American Notes Bureaucracy

Legal controversy is familiar ground to Ralph Ginzburg. Thus the self- publicizing publisher, who became a cause celebre when he spent eight months in jail in 1972 on obscenity and pandering charges for sending his Eros magazine through the mails, was greatly offended by the wording on a federal traffic ticket he received last summer. At a national park in Queens, N.Y., Ginzburg, who had a foot injury, was granted permission to leave his car in a section reserved for the handicapped. Upon returning, he found a ticket marked "Violator's Copy." Notes Ginzburg, no neophyte when it comes to legal nuance: "It didn't say 'Defendant's Copy' or 'Alleged Violator's Copy.' It meant I was presumed guilty."

After a magistrate rejected his complaint as "frivolous," the publisher sought out old friends at the New York Civil Liberties Union. When attorneys there raised the issue with U.S. authorities, they conceded that Ginzburg had a point. Now all tickets issued by federal agencies like the National Park Service will be labeled "Alleged Violator." Ginzburg, while crowing about his victory for the "determined little guy," notes that he is still contesting his $40 fine.