I read an interesting article in the Oregonian today about a young women in Portland who was picked up on a bogus littering charge and taken to court charged with a felony for possesing a fake ID. I understand that law enforcement wants to curtail identifiction forgery and that they also want to keep underage drinkers out of bars and out of trouble. The thing that really bothered me about the article was that the DA used this opportunity to make disparaging remarks about strip clubs. In a town like Portland that has the most strip clubs per capita than any other city in America it doesn't seem prudent for a district attourney to make remarks about the industry. The DA was paraphrased as saying that he wanted to discourage the girl from a life that included things like going to strip clubs. What does that say the district attorney's office thinks about those of us who do partake in perfectly legitimate form of entertainment. Protecting the innocent is one thing but an officer of the court making statements such as these in court just makes demeans us all and threatens our rights.
Link to Article on oregonlive.com
Link to Article on oregonlive.com