"The police have denied the testimony of witnesses and victims. The arrest reports disagree with the testimony of other eyewitnesses. The city manager's office has cited the fact that no successful court action has been brought against the city or an officer in 15 years.

"This is true. Before judges and juries in this city, the word of one or two policemen will be taken against any number of credible civilian wit-

nesses.

"EXAMPLE: It happened in a beer bar at 319 South St. two weeks ago. Two officers walked in, paused 60 seconds and arrested a patron standing at the end of the bar as a drunk.

"The bar owner testified at the hearing that the man had had three 6ounce glasses of draft beer. The man was not intoxicated, the owner said. The police said he was.

"Judge Martin De Vries ruled that three glasses of beer were enough to make any man drunk and fined the defendant $15 or two days in jail. "As I say, the vice squad disputes the testimony of any but its own officers."

This whole situation is not new to operators of bars where homosexuals are alleged to congregate (and remember that such congregation is a right upheld by the California Supreme Court, when the patrons maintain a proper standard of conduct). Here. in several California cities, as elsewhere across the nation, the patrons are often regarded as fair game for police surveillance that is many times more intense than that applied to other bars and restaurants. And the record of arrests is high, often with charges growing out of solicitation for unlawful acts which plain clothes police induced the patron to initiate.

What is the answer? Hard to state simply, there may be several aspects to it: First, proper behavior by everyone at all times; second, education of the public to demand an end to indiscriminate police action in enforcing the laws which cover the "vices" or sex-the "moral" things, and finally, an end to legislation in this sphere altogether.

Sin, says Philosopher Sidney Hook in Washington, D.C., is something no democratic community has a right to legislate against. "One man's sin may be another man's duty and a third man's bliss," he added. When will our nation attain the wisdom and courage to enact this philosophy? The evidence that such a philosophy is sound is overwhelming; the claim that. it is a step toward degeneracy is nothing more than an outmoded manifestation of puritanical bigotry and ignorance, with indescribable corruption and tragedy following in the wake of it.

What business do the police have going into bars unless they are sent for, anyway?

mattachine REVIEW

GENTLEMEN:

· POLICE LOGIC IN OHIO

I thought you would be interested in the enclosed newspaper article from the Columbus (Ohio) Dispatch.

I was particularly struck by how laden the article seems to be with misconceptions and misunderstanding concerning homosexuality and persons who possess such proclivities.

I'm sorry I don't have the previous articles regarding the murder case be ing cited. And not being familiar with the background myself, I can't furnish any details either. But, regardless of the details of the case itself, this article certainly bespeaks a tremendous lack of knowledge concerning the character, intelligence, personality, emotions, etc., of the majority of homosexual persons-and, is there any doubt that the principal "deviation" referred to in the article could be anything other than homosexuality?

Sincerely, M. Y., Ohio

22A Columbus Dispatch ***

SUNDAY, DEC. 2, 1962

500 Sex Deviates

Quizzed by Police

By JAMES SPECKMAN At least. 500 men with abnormal sex habits walk Columbus streets. Nothing can be done about them unless they break the law.

Police questioned that number of deviates in connec-

tion with the Mary Margaret Andrews murder case, Detective Chief Wade Knight says. They were released.

Somewhere is one deviate who killed the Columbus Business College coed whose body was found last Sept. 20, Knight believes.