provo booting: parking enforcement or moral police?

after reading an opinion editorial on the daily universe and writing a subsequent letter to the editor (which i felt was much better than 2/3 the stupidity they print), i came across an idea that i wanted to toss around.

most justifications of the oppressive booting policies embraced by provo apartments attempt to defend the booters by stating that 'they are doing us a favor.' are they really doing any of us a favor? i say no. for the most part, booting is not a matter of parking enforcement, but is rather another method utilized by byu-approved apartments to enfore the honor code. in other words, provo booters are not parking enforcers, they are moral police.

my experience with booters come primarily from two apartment complexes: crestwood and raintree (where i unfortunately still live).the parking at crestwood is wonderful. because of the great parking space to resident ratio, there were always parking spaces available not too far away my apartment. raintree is the total opposite. while there are enough parking spaces for all of the residents (and some), most of these are on the complete opposite side of the complex, several minutes away from my apartment. this extra parking lot is long, dark, and prone to theft. (my brother had his rear window smashed and his stereo stolen in this lot).

while the parking situations are drastically different, they both back up my opinion that booters are not used to enforce parking, but are used to enforce the honor code. at crestwood, there is no need for parking enforcement; especially in the summer. nobody cares about a non-crestwood guest using up a parking space, we'll just park in the space next to them. at raintree, parking is terrible by 8pm and gets no different as the night goes on. unless, you are lucky and come upon somebody leaving their spot, you are pretty much screwed and have to park out in the boonies. yet, 'parking enforcement' does not begin until 12am - when most of the tenants have already parked and no extra spaces are needed!

as we see, at crestwood, parking enforecement is not needed, but booting occurs. at raintree, parking enforcement may be needed, but not when it occurs. what do they both have in common? for both apartment complexes (as is the case with many complexes in provo), parking enforcement begins at the same time the honor code states that guests of the opposite sex must be out of aparmtments. it seems pretty clear why these complexes have booting policies.

though i disagree with many of the pharisaic aspects of the honor code, i made the mistake of moving into another byu-approved complex and promised to obey it. i can't then complain about having to live the honor code. however, should i be financially punished for a system implemented to police the honor code? i say no.

letter to the daily universe

last week, the daily universe had an editorial defending the antics of local booting agencies. you can read it here

i didn't like it. here is my response i just e-mailed them.

In your editorial, Forget a'Boot it, you plead with those who have been booted to "give [the booters] the benefit of the doubt, innocent until proven guilty." I find it quite ironic that this is the very 'benefit' that booting agencies deny their victims. Booting companies (such as University Parking Enforcement) abuse those whom they punish by declaring them 'guilty until proven innocent.' Victims must pay a costly fee to remove the boot or possibly risk consequences of being late or absent to classes and work. If someone is wrongly booted (as I was by a booter who directly violated University Parking Enforcement policy), they must go through a lengthy letter campaign to have their money returned to them. Booting policies are set up for corruption. The enforcing agency has the power to act and oppress as officer, judge, and executioner.

I understand the need for parking enforcement in crowded lots. However, that is often not the case where booting occurs. In many complexes where parking is plentiful, booting agencies are not used to ensure parking availabilty, but are rather used as Moral Police to victimize potential honor code violators. As a result many are victimized and booted, not for taking up precious parking spaces, but for committing the immoral act of walking a date to his/her door.

Until booting policies are made to protect innocent victims and agencies are no longer used to monitor morality, I say Boo! to the booters.

maybe they'll print it. prolly not.

paper time!

it's 11:30 pm. i've got a seven page paper on descartes due tomorrow (and another seven page paper on sophocles' antigone due the next day) - neither of which i have begun. in order to maintain my procrastination, i figured i'd blog for a little bit (though i really haven't had much time to work on this paper until tonight).

it looks like the people of family city u.s.a. ( or was it pharisee city u.s.a.?) and the utah state hillbilly legislature have decided to punish uvsc for its apparent liberal direction it is taking and deny the school funding for a new library. i'm really starting to hate the people here. i'm lds, but i decided that maybe i am not a mormon. i am getting disgusted by the total pharisaic attitude of the mormon culture that defines this community. when will people get it through their self-righteous shells that uvsc is not 'byu-orem'. it is not a church school. it does not have to hold to your pharisaic way of life.

now don't get me wrong. i am not dissing the gospel. i am not dissing 'the church'. i am dissing the grossly perverted pharisaic mentality that stains the gospel with its ignorant, close-minded, condemning self-righteousness.


in other news, i found out how i can get employed for work-study for the philosophy department. going to school full-time and working full-time is jsut too much for me right now. i need sleep.

byu campus police beat

here are some hightlights from the latest byu campus police beat

university police tip of the week- dry ice bombs are illegal and dangerous for those using and making them. there are serious penalties if you are arrested.

criminal mischief

two cans of whipped cream were found opened in the aisles in the creamery on ninth. two other cans were found but were unopened. two multipacks of toilet paper were also found half-melted on the shelf.

suspicious event

a female student was walking near the smith fieldhouse when a male visitor approached her in his car. he started talking in dirty language to her. she described him as in his late 40s to early 50s with a large face and head. he was clean-shaven with black and gray hair. he talked with a lisp in a high-pitched voice. he was wearing a white-collar button up shirt and gray slacks. if anyone has information surrounding this individual contact university police at 422-2222.

byu property theft

a 20-year-old male student stole some bagels from the twilight zone worth $1.80.

i wonder what "dirty language" consists of? why not 'lewd remarks', 'vulgar language', or anything else? "dirty language" sounds like something my mommy said when i was in 2nd grade.

quinn at uvsc

apparrently over at provopulse.com, if you post anything that goes contrary to its adminstrators view on absolute lds papal authority, then it will be censored. here is a post of some of my thoughts on the recent d. michael quinn speach at uvsc that provopulse deemed anti-mormon and subject to censorship to protect the little children of happy valley.

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perhaps this won't be posted (mason chose not to post my announcement of this event).

last night, d. michael quinn (the leading revisionist historian in mormon studies) gave the annual eugene englad memorial lecture at uvsc.

while many may ignorantly call him anti-mormon, i found his lecture to be a wonderful testimony of the gospel and the church.

here are some tidbits as provided by the daily herald.

"I accept ... that a person who was once an ardent believer has confronted doubts, sometimes too great for the good person to maintain former beliefs in a religious leader, or organization, or community. I also accept the claim of ardent believers who say they have never had serious doubts. But when struggling with doubts sufficient to contemplate abandoning their faith, other believers consider doubt's next step: 'To whom shall we go?' "

"Some regard disbelief as a passive experience which just 'happened' to them, while others affirm that they actively abandoned a faith they had actively discovered to be false."

" . . . sadness is a common denominator in all accounts I have encountered by former believers in Mormonism or in one of its prophets. They have lost confidence, enthusiasm, trust, happiness, and a sense of belonging that at one time seemed the center of their lives. Anger is the next most common emotion . . ."

"Once former believers have defined themselves as victimized by Mormonism, they regard believing Mormons as of only two types: either passive dupes or active participants in fraud."

"In 1896 Apostle Heber J. Grant was severely 'tested' by the death of his 7-year-old namesake. He could not understand the unfulfilled promises of healing in priesthood administrations to his son. Moreover, Elder Grant could not 'reconcile' the death of his last surviving son with his own patriarchal blessings to have sons to carry on his name."

"I propose no answer for this question: 'To whom shall we go?', but simply acknowledge its power in the lives of believers who confront serious doubts. I have given only a brief summary of its effects as I have observed them in past and present. If I argue or anything, it is that unshaken believers, lifelong skeptics and self-confident academics should all stop devaluating the anguish of people they do not understand."

From his question-and-answer session:

"What is unique to Mormonism is the deadly fear that parents have that they won't see their kids again in the next life -- non-Mormons don't experience that kind of pressure."

"Church leaders have as much experience with the church's past history as anyone who graduated from seminary, so they are not trying to conceal any concerns or a great secret or mystery, because they are not aware of them. If they haven't acquired a knowledge of church history before they become a General Authority, they don't have time to acquire it."

"I sometimes wish there was more fear and trembling and searching for course correction among the General Authorities."

"Historians are notably bad as prophets, but I feel the greatest engine of friction and change in the future church will be international Mormons."

"I have tried to speak with both the voice of faith and the voice of an academic and I don't believe they are inconsistent."

"I miss the temple. I was a temple worker, and I miss taking the sacrament, but there are so many policies the church has that I disagree with, and as a member I remained silent or muted my objections, but if anything those policies have accelerated and I could not come back and again be silent."

"The church is a divine institution staffed by humans and I'm not being satirical when I call it a divine institution, I'm not speaking out of both sides of my mouth, I'm not speaking in code. I am a believer."

i have read several of his writings, but this was the first time i heard him speak in person. i was touched by his love for the church and his testimony of it (even though he has to express it as an excommunicated member). it's unfortunate that a few have tried to paint him as an enemy.