#title Plymouth Hits Smut
#author Victor Mansfield
#SORTauthors Victor Mansfield;
#date 1969
#source [[https://www.fifthestate.org/archive/91-october-30-november-12-1969/plymouth-hits-smut]]
#lang en
#pubdate 2019-08-01
#notes Fifth Estate #91, October 30-November 12, 1969
In a surprise but not so surprising appearance at a regular City of Plymouth City Commission meeting on Monday, Oct. 21, twelve anointed Veterans of Foreign Wars of one of the local posts registered their objections to the liberation of our brothers and sisters in that city.
The VFW read a statement which said in part, “We strongly object to the fact that certain publications, namely underground newspapers, have been made available to the students of Plymouth schools. Our objections primarily are to the vulgar and sexually provocative language, the disrespect for law and order and the overthrow of government.” Right on!
The proud VFWers never gathered quite enough courage that evening to say exactly in their prepared statement which newspapers they were talking about, but passed out copies of the Fifth Estate and the Ann Arbor Argus, which brother Rolf Dietrich has been bringing to the people in Plymouth, just to make certain that everyone understood that they were not talking about the Detroit News.
Chief of Police Straley told the Commission, “If there has been an offense of our ordinance which pertains to selling indecent and obscene material the violator will be prosecuted ”
However, City attorney Lowe told the Commission that “We don’t know where we stand—in higher courts we are doomed to defeat. The prosecutor refuses to take a complaint under state law, and we can’t even get an injunction. The City Attorney also said that the only chance for prosecution would be under a 1952 disorderly person ordinance.
At this point the fascist mind of Plymouth’s chief pig began to work in earnest, as he came to the conclusion that if he could not legally arrest anyone for selling or possession of these “underground” newspapers he could certainly drum up a charge of disorderly person and make his arrest anyway.
He said: I, for one want to test this ordinance in local court to see if it stands up. All we can do is prosecute a case and see what happens in district court.”
Thus the chief of Plymouth’s law and order freaks came to full bloom and once again demonstrated that he cares little if any for the law and is interested only in jailing those that oppose him.
In what was the high point in comic farce the chief also told the commission that a new investigation of the offending papers’ distribution in Plymouth has been started this fall.
Of this Dietrich said, “This is ridiculous. The chief knows damn well that I am distributing the papers here; if he doesn’t he will find out November 6 when the hearing on my $3,000 suit against him and the City Commission for confiscating some Fifth Estates earlier in the year will resume.”
Brother Dietrich reported no difficulty last Friday when he sold the Ann Arbor Argus at his usual location right across the street from the Plymouth City Hall, in front of the high school and in full view of chief pig Straley’s office window.
Dietrich also told us that he will try to get an injunction against Straley to prevent him from making an illegal arrest.