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Show WedThursFri, June 5-7, 2002 The Park Record Gun supporters may try again in '04 Failed initiative banning guns from schools, churches may use paidsignatures next time People were feeling kind of sad " SALT LAKE CITY (AP) Supporters of a failed petition drive to get on the ballot an initiative initia-tive banning guns from schools and houses of worship say they may try aain in 2004, possibly using paid signature gatherers. ; Leaders of the Safe to Learn, Safe to Worship Coalition held a fbur-hour retreat Saturday after acknowledging they had fallen far Short of getting the 76,180 registered-voter signatures that would have been needed by Monday to put their initiative before voters in November. and frustrated," meeting facilitator Dave Jones said Sunday. "But they were hopeful, too. We took a little vote and no one wanted to give up." If the coalition does launch a 2004 initiative, it will have to do so from scratch. State law nullifies a petition after four years, effectively trashing the approximately 40,000 signatures'already in hand. Initiative organizers remain convinced that Utah residents overwhelmingly support their proposal, pro-posal, and they blame their defeat on the difficulty of using only volunteers vol-unteers to collect the signatures statewide. "What we have learned from this whole thing is money talks," said Jones, a former legislator and Democratic Party leader. "If you're going to get anything on the ballot, you have to pay for it." Three of the four statewide initiatives ini-tiatives that have made it on Utah's ballot during the past decade used paid signature gatherers. Paula Plant, chairwoman of the Safe to Learn, Safe to Worship Coalition, said her group's failure has "proven it is impossible" to achieve ballot status with an all-volunteer all-volunteer campaign. Janalee Tobias, leader of Women Against Gun Control, said the initiative effort failed because people didnt want to sign the petitions. peti-tions. "It's the common-sense people who dont want to be victims in this state," she said. "I've got to hand it to the people of Utah. They understand under-stand that criminals dont obey the law." . The 17-member coalition, which includes the Utah Education Association, the Episcopal Diocese, the Utah Medical Association and the League of Women Voters, has authorized a' study in the next few weeks to gather more information about the cost and feasibility of a professional profession-al petition-passing effort for 2004. Hearings focus on nuclear waste containers Plans to put 4,000 high-level nuclear waste containers in Utah are being considered at public hearings this week. State litigators say the 175-ton casks under consideration consid-eration for the project have never been physically tested to see if they will withstand an earthquake. The hearings are taking place at the Sheraton City Center, Wasatch Room, 150 West 500 South, Salt Lake City, 9 a.m. to 5:30 p.m., Monday, June 3, through Friday, June 8. "This is a radical and unproven plan for something that is supposed to hold material that is hazardous for 10,000 years," said Assistant Attorney General Denise Chancellor. "There is no room for error when it comes to high-level nuclear waste." Chancellor will be representing Utah during the hearings. hear-ings. Private Fuel Storage, a consortium consor-tium of eight utilities which has formed a Limited Liability Corporation that operates nuclear power plants, has applied for a license to store the casks on the Skull Valley Goshute Indian reservation, reser-vation, about 45 miles southwest of Salt Lake City. The Atomic Safety and Licensing Board will hear testimony testimo-ny about whether the design for the facility will be able to withstand earthquakes and decide if seismic standards should be relaxed. The entire current inventory of commercial spent nuclear fuel in the United States would be sitting in unanchored containers on shallow shal-low foundations at a site with high seismic activity. "Utahns will suffer the ultimate consequence in the event of a design failure," said Chancellor. "Why should we be subjected again to an unproven project involving high levels of radioactivity?" radioactivi-ty?" . Instead of physical testing, computer com-puter models were used to see if the containers would hold up during dur-ing an earthquake. PFS claims the casks are robust and will not release any radiation even if they fall or tip over from seismic activity. activi-ty. The NRC has already approved a design that would allow the casks to slip on top of the storage pads and then let the pads slide on the soil to try and minimize the jolt from an earthquake. 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"It is absurd to think terrorists would attend public pub-lic meetings with the intent of disclosing dis-closing their plans. There is no reason to give the FBI or any law enforcement agency the authority to monitor public meetings or religious gatherings." The Green Party believes the liberties guaranteed to us by the Constitution are essential to the survival of our representative democracy. By allowing federal law enforcement agencies to attend public meetings in an organized effort to monitor public discourse we are taking a step toward government gov-ernment censorship of public speech and a huge step away from the freedom of expression without with-out government harassment or interference we have, up until now, taken for granted. "In the 1950s and '60s, the FBI abused its authority by gathering information on prominent civil rights leaders, such as Martin Luther King," says county council at-large candidate Diana Lee Hirschi. "Among the tactics employed by the FBI was monitoring moni-toring and collecting the statements state-ments of Mr. King for the purpose of twisting his words or undermining under-mining the growing civil rights movement. We cannot quietly allow the Justice Department to sanction these types of tactics again in the name of national security." For more information regarding regard-ing the Green arty candidates' statement on this issue, please contact Axford at (801) 918-6017 or Hirschi at (801) 486-2558, D an Hall For Summit County Recorder Experienced Respected Owner and President of Advanced Title Systems, Inc. 30 years experience in the Title business Last 12 years researching records in the Summit County Recorder's Office 10 years management experience. 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