Protest, Concerns Mount Over U.N. Statute
    		 Tuesday, July 10, 2001
     
    PHOTO
    Duane, Eric and Pat Kessler are protesting LaVerkin's ordinance with a banner saying "God Bless the United Nations." (Lin Alder)
    BY LIN ALDER
    SPECIAL TO THE TRIBUNE

        LAVERKIN -- Signs of protest against an unusual ordinance establishing this southern Utah town as a United Nations-free zone are growing.
        Two of the town's five police officers have resigned, citing conflicts and concerns about enforcing the statute they believe violates residents' civil rights.
        On Monday, Pat and Duane Kessler unfurled a banner from their home next to City Hall. "God Bless the United Nations, and Our Right to Support It,'' the sign reads.
        Earlier in the day, Pat Kessler delivered a letter of protest to city officials who passed the ordinance by a 3-2 vote July Fourth. Those who voted for the ordinance fear the international organization is intent on usurping the sovereignty of the United States.
        "I certainly respect [council members'] rights to believe what they want," said Pat Kessler, "but I am upset that they would discriminate against and persecute those who don't agree with their point of view."
        Duane Kessler believes council members are being myopic. "I see the U.N. as a forum for arbitration instead of war, a protector of human rights in all nations and an extension of the unity that is represented in the United States," he said. "The isolationist viewpoint expressed by this ordinance is a hundred years behind the times."
        The ordinance features a long list of prohibitions including a ban on U.N. personnel, facilities or programs within the borders of the city, located 25 miles northeast of St. George with a population of 3,392. Residents who support or work for the United Nations are required to file annual reports on their activities with the organization and post a sign at any related facility that reads: "United Nations work conducted here.''
        Violators of the ordinance could be charged with a class C misdemeanor.
        That bothers Jake Adams, who resigned from the five-member police force Friday.
        "After I read the ordinance, I knew that I didn't want to deal with the liability of enforcing an ordinance that would violate someone's civil rights," Adams said Monday.
        While neither an activist nor supporter of the United Nations, Adams said he does not want to be pulled into the legal morass he predicts will occur when the ordinance is challenged in court.
        "I don't think any of the council members looked at the ordinance from a law enforcement perspective," he said.
        On Thursday, another officer, Perry Lambert, quit the year-old department. According to The Associated Press, he told Police Chief Pam Humphreys his affiliation with the Utah National Guard was in conflict with the new law. Humphreys was out of town on Monday and could not be reached for comment.
        City Council member Gary McKell, who opposed the ordinance, was saddened to see Adams and Perry leave. But he is not surprised by their strong reaction to the law, which he believes was too quickly drafted and passed.
        "No one even asked the town attorney for an opinion," McKell said.
        Al Snow, a council member who supported the ordinance, declined to comment Monday. Mayor Dan Howard, also a supporter, did not return phone calls.
        City officials have asked Utah Attorney General Mark Shurtleff for a summary opinion of the ordinance. They plan to discuss his concerns at a meeting July 18, a day before the neighboring town of Virgin is scheduled to consider a similar ordinance.
        Shurtleff said Monday he has no authority to review city ordinances. But after reading the La Verkin document, he said it seems to cause more problems than it solves, especially in regards to the First and Fourteenth amendments.
        "What would happen if you said 'Boy Scouts' or the 'NRA' instead of the U.N. in this ordinance," Shurtleff said, adding that the law appears to be based on paranoia.
        "It seems like Utah has had a lot of scrutiny recently with the Olympics scandal, the Tom Green polygamy trial and our new porn czar," Shurtleff said. "And now there's this one."
       
       
       
       
       
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