University of Arizona - Desert Yearbook (Tucson, AZ)

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.ONLY IN TUCSON WHAT KIND Of A JOINT Smoke gets in your eyes used to be a song. Now the tune is dif- ferent. What used to be a com- mon event at Tucson Community Center is being aired out in a three-phase program adopted by the city council in October 1972. All smoking was banned in the seating area of the community center. This was the simplest and most obvious solution for elimi- nating marijuana smoking during rock concerts. Initially officials were interested in banning only pot smoking with the threat of cancelling all rock concerts if it continued. This is exactly what happened at the Phoenix Coli- seum and Tucson authorities felt that cancelling all rock concerts was undue discrimination against youth. Smoking of any type is annoying to many people. Limit- ing all smoking to the mazzanine area has increased enjoyment of the performances as well as made it possible to continue the concerts in Tucson. We really blew it in Phoenix, so let ' s try to keep the bands coming here. Take your smoking upstairs or outside. No Smoking 23

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Warning: The Surgeon General Has Determined That Cigarette Smoking Is Dangerous to Your Health. WARNING: Tucson City Council has determined that continued Marijuana Smoking is Hazardous to the Future of Rock Concerts in Tucson Community Center. 22 No Smoking

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No, it ' s Yeah, but they can ' t prove it has had anything to do with the cop- ters. Well, I say it ' s kind of an obvious connection. Think of all the bur- Look! Up in the sky. glaries they can see and don ' t It ' s a bird, forget about the muggers. It ' s a plane, My best friend had his house ' broken into the other night. His stereo was taken. My bike was ripped off last week. No clues, and the magic eyes didn ' t see a thing. Well, they can ' t be everywhere. No, but it sure would have helped if they had been around when my girlfriend got stopped by a pervert the other night. Well, they have a lot of things they have to work out yet. Like the districts they should pay the most attention to. Seems to me they are always in the same area, the one heavily populated by students, blacks, and chicanos. I smell prejudice. Hi, can you talk a minute? I ' ve been assigned an article on the people ' s reactions to the police helicopter. Sure, I ' ll tell you what I think. I think they ' re great. I really feel safe with those guys overhead. Are you serious? What good are they to people like you and me, the little guys on the street? Well, since we ' ve had them in operation, the crime rate has dropped some 20%. That ' s pretty significant. Oh come on, they can be any- where in an instant, if they ' re needed. Criminals don ' t have the time to hide. Oh yeah? How come they can ' t hear them coming? I can ' t miss them. Crime has dropped though. Don ' t ignore that fact. Oh, I think that ' s great, but I still don ' t think that the copters are the reason. What about the sheer invasion of privacy? That ' s a con- stitutional right, you know. Now come on. They ' re not that bad. Okay, they have a rather bright light and they make some noise. But would you rather have those thieves and assaulters run- ning around undetected? I don ' t think they can be detected from up there. Look, I must leave my keys home about once a week and I break into my house every time. They haven ' t caught me once, and I ' m sure I don ' t look any more legal from that height than any prowler does. Come on, they ' re only about 300 feet up. They can see a lot. Maybe they just haven ' t been around when you forget your keys. Sure. If they can see everywhere, then how can they assure the nude sunbathers who have been complaining about being watched, that they can ' t even tell if they are male or female from that height? They ' re not looking for sunbath- ers. Oh so now they have selective perception? I ' d rather they didn ' t only see what they want to. Maybe they have been useful and have cut crime, but it sure is a mystery how. Somehow I can only see that they are being even bigger super-cops and that this is just a prestige device to make them look cool. You ' re really being silly. Sound just like all the other people run- ning around who don ' t care about safety . . . 24 Helicopter