[Vision2020] Dear Tim, are you sure you want full enforcement of the law?

[melyndahuskey at earthlink.net]

Phil notes that a number of sex crime statutes still on the books are not
enforced, and asks if anyone would like the police to get busy on that:  
> So all the folks who are screaming for uniform enforcement, are you ready
to 
> see any of the three things above that are on the books as Sex Crimes 
> enforced here in Moscow?

I hesitate to scream, but I think the key phrase here is "uniform
enforcement."  Not too long ago, a keen Southern Idaho prosecutor (Sunil or
Bruce may remember this guy) began charging single mothers who applied for
AFDC under the fornication statute.  Single mothers who didn't seek
benefits went uncharged.  The cases were, I believe, ultimately thrown out,
since they represented blatantly unequal treatment under the law.

Similarly, if some businesses are required to abide by zoning regulations,
obtain the legally required paperwork (occupancy certificates and zoning
certificates, for example), and are even denied the opportunity to open a
business in a location because of current law, as Potting Shed Creations
was, shouldn't everyone be held to the same standard?  Is "You didn't stop
us before we got started, so now you have to let us do it" really a
defense?  Will it apply to everyone?  

Anyway, supposing Bill Thompson wanted to prosecute gay men, he'd have to
trump up some kind of reason to get the already overworked local police and
sheriff's officers out there breaking into the homes and apartments of gay
men across Moscow in the rather dim hope of catching *somebody* in what the
statute quaintly calls the "infamous crime against nature."  I suspect
they'd be less than eager to undertake that unsavory duty.  And even if
they did hit the jackpot and get an eyeful of the love that dares not speak
its name, Lawrence et al. v Texas makes the hope of a successful
prosecution unlikely, particularly since Idaho exempts married
(heterosexual) couples from the criminalization of sodomy.

What I really want to know is, when will the police start uphold the no
spitting statute?  Spitting on the sidewalks is a public health risk, it's
absolutely repulsive, it's against the law, and I think there ought to be a
mandatory minimum of 6 months for each and every offense.  Fiat justitia,
ruat coelum, say I. 

Melynda Huskey