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Show ANeededYesVote. . . Public officials arc a much-maligned group, often without justification. A great deal of the criticism stems from the news media, whose responsibility it is to keep an eye no the expenditure of the taxpayers' dollars. But, when the press finds reason to commend public pub-lic officials for their actions, they are happy to do so. At present, the news media have justification for giving both state and county officials a pat on the back. The state officials in question are the members of the 1971 Utah Legislature who, by a large majority, chose to allow Utah voters to revise the county government govern-ment set-up in each county, provided the changes are approved bv the residents of the county. The county officials who earned their commendation commenda-tion were the members of the Utah Association of Counties Coun-ties who recently cast an 82 per cent vote in favor of passage of the county government amendment, which will appear as Proposition No. 4 on the November ballot. In the same poll, the county officials also voted "overwhelmingly" "over-whelmingly" in favor of the other three amendments, and urged Utah voters to cast their ballots in faw, of all four amendments on Nov. 7. In effect, the action by the state legislators and county officials tends to give voters a greater voice in their own government, with the possibility that the powers of the legislators and the county officials could be lessened by voter action. This makes the action of the state and county lawmakers double commendable. It was probably best stated by Dr. Dallin H. Oaks, president of Brigham Young University, in an address Jan. 27, 1972 to the Utah Association of Counties, when he said : . ,' "I was delighted to learn that the Utah Legislature hadoverwhelmingly approved a constitutional amendment amend-ment that would permit optional forms of county government gov-ernment and allow each county to select the prescribed" optional form that best serves its needs, subject to adoption adop-tion bv voters of the county. "If aDproved bv the voters this November, the constitutional con-stitutional amendment will bring government closer to the people. Like anv legislature that extends different options to the people of different cities or counties, the Utah Legislature has undertaken to diminish its own powers. Their kind of statesmanship is not commonplace, common-place, and it should not be taken for granted." Utah voters can add their own "pat on the back" for iheir legislators and countv officials by approving all four amendments on Nov. 7, with a bit of extra appreciation appre-ciation and emphasis on Proposition No. 4. We have maintained a number of times that many of the ills of County govrenment in Utah are the fault of the svstcm, and not of the personalities involved in that system. A YES vote for Proposition No. 4 can pave the wav for lcttinsc us find a better way. |