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 mostpetitions 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 Gangs traditional pre-parade shootout
which, the committee said, isnt "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 committees 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 Wests
mythic traditions of guns.
Enter Councilman David Hutchinson, who mustve 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 shootouts 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.