Standard-Examiner: Ogden Swears Off Obscene and Profane Language Ban

All's well that ends well, we guess

Good news for fanciers of the First Amendment (and common sense), as the Standard-Examiner reports this morning that Ogden City Public Services Director Jay Lowder's proposal to outlaw obscene and profane language at city parks and recreation events has been unceremoniously  deep-sixed:

• Ogden swears off obscene and profane language ban

Here's the money quote:

[Chief Administrative Officer Mark] Johnson said that while various legal experts have told the city the ordinance was, in fact, constitutional, the decision was made to drop it and look for other ways to curb poor sportsmanship.

“We were concerned with how the ordinance was being interpreted in the public and the reaction we got from that,” he said.

“We decided it would just be easier and create less headache for the city council if we dropped it and went about things another way.”

Translation:

The passage of this vague and free speech unfriendly ordinance would inevitably invite strong legal challenges which the beleaguered Ogden City taxpayers could not well afford to defend, especially by means of bizarre legal theories cooked up by Ogden's so-called "legal experts."

All's well that ends well, we guess.

Update 8/25/12 8:12 a.m.:  The Salt Lake Tribune's all over the story too:

• Dropping an F-bomb in Ogden still OK

Reality "Bites": Experts Warn Ogden That Profanity Ban Could Be Unconstitutional - Updated

Our take: the Ogden City Council has more important work to do than bringing about an Orwell-style Ogden nanny-state

If you want to prevent something like fighting, then you ban fighting and you send in law enforcement when people do fight. It’s hardly ever constitutional to ban speech to prevent something else. You have to ban the ‘something else.’

BYU law professor Frederick Gedicks
Experts warn Ogden that profanity ban could be unconstitutional
August 13, 1012

I think it will be an uphill battle. One of the major problems is where they are proposing this. Parks are like the Colosseum; they have always been the place where people come together. They are the ultimate place for free speech.
I completely understand where they are coming from, but the solution is not to ban the content of the speech. The focus should be more on the actual conduct they are trying to prevent.

University of Utah law professor Erika George
Experts warn Ogden that profanity ban could be unconstitutional
August 13, 1012

To the Standard-Examiner's credit, they've ferreted out advice (for the City Council's enlightenment, we hope) on Ogden's proposed anti-profanity ordinance from the experts, constitutional law scholars at both of Utah's two law schools:

• Experts warn Ogden that profanity ban could be unconstitutional

Hopefully the Ogden City Council will write this down so they don't forget it: "Experts say banning speech is almost never constitutional."
 
While this morning's S-E story reports that "[t]he city still has some time to adjust the ordinance before the council votes,"  we'll go out on a limb and urge the Council to drive a stake through the heart of City Public Services Director Jay Lowder's bone-headed ordinance, and to do so immediately.

And we additionally hope the Council won't waste valuable time trying to placate Mr. Lowder in a probably futile attempt to craft an ordinance based on the "vestigial" constitutional doctrine upholding bans on "fighting words".  The doctrine's all but dead as far as most informed folks are concerned. "Tellingly, the U.S. Supreme Court has declined to uphold any convictions for fighting words since 1946." 

Our advice to the panty-waisted Mr. Lowder:

If fighting erupts any time at any Ogden City-sponsored recreational event or any city-owned recreational facility, advise city employees to adhere to the firm rules of American constitutional jurisprudence, and simply call the cops. 

It ain't that complicated in the final analysis, in our never-humble opinion.

Our City Council has more important work to do than bringing about an Orwell-style, language correct Ogden nanny-state, dont'cha think?

That's our take; and we're stickin' to it.

And with that, what say YOU?

Update 8/16/12 10:00 a.m.: The Standard chimes in on this topic this morning, with this strong, no nonsense editorial, hitting most of the major points we made up-thread:

• Our View: Ogden versus speech

Salt Lake Tribune: Ogden Considers Profanity Ban to Restore Sportsmanship

The proposed language could hardly be any more vague and ambiguous in our never-humble view

We want people to come to our sports events and feel safe and comfortable and to not have to listen to a bunch of idiots who can’t control their anger

Ogden Public Services Director Jay Lowder
Ogden considers profanity ban to restore sportsmanship
August 9, 2012

I don’t think its right for us to come up with something that is ambiguous and difficult to enforce. It doesn’t seem like good legislation to me.

City Councilwoman Amy Wicks
Ogden considers profanity ban to restore sportsmanship
August 9, 2012

Clearly unconstitutional.

Civil Rights Attorney Brian Barnard
Ogden considers profanity ban to restore sportsmanship
August 9, 2012

The Salt Lake Tribune is all over yesterday's anti-profanity ordinance story too, with a typically  craftsman-like Cathy McKitrick write-up, demonstrating the hard work of a top Utah journalist, and incorporating a few "pithy" and informative quotes:

• Ogden considers profanity ban to restore sportsmanship

Looks like at least one Ogden City Council member has her head on straight (as usual).

Here's Mr. Lowder's proposed ordinance text, which we've grabbed from the SL-Trib article left sidebar:

Pursuant to Utah Code Annotated section 10-8-50…no person shall engage in disorderly conduct…or disturb the peace by using obscene or profane language, in any park, playground or recreational facility owned or used by the City, or at any recreational event that is organized, operated, managed or sponsored by the city.

As we said before, we wish Mr. Lowder the best of luck. This language could hardly be any more vague and ambiguous, in our never-humble view.

Wednesday Morning Ogden City News Roundup - Updated

Ogden City weirdly gets set to ban profane language; and Box Elder County "ponies up" for its new "heretofore secret jobs creation weapon"

Amidst what we'd otherwise characterize as yet another slow news day, we'll shine the spotlight on a couple of news interesting items appearing in this morning's Standard-Examiner which nevertheless believe to be at least somewhat worthy of note:

1) Under a banner headline on the S-E front page this morning, we're greeted with this interesting story, indicating that our Ogden Recreation Division, perhaps feeling a mite under-utilized since the January departure of administrative department slave-driver Mayor Boss Godfrey, is setting forth on an ambitious project of its own, i.e., to clean up the "potty mouth" in Ogden City-owned parks, playgrounds or other recreational facilities:

• Use of profane language could soon be against the law at Ogden parks

Implementing such an ordinance will be easier said than done of course, inasmuch as any attempt by City Public Services Director Jay Lowder to regulate free speech runs the risk of stepping on the pesky  First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which explicitly "prohibits the making of any law...abridging the freedom of speech."  So in our never ending effort to keep our WCF readers informed of the operative issues, we'll present a couple of background First Amendement legal online resources which frame somewhat neatly what the Ogden City Council might -- and might not be able to lawfully do in the realm of anti-profanity legislation:

• Profanity & the First Amendment
• Federal judge: State can prohibit profanity on public highways

We'll be following this story as it develops, and wish the language-prudish  Mr. Lowder luck, noting the broad operative rule in American constitutional jurisprudence, that "[o]n its face, profane language is generally not a punishable form of speech. The exceptions discussed above are narrow in scope."

2) As a followup to Saturday's WCF article, which we characterized a "bad news for the Northern Utah jobs picture," the Standard carries another related story this morning, reporting on the bleak "jobs crisis" in Box Elder County, which had already "lost nearly 1,000 manufacturing jobs and about 300 public-sector jobs," even prior to last week's devastating ATK Space Systems NASA contract snub.

Not to worry, lumpencitizens of  Box Elder County.  Help is on the way.  According to this morning's S-E story, Box Elder County officials have appropriated a fair-sized wad of dough... and to top it all off, they have a heretofore secret jobs creation weapon!  Click the link below to learn all about it:

• $100,000 initiative started to bring jobs to Box Elder County

Yesiree folks! Looks like former Ogden Mayor Boss Godfrey has finally landed a lucrative public sector project, under the moniker Better Cities, now that he's all fully set up as a consultant in the private sector:

• bettercity.us - Solving problems. Creating opportunity.

Bonus question: Whatever happened to Godfrey's other company, American Municipal Consultants, which he formed a mere six or so months ago? It had an awfully short shelf life, or so it seems to us.

The floor's open for any WCF readers who'd like to help us out with any of the above.

Update 8/9/12 7:48 a.m.: One sharp-eyed reader informs us privately that Godfrey is beefing up his staff, and that he's also taken his his Bozo Act to Provo City:

• Job opportunity - Economic Development Consultant
• PROCEEDINGS OF THE MUNICIPAL COUNCIL WORK SESSION 2 JUNE 5, 2012

Plainly said, now that Godfrey's "entered the private sector,"he's not letting any grass grow under his "tiny size 4-aaa feet."

Sodden query: Under what circumstances, if any, would Godfrey's representation of multiple municipalities along the Wasatch Front constitute a conflict of interest?