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Show Mental health more vital than free speech The big news out of Davis County Coun-ty this week is North Salt Lake's proposal to implant zippers on the mouths of the city employees. Justified by several city councilmen as a means of ensuring the city's financial fi-nancial health, the zipper idea was roundly criticized by journalists, all of whom make a living through the wagging of tongues. i. 1 1 a Cyclops by Brian Gray i newspaper coverage of a murder case. It seems the former wife of the convicted killer was outraged that her handsome ex-hubby was receiving receiv-ing the death penalty. Her outrage was linked to the killer's race. The man, Douglas Carter, was black. His victim, a 58-year-old Provo woman, was white. Therefore, racism existed, she said. "If the victim hadn't been the police chiefs aunt and, if the trial had been in Chicago, things would have been different,' she cried. The woman was undoubtedly correct. If Douglas Carter had been in Chicago instead of roaming around a Provo subdivision, the 58-year-old woman would still be alive. But she was killed and Douglas Carter did it in true Chicago fashion. fash-ion. Seven years ago this month the woman opened her door and confronted con-fronted Carter. He stabbed her one time in the abdomen, one time in the neck and eight times in the back. Then he used his Boy Scout skills to tie her up with a telephone cord and shoot her in the back of the head with a .38 caliber revolver. An autopsy revealed that the woman's heart was still beating at the time of the gunshot wound, a necessary fact since Utah law permits per-mits the death penalty only when the victim has been killed in a "cruel and heinous manner" and with usual elements of torture. The police obviously don't see Douglas Carter as a choir boy. Neither do the victim's relatives. And no one, including the jury, seemed concerned that the killer was black. Except, that is, the former wife, who apparently sees Utah justice cloaked in the Grand Wizard's robe. "I don't like to see anyone killed," she said. "Anytime someone some-one gets their life extended, it's good." And if Douglas Carter had battered bat-tered an older woman in Chicago, she says, his life would presumably be extended. Rather than getting a lethal injection, he'd be led off to the prison ping-pong table where he could socialize with sundry other thugs and murderers. I can't comment on the accuracy concerning Chicago justice. All I know about Chicago is that their star basketball player has a temper and that half of the homes in Chicago list "rats" as the occupant. But I do know that the woman's loose hps destroyed my breakfast When Douglas Carter tortured the 58-year-old woman, I don't think he ever considered that he was black. All he cared about was the woman's money-a whole $20. My morning would have been better served if the former wife had been a city employee with North Salt Lake. The ripper might have stopped her from speaking to reporters and mouthing a defense of poor old Davis. If, like me, you believe the zipper idea has merit, contact your Utah legislator. Order a zipper for him, tooand ask that a income tax check-off be available for the purchase pur-chase of zippers and muzzles. Free speech is great, but so is your mental health. But Cyclops is one journalist who is not concerned. In fact, the zipper idea has merit since the public's pub-lic's mental health is constantly endangered en-dangered by loose comments. It's difficult for me to properly digest my morning oatmeal after reading some of the silly statements contained con-tained in the morning newspaper. Allow me to give an example. Several weeks ago I read the |