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Show HHodw AlbaDiinit MT ncBXs&TODniinti; What's the most aggravating stretch of road in Park City Carol Menconi The whoop-de-doos on Empire. PageA2 Thursday, April 7, 1983 IEattntoinisil II Y.d-&r Officials should watch to avoid conflict of interest A familiar Park City bug-a-boo who's got the conflict of interest? has popped up again in the debate over a proposed downzoning for the McHenry Street area on Rossi Kill. Helen Alvarez, a resident of McHenry, has spoken in favor of the change. She is also a member of the City Council Coun-cil which might vote on the proposed change. Alvarez has a conflict, say some opponents of the rezoning. The rezoning drive was spearheaded by McHenryite Mary Wintzer. Independent of that, retiring Planning Commissioner Greg Lawson recommended that she fill his seat on the panel. If Wintzer was picked for the commission, com-mission, could she wind up voting on the very proposal that she initiated? Is that conflict of interest? Or just another circumstance in the tight little community of Park City? Utah law says conflict-of-interest happens when a public servant is in a position to use his office to affect his financial interest, or the interest of his family. The law about such a situation is not very strict, however. A public official in Utah is not forced to abstain from discussion or the vote on a potential conflict. But he must declare that conflict out in the open for the public to hear. A more rigid law would dictate that public officials can't participate in decisions affecting them. Such a law can work in big cities. In a little community it is harder to maintain main-tain virginal distinctions between residents, public servants, ser-vants, and the business community. They used to say that if you sneeze in a small town, somebody will offer you a Kleenex. If you catch a cold in Park City, a member of City Council is likely to own the hankie concession. Despite the natural conflicts of interest, many local planners, plan-ners, to their credit, have tried to avoid them. The law did not require them to, but people like Greg Lawson, BilJ Mammen, Cal Cowher, and Bob Wells have used common sense and have, on occasion, abstained from issues that hit too close to home. In the above cases, the council member or commissioner abstained when the issue affected the value of his business. We'd like to suggest they go a step further. A city official should also abstain when the issue affects the financial value of his residential property. With that in mind, let's take another look at the two cases we first mentioned. Helen Alvarez could well argue that she has no conflict with voting on the McHenry issue. Certainly she can't expect ex-pect a financial windfall from a downzoning. Yet, there's also the possibility that a downzoning will maintain a high value for the lot she lives on. The political credibility of a council member can be fragile. She should think long and hard before she takes an official role on McHenry. For discretion's sake, we think she should abstain. As for Mary Wintzer, it is not even known if she wants to be named to the planning commission. The panel could decide on McHenry before picking any successor. If she is put in a voting position, she too should abstain. We don't mean to pick on two lone residents. All of Park City's elected and appointed servants should be vigilant to conflicts of interest. And they should be commended for past actions that met the spirit, not just the letter, of the law. -RB by Jack Anderson Weekly gpeefalKag Nuclear industry wants promotion at the expense of the consumer Washington Last week marked the fourth anniversary of the accident at the Three Mile Island nuclear power plant. That near-disaster scared a lot of people, and it made millions of Americans think twice about the rosy assurances they had gotten over the years on the safety of nuclear power. The Three Mile Island incident also scared the pin stripe pants off nuclear power industry executives. They could see their contracts and their jobs disappearing in a puff of radioactive steam. And in fact, the nuclear power industry has gone into a steep decline since Three Mile Island. But the industry is fighting back with a $30 million promotion campaign on television and in newspapers. That, of course, is their right. But here's the rub: The nuclear power big shots want the consumers to pay for their efforts to persuade the public that nuclear power is good. If they have their way, the cost of their propaganda campaign will be tacked onto electric bills all over the country. The industry makes no bones about it. Shortly after the Three Mile Island incident, nuclear power executives formed a promotional group called the Committee on Energy Awareness. It is headed by a former General Electric executive named Harold Finger, who thinks it is fitting and proper for electricity consumers to pay for his group's media campaign. "It's not propaganda," said Finger. "The costs should be allowed." We have seen the committee's internal planning documents, and we cad tell you the industry doesn't plan to stop with straightforward advertising in the media. The group wants to establish itself as "more than a propaganda machine." If they can achieve this, the pro-nuclear people plan to get friendly columnists and editors to run editorials and opinion pieces favorable to the industry. Incidentally, one of the nuclear power committee's documents lists several "Potential Bad News" items to watch for. Three of them were characterized as "Start-up of nuclear units, raising electric rates," "Three Mile Island anniversary," and "Nuclear "Nu-clear industry's 30-million-dollar campaign." cam-paign." Good news, bad news: President Reagan's economic advisers have revised their predictions about the nation's economic recovery. The new figures will probably be released this week, and they will show a brighter economic outlook than had been expected. One reason the economy has picked up is that the Federal Reserve Board has relaxed its tight grip on the nation's money supply. This has permitted interest rates to decline. Lower interest rates have stimulated spending, and this is causing a business boom. Yet inflation has been kept to nearly zero. This week's new figures will also project a smaller federal deficit than had been anticipated. antici-pated. But there may be a fly in the ointment. The money supply is expanding faster than the Federal Reserve Board had anticipated. The money managers are alarmed and they're talking about tightening their grip once again on the money supply. This can only be accomplished by pushing up interest rates. Congressional leaders have learned this may be in the works, and they are concerned that the economic recovery could be choked off. So Senate Democrats want to insert some strong language into their version of the federal budget. They want to serve notice on the Federal Reserve Board and its chairman, Paul Volcker, not to tamper with the economy. Space race: President Reagan's recent announcement that the United States would develop space weapons to knock out enemy missiles has raised a question : Which side has the lead in the required technology? According to intelligence estimates, it's difficult to say. One highly classified study conducted con-ducted by the Arms Control and Disarmament Agency has this to say : "Overall, the U.S. and U.S.S.R. high energy laser programs are roughly equal at the present time, although the U.S. is believed to have an advantage in the pointing, tracking, optics and control technologies." The Russians, on the other hand, "appear to be ahead in short pulse lasers and electrical discharge lasers, which could be useful... for military applications in the atmosphere." Headlines and footnotes: The National Nation-al Wildlife Federation, a conservative conservation group with 4.2 million members nationwide, was recently slapped down by the Environmental Protection Agency. The organization asked for an EPA waiver from paying the costs of copying public documents. The request was turned down on the grounds that the federation, the largest of its kind in the United States, doesn't represent the public. The Soviet Union is gaining an edge in tank warfare by making smaller models that are harder to hit. The Soviets are also recruiting short soldiers to man the tanks. But the Pentagon can't compete. U.S. laws forbid discriminatory hiring practices. 1983 United Feature Syndicate, Inc. Tom Frigone $ Empire. It's a dirt road, m I -If' Gary Petrison The bottom of Main Street by the Coal and Lumber. I saw a Mack Truck get lost in one of the holes. Jackie Caplan The turn onto Upper Norfolk. J '1 I A Karl Jacobson Empire, because it's so hammered. It's like Park Avenue used to be. Sue Hillman Empire. It needs more holes. r i t s f. m 55: I v nflgaffirikett Warn fflciDiPiin The rich get richer In this rich and lucky country there are few spectacles more disgusting than the rich in revolt against any law ' that would deny them their proudest pleasure in life cheating on their taxes. For decades now, the U.S. Treasury has been losing $8 billion every year thanks to loopholes that allow recipients recipi-ents of dividends and interest to squirrel squir-rel those dollars away, undeclared and untaxed. A new law, long overdue, would require banks to withhold 10 percent on those untaxed monies, starting July 1. Banks and stockholders are carrying on as if a gang of thieves had been given a license to loot. It concerns them not at all that the law is a measure of equity. Salaried workers have been submitting to withholding for many years. The new law is simply equalizing the burden. Let nobody say that the new law punishes the widows and orphans whose sole income derives from 50 shares of AT&T. The new law is generous in its exemptons. Individuals earning less than $8,000 are automatically exempt. So are citizens over 65, provided their income is less than $22,000 (for couples), or $14,450 (for individuals). Leading the campaign against the new withholding law are banks and savings and loan institutions. Clearly, it's their ox that's being gored. They obviously know that an indecent lot of cheating is going on. The cheaters, they fear, will now seek other places to cache their dividend money, places that might simplify the dirty business of tax evasion. The measure will be up for passage on April 15, income-tax day. It's shaming to face it, but the repeal will probably pass. For this we can thank another ugly fact of life in Washington : the political action committees (PACs). To bring good fortune, simple people used to sacrifice a lamb or cross a gypsy's gyp-sy's palm with silver. Now we're a sophisticated people and we cross a congressman's palm with silver thereby corrupting the entire legislative process. The victim of this corruption every single time is the ordinary wage-earning American. There are 435 men and women in the House of Representatives. More than 300 of them are ready to vote for repeal of dividend withholding. Nearly half of the U.S. Senate also favors repeal. These lawmakers have received $3 million from PACs representing banks and loan associations. The chairman of the House Banking Committee, Fernand J. St. Germain, had his gypsy palm crossed with $53,150 from the banking PACs. Naturally, he regards the new withholding law as a bit of sneak thievery on the part of the government. govern-ment. It's disingenuous to claim, as opponents op-ponents of withholding do, that the average man now "owns stock in America." There's bitter irony in that phrase when it's set alongside the hard truth. To wit: the richest 1 percent owns 62 percent of corporate stock, and the richest 5 percent owns 80 percent. per-cent. (c) 1983 Special Features Syndication Sales Wlipiip!: Subscription Kate, $8 a year in Summit County, SIS a year outside Summit County Published by Ink, Ik. USPS 3717-3000 PnbUsher ... JauWilking mt0T David Hampshire Advertising Sales Jtn bilking. Bill Dickson, Jim Finegan Business Manager ( Marion Cooney GP"lcs Becky Widenhouse, Ui Heimos Staff Writer Kick BrouKh Cootribntiog Writers Betttnn Moench. Jay Meeaan, Naa Chalat, Marion Cooney, Curtis Willey Typesetting Sharon Pain, Dixie Bishop Subscriptions Classifieds , Karen Fahey Darkroom ft Photography ; ; m Snyder Distribution , . , : ;; Du;, Rh0Bdtt Entered as second-clnss matter May 15, 1977, at the post office in Park City, Utah $4060, under the Act of March 3, 197. Published every Thursday at Park City, Utah. Second-class postage paid at Part CHy, Utah. Unsolicited manuscripts and photographs are welcome and will be considered for publication. However, the Park City Newspaper will assume no responsibility for the return of such material. AH new , advertising and photo must be received prior to the Tuesday noon deadline at our office, 419 Main Street in Park City, by mail P.O. Boa 3631. Park City. Ul. 14060, or by calling our office (801) 649-9014. Publication material must be received by Tuesday noon for Thursday publication. POSTMASTER: Send address chaages to the Park City Newspaper, P.O. Boa 3681, Park City, Utah 84060. |