not.
This incident also goes to show one
problem police will have with the new
criminal code. The photographer was
“arrested” under one of the new broad
statutes under the new code. The in
terpretation of this new statute was done by
the narcotics agent on the spot. The dangers
of this are apparent. Perhaps what is needed
is some general guidelines set down by the
district attorney, even though they would
only be working interpretations untested in
the courts. This would give police officers
and agents something to work with.
Hopefully this sort of thing will not
happen again. If the District Attorney can get
things together he won’t have to worry about
his agents having their pictures taken. Also,
if agents and policemen have guidelines laid
down for them they won’t have to be instant
attorneys and harrass citizens.
Letters
Pollution
Why end water pollution? Our economy
needs the boost. With our space program
limited and full scale wars practical
suicide, where else can we spend countless
millions every year, from now until
doomsday, without solving the problem?
If we wanted to, we could end water
pollution for a small fraction of the costs
we are now paying, with low cost
technology cunningly concealed in the
public domain for many years. Treatment
processes would be completed in the
treatment plant—not in the receiving
waters as we are now doing—and without
the usual lethal sludge dumpings in fresh
as well as salt waters.
Where treatment plants are already in
operation at full capacity, including
secondary phases, these same treatment
plants can be doubled or better in capacity
for less than 5 per cent of the plant costs
without any extra land area. Secondary
phases can be added to existing primary
treatment plants at similar savings. New
and far more efficient treatment plants
can be built for less than 35 per cent of the
usual costs and in less than one-third of the
usual space. Phosphates can be reduced
over 95 per cent, nitrogen over 85 per cent
and final sludge upwards from 65 per
cent—with little or no increase over
conventional operating costs.
Our so-called “modern” treatment
plants are less than one half-of-one
percent effective to that which they can
practically be. But why kill the goose
which lays the golden egg? Hie clever
hoax of storm water overflow has enabled
the foisting of huge public works projects
on an unsuspecting and all too often
apathetic populace.
Efficient use of the mentioned
technology would end the overflow
problem with immediate treatment. No
monstrous plant enlargements, no smelly
and expensive holding areas, no costly
sewer separations, no deep tunnels with
their inevitable explosion hazards nor
other misuse of public funds to benefit the
few at the expense of the masses are
needed, including proprietary oxygen and
physical-chemical processes.
America has far too many actual needs
begging for only nominal funds which are
not available to permit this wholesale
plunder of the taxpayer to continue—with
little or nothing of value worthwhile in
return.
August Vondran. Jr.
Webster, New York
“The freedom of the press is me of the
bulwarks of liberty, and can never be
restrained but by despotic governments.”
Virginia Bill of Rights
“The freedom of speech may be taken away,
and dumb and silent we may be led like sheep
to the slaughter.”
George Washington
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'THE END OF THE ERA OF PERMISSIVENESS IS AT HAND!' —Spiro Agnew, Jan. 1972.