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Show Web site: letters www.clippertoday.com eztalkclippertoday.com Tuesoay, May I Davis County Cupper 6,2003a Stories published are often only tiny part of whats known likely already read than you wanted to Youve about the gyrations over the Salt Lake Tribune reporters who sold salacious and unsubstantiated information to the National Enquirer. I would venture to say, however, that the upheaval at the Tribune is not nearly as interesting to the genera public as it is to the media. Many probably dont even care all that much about the ethical questions involved and aren't that concerned about the Tribunes Sev eral months later, this young man cheerfully stopped by our offices to thank us. People had read the story and felt compassion for him. One person called and offered him a job. I le even escaped having to do jail time, and his kids felt vindicated at school. The problems between the district attorney and the too high. In 1992, we wrote another expose, this time on the man whose life served as part of Michael Douglass character as a corrupt financial tyaxin in the movie, supposedly sullied" image. But there are some long-ter- implications of the Tribune saga that applies to all of us. For example, pursuit of law enforcement sources who might have leaked the salacious information about the Smart investigation could further hamper the free flow of news, as police and others become even more hesitant to cooperate with the media. But what intrigued me most regarding news reports over the weekend was a survey that showed that a large majority of Utahns are against reporters using unnamed sources as the basis for their stories. That sentiment is understandable, but could significantly prevent truth from coming to light. In virtually every case, reporters have a gcxid deal more information than they publish. Behind every paragraph that's printed might be many pages of information left out because they are either too detailed, loo complicated, too mundane, or simply not completely verified. Sometimes key information is gained only from people fearful of reprisals or the loss of their jobs if they told the truth. It is a rare person who feels that the need for the truth to come out is worth risking being fired or sued, thereby resulting in the loss of family security or even a home. I know this because once met a young man who had lost his job, was at the risk of losing his home, and was facing jail time because he had unintentionally gotten in the middle of a fight between a district attorney and the county commission chairman (in another state). Worst of all for him was the taunting his children received in elementary school over their "jail bird" father. When we met him, he was despondent and in tears. assured him that if he told his side of the story, truthfully and in all candor, he would be vindicated in the minds of the public but w e insisted on using his name and photograph. ..something he would never have done had there been anything left to lose. 1 1 coun- ty commission also vanished once the story ran and both sides realized that the political costs of the battle were simply far r Wall Street. n every case, we begged, pleaded and cajoled to get as many people as possible on the record. That is always the goal and a reporter's 1 Day care and schools no place for guns Concealed weapons protect schools To imagine that your next door currently have laws in banning concealed neighbor with a concealed weapon in courtrooms permit is trained to effectively hanand on airplanes. What about dle a tense and violent occurrence is ludicrous. Even the professionschools and churches? The majorially trained police officers ty of Utahns are in favor of this ban, but our legislaresponding to the , Columbine shootings had tors have chosen to listen a difficult time knowing to the powerful voice of who were victims and the NRA instead of their who were killers. Imagine constituents. the chaos if you threw in a on Many parents rely half dozen other gun the state's seal of holders. How do the approval when selecting a caregiver for their chilpolice act appropriately? I dren. Licensing for day dont think the good guys By Dawn wear white and the bad care providers requires a Brandvold guys don black hats ala yearly visit to the site by the state. It is a thorough Gunfight at the OK with restrictions. Corral. many inspection For example, only pump disWeapons are banned in courtrooms because of the highly emopensers for soap, paper towels tional proceedings that occur instead of cloth, and even the type of snack food is scrutinized. The there. Anyone who has visited a one thing that is never investigated high school recently can attest to is whether or not there are guns in the fact that these buildings not the home and if so, how they are only house emotion galore, but stored. This is not a call to ban gun throw in an extra dose of hormones and a gun or two to the mix owners from also being e and we are asking for trouble. providers. but when adequate gun safety in these As far as guns in church, it is homes isnt even an issue, we have hard to believe that this is even an issue. There is a popular fad of jewa problem. If bar soap is threatening our elry items asking, What would Jesus do? It doesn't take much childrens safety, what about a loaded weapon? This lack of comthought to know that Jesus would mon sense when it conies to gun not be packing. If you are so coninto the over cerned about your safety that you carries ownership feel it necessary to carry a gun debate ov er concealed weapons in while attending your local church churches and schtxils. rationale that The often-hear- d service, maybe you should think an owner of a concealed weapon about changing religions. This is not about gun ownercan prevent crimes, such as the incident at Columbine, is a theory ship. This is about common sense. School and churches are not places based on too many Dirty larry" movies. More guns in a volatile sitfor guns. The safety of our children uation equal more injuries and and the sanctity of our places of deaths. Members of law enforceworship should not be comproment SWAT teams are given mised by the strident voices of the intense training on how to handle NRA. The NRA is not the voice of such situations and how to avoid reasonable gun owners, but the casualties of innocent bystanders. bully pulpit of extremists. teachers to carry schools is a concept. Following an outbreak of school violence in the past several years, the American public and government have been discussing ways to signifthis icantly decrease number. Many will argue that the last thing schools need are more guns. However, I have always been a firm believer in the fear factor when it comes to both parenting and teaching. Fear instills discipline and keeps children from attempting something that may have fierce consequences. Violent students will think twice before attempting to take the law into their own hands. Israel has given schools the right to bear arms, and the number of school attacks have greatly diminished. Another example rarely discussed happened at a high school in Pearl, Mississippi in 1997 A deranged student named Luke Woodham went on a rampage when Assistant Principle Joel Myrick tried to stop him. Myrick ran outside to the parking lot and retrieved a handgun from his truck, blocked the road as Woodham was on his way to kill some other students, and ordered him to the ground at gunpoint until police arrived. Myrick said he had no doubt Woodham would have killed more people if he had not been stopped since he had 36 rounds of ammo in his pocket when he was finally subdued. The was that problem Myricks gun was in his car in the parking lot. By the time he was grants to the President of the United States or to Congress the power to influence the political life of other countries, to uplift their cultures, to bolster their economies, to feed their people, or even to defend them against their enemies. To get some idea of how we are flouting the Constitution, see how the Constitution defines treason (Article 111. section 3), then observe what we are doing to build up the enemy, this totally, conspiracy Is this happening today? This then leaves open a great opportunity for charity to the pri Quote of the day We first preference. Many more were willing to speak only on the condition of anonymity, however. That leaves nxmi for people to lie or to at least manipulate the truth as payback for an alleged wrong. What people may not realize, however, is that statements from unnamed sources are not used unless they are corroborated by a second individual. But we always prefer more sources than that, and in the story above, obtained statements from at least five or six people regarding every incident that was reported. To avoid collusion, we inter- iewed each source separately and did not inform them of others being inters iewed, nor even that others had been contacted. In another story that exposed a congressman, a highly placed source accused him of falsifying financial records and forging signatures on them. Ib protect against the information simply being a vendetta, we obtained copies of hundreds of suspected documents and examined them ourselves. Then, over a period of months, persuaded the source to let us use his name, and finally, pose for a photograph holding the dix'uments as evidence that they really existed. Few are this state-licens- day-car- brave. As a final check, unknown to our source, we had the documents analyzed by a police department handwriting expert to see if he concurred with the sources assertions. He did. Thats the type of care publications take to ensure accuracy of what they report. I know, because I have 2.000 pages of supporting documents for the above stories. And I still pay to keep them safely stored inside a Texas bank vault. 1 r Stay within Constitutional bounds Editor: The following is an admirable quote from the late U.S. Secretary of Agriculture. Ezra Tift Benson. There is one and only one legitimate goal of the United States' foreign policy. It is a narrow goal, a nationalistic goal: the preservation of our national inde i in the pendence. Nothing Constitution grants that the President shall have the privilege of offering himself as a world leader. He is our executive; he is on our payroll; he is supposed to put our best interests in front of those of other nations. Nothing in the Constitution nor in logic anti-Chri- st MAIM TELEPHONE Davis County Clipper 1370 South 500 West P.O. Box 267 Circulation Department 295-225- 1 Bountiful, Utah ext 119 7 or 120 $25.00 per year. Mailed: $35.00 per year. y ISSN: on Publication No. (USPS published Tuesdays and Thursdays at Bountiful, Utah. Periodical postage paid at Bountiful, Utah. Subscription rate: 50? per copy. Hand-delivere- 1061-122- Address all correspondence 149-18- to P. semi-weekl- O. Box 267, Bountiful, Utah EDITORIAL Rolf Koecher Tom Busselberg Russ Riggs the best-dress- ed lie. eztalk policy All letters must (1) be signed, (2) keep under 300 words in length, (3) list the authors city, and (4) give the writers telephone number. We reserve the right to edit all letters for we will use the length or content. For letters arriving by address in lieu of a signature. authors Publisherext FAX LINE 114 Executive Editorext. 126 . . . News Editorext. 118 . . . Sports Editorext. 129 I 295-304- 4 PRODUCTION Hayes Powell Production Managerext. 123 ADVERTISING Gene Milne Advertising Managerext. 137 CIRCULATION Roy Millard Office Managerext. 113 84011-026- sec-tor-a- -- Ann Landers OFFICE Annette Tidwell Arming in Davis County from the Midwest, Mr. Ernst is employed in the technology prefers to he surrounded by Republicans. T he naked truth is always better that 295-225- 1 ADMINISTRATION R. Gail Stahle Clipper Publishing Co., Inc. 84011-026- vate sector, such as church welfare programs, help organizations, businesses, individuals, etc. to help feed the hungry or disaster victims anywhere in the world (not the federal government). The peoples responsibility is to speak out whenever necessary in order to keep our presidents and Congress within the bounds spelled out for them as mandated in the Constitution. The bottom line is keeping our independence, sovereignty and freedom intact. The people are its only keepers. Rod and Norma Sorensen Bountiful Allowing able to retrieve the gun and return back inside the school two students were already shot to death and seven others injured by the psychotic kid. The law in Mississippi forces all teachers and administrators to keep every gun locked somewhere off the schools campus. Two students could have had their lives spared if the administrator was allowed to keep his gun inside the school. A common misconception of a proposed law is that every teacher in every classroom will have a gun stored somewhere behind a desk. It only states the school has the right to arm its teachers in order to defend themselves and his or her students. Each or superintendent school principle will be able to choose what they want to do. It's simply a law created to provide schools with a long histoviolence a safery of guard to protect and defend everyone inside the school doors. I guarantee you most schools will still be run the same way they are now, with a complete ban of all guns on campus. Most opponents of armed schools likely have never stepped inside a school loaded with metal detectors, armed guards around campus and constant fighting in the halls. Allowing concealed weapons in schools may well decrease campus shootings. 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