Original Article Is the law always the law? By Fr. Jerome LeDoux, Contributing Columnist February 13, 2006 Donald Pirone thought he was being considerate, helpful, Godly, downright civilized when he sold a $1.75 subway token to a rider who was having trouble with a token vending machine. To his great surprise and shock, he was immediately approached by a transit police officer and clamped with a pair of handcuffs. "The law is the law," observed transit authority spokeswoman Jocelyn Baker when challenged in an interview, even though she acknowledged that Pirone had not made a profit since he sold the token at face value. The arresting officer who witnessed Pirone selling the token simply "acted within the law," she added. "What you've got to keep in mind," she continued,"is that fare abuse is a chronic problem. It costs the Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority (MARTA) millions of dollars every year. There are customer service phones for people who are having trouble getting tokens out of the machine." Under a 1992 state law that bars passengers from selling Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority tokens, the transit police officer slapped the handcuffs on Pirone without bothering to give him a warning about the law. Despite the fact that the law is the law, this triggers a slew of questions about extenuating circumstances vis-a-vis the law. First of all, the millions of dollars lost by MARTA each year have nothing to do with a gentlemanly selling of a $1.75 subway token to a rider unable to tame a token machine. This is akin to arresting a football ticket scalper who has just recovered the face value of his money, while the big-time scalpers are getting away with grand larceny. Penny ante enforcement of minor traffic infractions siphons the police away from major criminal acts which seriously impact individuals and people at large. Granted, some minor traffic infractions, such as running stop signs and red lights, can be quite dangerous, even deadly. Yes, some "minor" violations should be regarded as serious. To save manpower and to document traffic light violations accurately, video cameras are coming into vogue in a number of cities. This is truly a case where the law is the law whose violation is often very tempting but can easily end up in injury and death. On the other hand, there are so many confrontations and suits involved in parking violations, especially with meter buffaloes (maids), that the situation is often ridiculous. The horror stories go on forever, even documenting city No Parking sign switching from one side of the street to the other within hours of the same day. Surely, the law is the law, but not all laws are created equal. Selling tokens and scalping tickets are, at worst, victimless crimes wherein the supposed victim is complicit in whatever is going down. However, not even all victimless crimes are created equal, and that brings about huge controversies concerning things like prostitution. COYOTE (Call Off Your Old Tired Ethics) was founded by Margo St. James in 1973 to work for the repeal of the prostitution laws and an end to the social stigma associated with sexual work. The organization is also a service provider to thousands of prostitutes. We can still hear the transit authority's spokeswoman mumbling, "The law is the law." It is a centuries-old discussion whether the communities of these United States would be better served by legalizing the world's oldest profession. There are many who think outlawing prostitution is having negative effects similar to those of Prohibition. Also, prostitution laws hit the Janes, not the Johns, reducing the law to a half-joke. While law enforcers in some areas focus on smaller laws, hardened criminals or those apprentices in training are engaged in community-threatening activities such as theft, shakedowns, trafficking in drugs and racketeering of every kind. In effect, some laws, which seem to exist for the moral and physical well-being of the community, do not. Thus, January 16, 1920 kicked off the Roaring Twenties with the fateful enactment of the astounding Eighteenth Amendment, the National Prohibition Act, or the Volstead Act. This prohibited all importing, exporting, selling and manufacturing of intoxicating liquor; that is, anything with an alcoholic content of more than 0.5 percent. Of course, Prohibition did not include alcohol used for medicinal or sacramental purposes. We all know now that this was a terribly bad law, spawning Al Capone and the worst of trafficking and racketeering. Somehow, in this case the law was not the law. It is hard to fathom that Prohibition, the so-called "noble experiment", was undertaken to reduce the consumption of alcohol as well as crime, corruption, social problems, tax burdens from prisons and poorhouses, and to improve health and hygiene. Unfortunately, the next unlucky 13 years accomplished the opposite of all these goals. The tragedies of Prohibition were relieved only by the comedic antics of people who hid liquor in hip flasks, false books, hollow canes and other devices. Replacing saloons were illegal speak-easies, over 100,000 of which were in New York alone. Crimes of every sort skyrocketed at alarming rates among bootleggers and common folk alike. Most people at large appear to be opportunists bent on tap-dancing around the law whenever easy, convenient and especially undetectable. Before the cell phone, many circumvented the price of collect calls by saying: "Call yourself when you get there." There is a rogue-like delight for many people in "beating the system," in finding ways to cheat without getting caught. This explains in part, in addition to impatience, why so few people are content to set their cruise control on the highway speed limit and settle down to a leisurely trip to whatever destination they may have. This gambling tendency may also explain partially the moth-to-light attraction of casinos, even in large numbers of churchgoing and upstanding people. The spillover goes into tax evasion through cash payments and other forms of deception. Tokens, anyone? http://www.ledger-enquirer.com/mld/ledgerenquirer/news/local/13822652.htm Posted on Wed, Feb. 08, 2006 Lawmakers hop on board bill allowing MARTA token resaleAssociated PressATLANTA - The Georgia House decided Wednesday that bus and subway passengers should be allowed to resell their tokens. The bill is a reaction to last year's arrest of Donald Pirone, who could face a year in jail after an officer spotted him in November selling a MARTA token inside the West End subway station. The arresting officer followed a 1992 state law that prohibits passengers from selling tokens, and handcuffed Pirone. Pirone argued he was just trying to help a fellow passenger having trouble with a token machine. He said he did not ask for the money but that the passenger gave him $1.75 - the price of a token - out of generosity. The proposal eliminates the criminal penalty for riders who sell or exchange tokens or tickets used to access the state's buses, subways and trains.