City Creek Take Down

Wednesday, I must admit, is kind of a slow day so I was appreciative when any calls came in on my line. Access Utah network always been one of the "touch points" the Americans with Disabilities Act

(ADA). So naturally over the years and hundred of access calls. But Wednesday's call was one of the best. When I answered the phone there is a pause, there's always a pause, as the caller gets ready to launch into their explanation. The caller was timid to begin with and he asked if this was the A D A to which I replied--this is access Utah, Utah's disability information line and we can answer ADA related questions. So he launched into a bizarre story of the dog, personal the disability and a rent a cops with to much time on their hands.

Briefly stated the individual who called we will call him Dutch has a service dog--you didn't tell me what kind of dog he was but I assumed he was a hairy dog or furry dog, whatever. And he in his dog had gone down to the new Salt Lake City downtown mall, City Creek. Now, I really haven't written much about City Creek but is Salt Lake's new, upscale mall, it's an outside mall two stories, fountains and still parts under construction but is now open to the public. Well, the caller tells me was a rainy morning, and we've had a lot of rainy morning to late here long Wasatch front and he was telling me how his dog had walked through some mud and was was tracking mud all over the clean floors of the City Creek mall. So Dutch, like any self-respecting service animal older would do grabbed racks holding back to the bathroom and washed his positive the sink where else? I mean if I had a service animal in the service animal had muddy feet--and I and I cared--that's what I would do huckem up to the sink and wash his positive everybody else. So let's let this part of the story sit for a bit of the back burner and then we'll talk about the $.24.

So not only is Dutch a conscientious consumer worried about the tracks his service beast leaves in the public space Dutch is also concerned about the fish of the world. And not only of the world but in City and Creek. Now bear in mind that City Creek is actually built on a city creek weird is that is and the Creek, man-made as it is has been channeled the flow right through the mall. Another Creek is spanned more than once a cutesy little bridges that the patrons across and gaze into the running water and guess what there's fish in the Creek! Now remember people shopping across any bridges they have changed jiggling in their pockets and so more than one is tossed the extra pennies dimes and nickels into the Creek. It just so happens that Dutch is a conservationist at heart and he cares about fish. So he was horrified to see the gleaming coins reflecting sunlight off the bottom of the Creek poisoning the fish. So like any conservationist he started fishing out the coins – – to save the fish. Sometimes point of view (P O V) can be everything. Now City Creek mall employs a host of rent a cops which where Smokey the bear type caps which really makes the cops look quite ridiculous. So it's not surprising when the Smokies happened upon Dutch with his hands literally in the the Creek the Smokies took a dim view of him fishing out the coins. Now Dutch really didn't want to coins for himself in fact he is only pulled out about $.24 and laid the change on the side the bank of the creek. This went unnoticed by the Smokies who in short time hold them up to the office. Now there was some exchange of conversation where when challenged Dutch informed the Smokies they could only do a citizens arrest, hold him over, until the real cops got there and of course that's exactly what happened. It was when they brought him into custody they realized Dutch was the same culprit who washed his beasts pause in the men's restroom sink. Which soon became an issue is great as removing coins from the public Creek.

One can imagine I was about 45 min. of the call at this point in time and kept getting imagery of Alice's Restaurant, but Mr. Woody Guthrie and I was struggling to maintain my professional dignity. The long and the short is that Salt Lake City check the observation cameras and saw that Dutch was not keeping the coins in fact he was absolutely right about poison the fish not that they cared – – the Mounties not the fish – – but Dutch soon became a defendant and when brought before the judge begin to try to educate the judge regarding the Americans with disabilities act and what it does and how it doesn't which was way too much for the judge to hear him tell the case over for hearing which of course moved out of the arena of public defense meaning Dutch need to find Council somewhere somehow, which is one the reasons he was contacting my office. This is all $147. 00 which of course Dutch did not have an he also did not have money for the Council.

I left the call not knowing what Dutch is going to do--I suppose he will survive the legal system you may be in debt, is.maybe in debt but Dutch will survive the legal system. Another case in point at how quickly things get out of hand and a little information is a dangerous thing.