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Show .Vernal Express, 4 if 1 " ? f - Public Forum Letters to the Editor What is your opinion? The Vernal Express welcomes letters from its readers concerning any subject pertinent to the Uintah Basin. There are no restrictions on contents, if not libelous, vindictive vin-dictive and in good taste. The letters need to be a reasonable length, two typewritten double spaced pages. Letters must be submitted exclusively to the Vernal Express and bear the writer's writ-er's full name, signature, phone number and address. Letters for the sole purpose of expressing express-ing thanks to individuals or groups will not be printed in the forum. Letters may be mailed to P.O. Box 1000, Vernal, Utah 84078, faxed at 789-8690 or through email at editorvernal.com. The name or names of the persons submitting letters must appear on all published letters. All letters let-ters are subject to condensation. Letters express the opinion of the writer and are not necessarily necessar-ily the opinion of the Vernal Express Editor. A10 Wednesday, August 2, 2006 Campaign finance Dear Editor, Can there be any doubt that our system of campaign finance for the election of federal candidates candi-dates to the Congress is irreparably irrepa-rably and fatally flawed? Recent scandals involving Members of Congress and high-, high-, profile lobbyists have well-proven the point. Congress has tried to solve the problem, halfheartedly that is, but every time it does, the law of unintended consequences kicks in and the people and the Bill of Rights are the losers. The McCainFinegold legislation is proof enough with its assault on the people's First Amendment right to political speech. Some are saying the solution solu-tion is public funding of Congressional campaigns with millions of dollars of tax payer money. Although this evil suggestion sug-gestion is very popular with some politicians, the people would be distanced even farther from the electoral process. With taxpayers financing elections, what is to prevent the Congress from doing all manner of self-serving self-serving maneuvers to stay in office or to vote itself incredible campaign sums for reelection? The original intent in the creation cre-ation of the American Republic was the election of our political leaders by the voluntary and knowledgeable action of individual individ-ual voters whose home is in the Congressman's Congressional Distinct not by wealthy people, peo-ple, corporations, lobbyists or others outside that district, i Afessible way to return electoral elec-toral power to the individual voter within a Congressional District is through a national lottery to raise money exclu Thank you Uintah Basin for all of the support you've shown the 2006 Dinosaur Roundup Rodeo. Especially to all those who volunteered in various capacities! As Concessions chairman I would like to take this opportunity to thank the 200 or so volunteers who helped in the concession stands. Thanks to the Employees of Dan's Tire of Vernal, Bresnan Communications, Vernal City, Mountain West Oilfield Service, Preece Auto, Perry Motor Co., members of the Elks and all of those individuals too numerous to name. Also, a gigantic gigan-tic thank you to Denise & Lacey McMulfen, Matt Hunting, Tina & Clark Emery & family, the Randall Mills family, Jennell Justice, Callie Jackson, Savannah Birch, Kelly Sadlier and the crew at the Western Park for going above and beyond the call of duty. Thanks also to our customers. I apologize if you had to wait in long lines andor for your food. We did the best we could. Hope you all come back next year. ' Ann Hunting j II RU Jr-iaLL UJ YillAi. Bl II" fftNCt' I VTW Mil IJJJU. M MB. V rrf-U U. nnl III SidJs li il .11 i.iiiir jUfl ihirssri OlMkXINS VflS THE SHERIFF 0FUIHTW BOUNTY FOR TOttMR RftlTHt TIME rail SrcHT MAKING, VffilLM'MFVS2T0WE. sively for federal office campaign cam-paign purposes. For the want of a better name, it could be called the Liberty Lottery. Lotteries for public purposes pur-poses have a long and honored hon-ored history reaching back to the time of the Founding ' Fathers, and more recently, for educational and senior citizen benefits. Why not for fair and evenly funded elections elec-tions on a level playing field where ideas prevail and not big -money? Except for the benefit of incumbency, which gives the current office holder a lead in name recognition, no candidate even for current office holders would have any more campaign money or better opportunity for election elec-tion than another. Those who choose not be cooperating candidates and continue the status quo, may find then-decision then-decision to actually be a detriment detri-ment to their campaigns. What would the Liberty Lottery do? By written agreement agree-ment cooperating candidates: would not spend for campaign purposes money received from any source; or accept honoria, travel, event tickets, etc., from any source including personal wealth. who are ballot qualified quali-fied with any political party, receive for their exclusive use equal funding from the Liberty Lottery. That is, the total sum of money raised by the lottery, beyond expenses, expens-es, will be divided equally between all candidates. will receive a living stipend sti-pend six months prior to Primary Elections, and if elected, continue until the General Elections. All cooperating candidates will be publicly identified in the political arena so that their candidacy with the lot (UJlTQInl By 1 1. ii. 1. AftO 20 YEARS tery will be known. Contributors to the lottery will know their money is going to cleaner, more fair campaigns, and perhaps, better government. Moreover, by making contributions, contribu-tions, the voter is apt to be more involved, better informed, and more likely to vote. In addition to a more civic-minded civic-minded electorate, those who buy Liberty Lottery tickets will have an opportunity to win significant sums of tax-free money. Multiples of million dollar awards will be distributed throughout the nation and even, perhaps, the world. Some will oppose this proposal because it smacks of gambling. In a limited sense, it is, but is it not similar to the raffle tickets that clubs, churches, and children sell for fund-raisers? As a people, we must find a way to clean up our federal electoral elec-toral process. We cannot depend on politicians to do it for us. They have had several chances. Is it not our turn now? A Liberty Lottery could do much to cleanse our electoral process, pro-cess, and its public discussion is justifiable. Bruce A. Daniel, DDS Main Street Flowers Dear Editor, I would just like to say thank you to all those people who have contributed to the flowers that beautify the streets of Vernal. The flowers are exquisite. It seems to have inspired many in Vernal to improve their place of residence. Thank you so much. Vernal is a wonderful place to live. Louise L. Peterson Vernal T.G SCARECROW Ik v- ;w v i Ki.W B3CS 3007. a PoPf Psychedelic Physic ian AB Commission allows opening of Glub XS On Tuesday, July 25, 8th District Court held the pretrial pre-trial hearing of the appeal for stay on the Order by the Alcohol Beverage Commission to revoke the XS Club license, which closed the Club June 28, 2006. Judge Anderson granted a stay on the Commission's order on July 25. Pre-trial motion issue arguments argu-ments will be heard in 8th District Court on August 30, 2006. There is a separate issue because the date the Commission voted to revoke the license was the same day as the Club's renewal date, so it was not renewed at that time. On Friday, July 28, at its regular monthly meeting, Sheila Page, attorney from Public invited to meet with legislators On August 7 and 8, the Utah State Legislators will be coming com-ing to the Uintah Basin on their annual site visit. This is an incredible opportunity oppor-tunity for the Uintah Basin to share their story concerning oil and gas industry impacts. The legislators will begin the visit in Duchesne County learning about oil extraction. Later that day they will travel to Uintah County where they will have a dinner and a chance to visit Committee approves Hatch defense requests The U.S. Senate Appropriations Appropria-tions Committee yesterday approved the Department of Defense and the Military Construction and Veterans Affairs spending bills for the next fiscal year. These will fund several key programs that Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) requested for Utah military installations, including $20 million for Hill Air Force Base (HAFB). "With these appropriations, the military is meeting its needs with Utahns' expertise," Hatch said. "Military officials know that when they want the job done right, they need to come to Utah." The following are the top four Utah projects Hatch requested, all of which were included in the DOD spending bill: 1. Automated. Composite Technologies Initiative - Hill Air Force Base, $10 million. ' Today's military strives to increase the affordability and domestic access to equipment vital for national defense. With this project, Hill Air Force Base personnel will improve current production standards for fiber-placed fiber-placed composite products, such as those needed for the F-35 F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, where demand far exceeds domestic supply. HAFB is a world leader in composite technologies. the Attorney General's Office made a presentation to the Commission. Based on the fact that the 8th District Court in Vernal had suspended the Commission's order pending the judicial review, the case had gone back on the Commission's calendar for them to consider, which they did, on July 28, 2006. Conditioned upon whatever happens at judicial review, the Commission renewed the Club XS license. The Judge required a dollar amount to cover "the ordered costs and any attorney fees or costs out of this action. Annette Haakinson represented repre-sented the Club and stipulated that the club would refrain from having sexually oriented entertainment. with local officials, as well as business and agency representatives. repre-sentatives. At the legislators' request, Monday evening, there will be an hour long public meeting where the public can ask questions on any subject of concern. "It's not very often the majority major-ity of State leadership is available avail-able to answer questions," said Heather Hoyt, Uintah County planner. The public is encour 2. Senior Scout - Special Signal Processing Threads - Utah National Guard, $2 million. mil-lion. Senior Scout is an Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (ISR) suite of aircraft equipment that has received universal praise for its performance in foreign operations in support of the War on Drugs and the War on Terrorism. With this appropriation, appropri-ation, Utah National Guard personnel per-sonnel will replace components of the Senior Scout systems which have become obsolete. 3. Dugway Testing and Infrastructure Upgrade - Dugway Proving Ground, $2 million. Dugway Proving Ground tests a broad range of chemical chemi-cal and ; biological sensor technologies across a variety of scenarios and conditions, including those encountered in urban operations. As part of this effort, Dugway is developing devel-oping a modular version of ail eye-safe . Light Detection and Hanging System (LIDAR) capable of detecting aerosols, such as those used in chemical chemi-cal and biological warfare, at 10 kilometers or farther. With this appropriation, double the amount the program received last year, Dugway personnel will also use LIDAR data to Deputy Attorney Sheila Page said, "We are just interested in getting the matter resolved as soon as possible." In the meantime, Club XS has a celebratory marquis message mes-sage that they would be open on Friday, July 28. Haakinson, Club XS owner, was contacted. She sounded very happy when she said, "Yes, we did open, and we appreciate all of the customers that came in and supported us. We were fortunate enough to get all of our employees back. Tjjey ' are good employees, responsible, and we are glad they came back." Regarding the stipulations, she said, "We always followed the law and we wanted to do that." aged to arrive at Western Park by 6:30 p.m. Monday. There will be a moderator who will compile the public's questions prior to the meeting beginning at 7 p.m. The legislators will have additional activities that evening beginning at 8 p.m. On Tuesday, the following day, the legislators will continue to meet at Western Park, followed by afternoon tours of oil and gas industry sites. enhance Dugway's virtual testing test-ing capability. 4. Hydrolysis Demilitarization Demilitariza-tion Demonstration Program - Tooele Army SCWODepot, $2 million. This project will fund an environmentally friendly, economically eco-nomically viable method to render ren-der chemical agents into inert organics that can be safely processed. pro-cessed. These funds provide for a system to reduce pollution and remove heavy metals from the agents. The hydrolysis process pro-cess will significantly reduce Toole Army Depot's existing backlogs. With the Military Construction and Veterans Affairs spending bill, the committee com-mittee approved $10 million for a new Air Logistics Center Warehouse in Ogden for Hill Air Force Base. The facility will house equipment vital to world-wide operations, equipment equip-ment currently stored in 1940s' era wooden warehouses, many with structural damage. The buildings have deteriorated to the extent that when 5 inches of snow accumulate on the roofs, a common occurrence in Utah, no one is permitted inside for fear the structure will collapse. Obviously, this is dangerous for military personnel and has a profoundly negative impact on operations. |