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Show AUGUST 1996 this is the place by John Helton SCORECARD Birdie & The Summer Olympic Games boiled down to outstanding courage and extreme cowardice. It is to the credit of the people of Atlanta, the United States and the world, that the Games __ we're not Firing -. we're Restructuring the Division of Wildlife Resources / did not give in to terrorism — the most cowardly of acts. From Mohammed Ali to American gynmanst Kerri Strug to Fatuma Runa, the female Ethopian gold medal marathon champion to Ana Fidelia Quirot, the Cuban woman who overcame severe burns to capture a silver medal in the 800 meter sprint, the Summer Bogey Well, we hate to say we told you so, but the Park City Council already has paved the way for the infamous ski bridge over Park Avenue to make a comeback. It was just a month or so ago that the council voted down the plan. But the big money boys and Mayor Brad Olch weren't going to let it go away. Using a little creative legal interpretation, Park City Attorney Jodi Hoffman found (or made up) a loophole in the city ordinance that would allow the bridge to come back for yet another vote. Birdie < hin ee guy | Turn the with, ower Games have been rife with courage. But with the Olympic Park bomb, the downing of TWA Flight 800 off Long Island, the bombing of the US barracks in Saudi Arabia, and the Oklahoma City federal building, terrorism has now become part of our landscape. The question now is, will we have the courage to root out terrorism while protecting the personal freedoms that make this country great? G) “place Here’s to Utah taxpayers, who for every dollar they send off to Uncle Sam on April 15, get $1.24 back. That's quite something in a state where the vocal voting majority is continuously beating the drum to downsize the feds and their programs. Case in point: Gov. Mike Leavitt wants light rail mass transit for Salt Lake County, as long as he can do it with federal dollars. The Utah Legislature hates the feds, too. That body voted in a nonbinding resolution that all federal land in Utah - some 20 million acres — should be deeded to the state. The Legislature also voted to give Earl Holding US Forest Service land at Snow Basin. Just maybe protection of federal land and federal funding dollars aren't really all that bad. @ Looks like Disease to the Whirling has Spread State Capitol / EDITORIAL Serious Questions Remain Concerning Leavitt’s Stewardship of Wildlife Division In this issue of The Mountain Times, we feature one of the most troubling stories we've yet to come across: Gov. Mike Leavitt's stewardship of the State Division of Wildlife Resources following the investigation into his family’s fish business for whirling disease. In our cover story, outdoor writer Hartt Wixom details events of the investigation and the subsequent demotion of all the DWR career employees who took part in the successful probe. All of those employees left — or more appropriately — were forced from the agency. The governor’s brothers were charged with 33 counts of illegally moving quarantined fish and keeping improper records. In a plea bargain in May 1994, they pleaded guilty to eight misdemeanor counts. They paid a $25,000 fine but the court-ordered probation period was moot, because there now is no one to enforce it — the entire enforcement arm of DWR reorganized and its veteran people gone. Speaking for the governor, Ted Stewart, director of the State Department of Natural Resources, insists that there is no connection between the reorganization that saw 36 employees leave DWR. Since Mike Leavitt took office a total of 71 people have left the division. tified disease free. The governor’s ed for public waters was, for all intents and purposes, non-existent. What begins to appear is a pattern. It is a pattern where the governor's family appears to be benefiting from his office. This is an accusation not to be I-F (eduction in force) plan. None of these people were fired. They chose to retire or take other positions.” That would mean that it was sheer coincidence that State Fisheries Chief Bruce Schmidt, DWR Director Tim Provan, DWR Enforcement Chief Bruce Johnson and assistant Enforcement Chief Craig Miya were all pushed out following the Leavitt fish farm investigation. It would also mean that the gover- taken lightly. It is, in fact, the most serious of accusations — where the family nor, Mr. Stewart and new Director Bob Valentine refused to to harsh complaining from Leavitt’s father, the once-powerful gible under state law. DWR listen Mike Utah State Senator Dixie Leavitt and the governor’s brothers, Mark and Dane. Part of this reorganization was to place the oversight of whirling disease on private fish farms outside of DWR. In June of 1995, Dan Harrie fromThe Salt Lake Tribune reported that Mark Leavitt, who sits on the Aquaculture Advisory Council was successful when governor had no involvement transporting his fish, although not cer- PAGE sidestepping the Fish The once careful over- sight of whirling disease of trout headChristopher Smart It is of interest to note that 77 people have taken their places, following the so-called streamlining. “It’s not true,” Stewart said. “The in the R- Agriculture Director Cary Peterson signed off on the variance, Health Board. asking 2 the board for a variance on of the state’s highest elected official gets retribution or special treatment. Outside of fish, there are other examples. The Leavitt’s Road Creek Inn in Loa, for example, has a year ‘round pheasant hunting permit — one of only two or three in the state. And the Road Creek Inn has a license to sell liquor, even though it is within 1,000 feet of a school and should not be eliWhat this pattern shows is that the governors family does get special treatment. Whether Mike Leavitt’s appointees are doing favors for the Leavitt family without the governor's direct knowledge doesn’t get him off the hook. What’s worse, however, is the apparent gutting of the Division of Wildlife Resources — turning out topnotch, career biologists and others for whatever reason. Coincidence or not, Gov. Leavitt has a lot more explaining to do. @ |