As we predicted when new State Attorney Mark Kohl moved into the office earlier this month, a new day is dawning in law enforcement here. No longer will the police be able to arrest anybody for anything anytime— without a case— and expect the State Attorney to just "go along". Mark Kohl is already showing that he won't prosecute if the cops don't at least have some kind of case.
As we have suggested here before, former State Attorney Kirk Zuelch apparently missed the class at prosecutor school when they taught "how to drop a case when you don't have any evidence." His policy seemed to be to just prosecute everybody (except, of course, the well-connected). And, in doing that, he was often able to get easy convictions by piling on bogus charges and then offering to drop some of those charges in return for a guilty plea.
When, occasionally, some hapless defendant thought that he might actually be innocent and demanded a trial, Zuelch could usually count on his pals in the black robes to support his case, regardless of how questionable it might be— at least until it got just too embarrassing. (Does the name "Nowatney" ring a bell?)
But, my oh my, have times changed! Last week, Kohl dropped all charges against Kathy Eddins, the women who had been arrested for displaying her painted breasts during Fantasy Fest. (See story on page 1.) You see, there was sort of a minor problem: Ms Eddins has no breasts! She had a double mastectomy in 19999. But she was arrested, handcuffed and hauled off to jail anyway. And an Assistant State Attorney, left over from the Zuelch dynasty, was determined to take her to trial! We're not making this up!
But then Kohl got involved. In dropping the charges, he not only accused the Key West Police Dept. of selective law enforcement, he also suggested that the cops involved in at least Eddins' arrest may not have been familiar with the law. (Imagine that!) And he suggested that, for the same reasons, he may drop some or all of the charges against some of the others arrested for "flashing" during Fantasy Fest.
How refreshing! A State Attorney who won't prosecute unless he has a case. In this county, that's almost a radical concept.
Now it's time for our City Commission to suck it up and do what is necessary to save Fantasy Fest as an adult event. The cops have been the target of most of the criticism concerning the arrest and confinement of all those women. But, in truth, the cops were directionless. They simply did not know what to do. The City Commission should make sure that doesn't happen again.
Before Fantasy Fest, the Police Dept. sent out a press release warning that public nudity is illegal— but promising that violators would be initially warned to give them an opportunity to cover up. Only repeat violators might face arrest, the release said. Presumably that press release was authorized by Police Chief Dillon. But most of those arrested were never warned! That begs the question: Who runs the Police Dept. here? We think that had most of those who were arrested been politely warned by a police officer, they would have covered up.
The responsibility to provide direction to the cops falls to the City Commissioners. They can react to the State Attorney's charge of selective enforcement by, simply, killing Fantasy Fest. To avoid being accused of selective enforcement, they can order the cops to arrest every single woman who bares a breast, regardless of how heavily painted it it. Or regardless of whether or not she even has breasts! They can order the cops to climb up on the parade floats and drag down any woman (or man) who might be too-scantily clad.
Cops can also be ordered to arrest the bodypainting artists who dare to paint a woman's breast. And how about those guy who ride the floats or wander through the crowd offering beads in exchange for a peek? Aren't they aiding and abetting?
Or the Commissioners can go the other way. Establish an alcohol-free "Family Fun Zone" at Bayview Park and arrange for the parade to pass by the park. Those who don't want to expose themselves (no pun intended) or their children to the "depravity" down on Duval can comfortably watch the parade from Bayview.
Then, downtown, an adult fun zone might be created where cops could be ordered (if that's possible) to back off a tad. There's no reason this can't be done. After all, Commissioners annually approve a fantasy zone where open containers are okay— but, the rest of the year, open containers are bad, bad, bad, evil, evil, evil!
The solution to the problem is simple. Let's all watch together and see if they can figure it out.
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Fax 292-1882 Email: office@kwtn.com