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Show When the pie i sliced southern Uttah gets cut We at the Record shake our heads every time it happens, but I guess we always understand how. We in southern Utah are simply outnumbered. And because of that, we are getting the short end . of the stick again. This time in the proposed reapportionment of the State into three United States House of Representatives districts. We all hoped a little when the 1980 census showed Utah deserved another representative that the rural counties of southern Utah would finally be recognized as part of the State and given the representation they morally and ethically, if not legally, deserve. But alas, we forgot that less than 10 percent of the state legislature comes from south of Provo, and those other 90 percent are watching out for themselves, them-selves, instead of shouldering the moral responsibility respon-sibility of fairness that they so easily spurn. The latest plan for the reapportionment comes from the Legislative Reapportionment Committee, and, at the least, it is an insult to southern Utahns. Unfortunately, the plan stands a good chance of receiving full legislative approval and becoming law. The plan puts Iron, Beaver, Washington, Piute, Wayne, Millard, Juab, Garfield and Kane counties in the same district as Tooele, Box Elder, Davis, Weber, Morgan, Cache and Rich counties. Such a division is a mockery of common sense. Why aren't these counties grouped with San Juan, Sevier, Grand, Sanpete, Emery and Carbon counties? Certainly they have more in common. Sen. Ivan Matheson, R-Cedar City, is like a voice crying in the wilderness when he calls the grouping of southwesten counties to the Weber-Davis area an "unconscionable connection." There are no common interests in the alignment, says Matheson, who adds he has a plan of his own he will submit to the legislature, calling for more of a north-south split, instead of the horrendous east-west east-west split. "The . . . proposal makes it so 75 percent of the people lie north of Salt Lake County," he told the Record in a recent interview. "We feel a better division would be to make the congressional division across the top of Juab County including Utah, Carbon and all counties south. We at the Record commend your efforts, Sen. Matheson, and we wish you luck against the huge odds. Somewhere, sometime this end of the state is going to get a fair shake, and, perhaps, Provo will no longer be referred to as southern Utah by those further to the north. |