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For the week of Sept. 22, 1999 through Sept. 28, 1999

When spines turn to wet noodles

Commentary by PAT MURPHY


Whatever the Blackjack Ketchum Shootout Gang lacks in polish it makes up in political smarts.

A few Gang members showed up at high noon at Ketchum city hall for a showdown.

No contest. The Gang had the city council slicks outgunned from the start.

How painful to watch town leaders buckle when faced with what politicians fear most—petitions from citizens and being asked to vote on guns.

The showdown stemmed from a 10-3 vote by the Wagon Days committee (it received $22,000 in city funds) to drop the Gang’s traditional pre-parade shootout which, the committee said, isn’t "family entertainment."

Police Chief Cal Nevland said he, too, is concerned about Gang members drinking and firing guns whose blank cartridges could wound bystanders.

Spines of the council turned into wet noodles when long-haired Gang member Jim Valesey began his 30-minute jeremiad.

Never mind that the committee worked all year organizing 115 units. Never mind that councilmen showed not a whit of interest in Wagon Days plans or challenged the committee’s right to pick and choose participants.

Never mind that each council member agreed that the shootout, well, looks sillier every year, as costumed bad guys, good guys and dance hall girls meander through a tiresome, 30-minute shuffle, aimlessly shooting guns like little boys playing cowboys and Indians.

Valesey hit the bulls eye when he produced pro-shootout petitions with 2,672 signatures (941 from Ketchum residents) and talked strenuously about the West’s mythic traditions of guns.

Enter Councilman David Hutchinson, who must’ve flunked Brevity 101. If asked the time of day, Hutchinson is apt to render a history of the clock.

For 20 minutes, Hutchinson wandered through pros and cons of the shootout before the denouement, which he confessed was "a cop out."

Hutchinson suggested that rather than support or reject the committee recommendation, the shootout’s future should be decided by a November "advisory" vote.

Mayor Guy Coles supported the decision, and the other council members chimed in with their "me too!" votes.

Like all savvy politicians slithering out of tough decisions, Hutchinson & Co. seized on an old shibboleth – an "advisory" vote is the "process."

Come, come. The "process" is for elected officials to make decisions, not selectively fob off unpopular ones on voters.

With the "advisory" vote in hand, the mayor and council can aloofly avoid responsibility like Pontius Pilate, and blame voters for deciding what the council lacked courage to decide.

Murphy is the retired publisher of The Arizona Republic and a former radio commentator.

 

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