This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2012, and information in the article may be outdated.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.
Time for another thrilling chapter of our irregular serial, "The Further Adventures of George Zinn."
When last we left Zinn, the Utah gadfly — a regular at state Republican functions, and a frequent presence at movie promo screenings and the Sundance Film Festival — was cooling his heels in the Stony Lonesome.
As Tribune columnist Paul Rolly reported in February, Zinn was in the Davis County jail, after being arrested for failing to pay $1,700 in fines for getting caught on TRAX and FrontRunner trains without paying the fare. Zinn was facing a six-month jail term.
Since then, Zinn was released from jail. On Thursday, a free Zinn was attending the grand opening of the new City Creek Center in downtown Salt Lake City. As it happens, also at City Creek on Thursday morning was the crew from X96's "Radio From Hell," which was broadcasting their show live from the new shopping center.
Bill Allred, talking this morning on the air, picks up our story:
"When we were walking up to take a quick look at the joint, did you notice a guy stopping me for a second? The guy with the big glasses? That's George Hodgson Zinn. ... When we were all leaving the [shopping center], as you guys got on the elevator and I split off to go to the bathroom, I hear, 'Bill! Bill! They got me! They already got me! I'm already being thrown out!' And there's George Hodgson Zinn being hauled out of the back of the City Creek by a security guard."
Allred said he didn't know what Zinn did to merit such treatment.
Zinn doesn't mention his run-in with security on his Facebook page, but he did proffer an opinion about the new shopping center: "The LDS Church has preached for years about extravagant materialism, and then it sponsors a huge megacenter in the heart of the city. I wonder if Brother Brigham really saw all this in vision when he stopped his carriage and looked at the valley that day in 1847."
Stay tuned for our next exciting chapter of ... "The Further Adventures of George Zinn"!