This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2012, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.

The Cricket was so busy during the Sundance Film Festival last month, he hadn't noticed that he had not seen George Zinn anywhere.

Popping into Zinn, a Utah gadfly who shows up unannounced at any event that draws a crowd, has been a regular feature of The Cricket's Sundance adventures. Zinn would be seen outside the Eccles on opening night, or riding the shuttle buses, or enduring the wait-list lines to get into screenings.

(Zinn also used to show up regularly at promotional movie screenings, until his rude behavior toward publicists got him blackballed.)

It turns out there was a reason Zinn was AWOL from Sundance this year: He was in the Davis County jail.

According to Tribune columnist Paul Rolly, Zinn was arrested after failing to pay fines he incurred for getting caught riding TRAX and FrontRunner trains without paying the fare. He faces six months in jail if he doesn't pay the $1,700 in outstanding fines.

Rolly also writes that Richard Snelgrove, a Salt Lake County councilman and former Utah Republican Party chairman, has put out a plea on the Utah GOP's Facebook page to raise money to pay off Zinn's fines. (Zinn is as ubiquitous at GOP meetings as he once was at movie screenings.)