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Show Sunday, September 11 2004 AC EDfTOWAlEOAROV 4 Publisher Editor Executive Randy Wright, Donald W. Meyers, Editorial page editor John Casteffi PubKc adviser Qsistian Harrison, Pitfrbc adviser Sam Rushforth, Public adviser EMTOMHB Aiert X Manzi. President IN OUR VIEW Uriily planning to 1 crew deal with growth four counties of the lem "fixed" in one county can Front don't make things worse in another if in a vacuum. there is no formal coordination that deals effectively with the happens in Salt County can and overlap. As population increases, affect Utah, Davis the need for cooperation does as and Weber counties. Yet there is well. no unified planning entity for the A single planning agency for the area. entire Wasatch Front would allow the state's four largest Utah County relies counties to respond on Mountainland Asbetter to the needs of a As population sociation of Governments for its regional population, the need growing starting with transplanning needs while increases, Salt Lake County has portation. for cooperation A single agency the Wasatch Regional would give the does as well. Planning Council. The Wasatch Front two groups try to -- 7coordinate, but the greater political clout ' when it comes to searrangement is not as effective as a single curing transportation funds. Instead of Salt Lake, Utah planning council for the region and the other counties competing would be. The Wasatch Front is home to against one another, they would most of Utah's residents. The efpresent a unified front with fects of growth, whether good or greater political clout. It's aiesson the "Cowboy Caucus" has demonevil, will be most noticeable along strated well on behalf of Utah's the mountains. Traffic congestioft is a more urgent problem here than rural counties. It's time for cities of the Wasatch elsewhere in Utah. Front to merge on growth issues. Having separate organizations The days of competitive kingdoms deal with the issues is not the best way to solve the problems. A prob- - are over. The fit ; MEDIA VOICES HERALD POLL Russia's suppressing of the press a serious issue her out on the plane to southern From The Washington Post Russia, after she used her cell Sept. 11,2004 phone to try to get in touch with Chechen separatist leaders whom the chaos and high emotion she hoped would negotiate with the invariably surround terrorists. Radio Liberty reporter attacks on civilians, the proAndrei Babitsky, also known for vision of reliable official informahis refusal to toe the authorities' tion is critical to the prevention of mass panic. During the horrific terline, was arrested in Moscow and rorist occupation of a school in prevented from traveling to Beslan Beslan, southern Russia, last week, altogether. The generally editor of the newspa- no such information was available. The Russian govern- per Izvestia, after ment lied about how bravely producing some accurate coverGovernment many people were in the building, about the age of the situation, control of the was fired for doing so. identities of the attackcontrol of ers and about the namedia is no longer Government the media is no longer ture of negotiations a matter of television with them. The authora matter of stations run by Kremities also instituted a virtual news blackout: television stations lin proxies, and subtle There was no reportpressure. These are run by Kremlin tacbrutal, Soviet-er- a ing of early, independent attempts at nego- proxies, and subtle tics, and it is stunning that so f ewWside tiation. Indeed there pressure. These are Russia have dewas almost no reportnounced them. andthe ing at all brutal, Soviet-er- a Their use bodes ill blackout may have contributed to the dis tactics, and it is for Russians but carries even worse harastrous outcome. It stunning that so bingers for the people now appears that uninformed vigilantes few outside Russia who live in the nprth-er- n armed with rifles startCaucasus, near have denounced Beslan. Because of the ed the shooting that led to the storming of delicate, Balkan-lik- e them. relations among ethnic the building. That led in the region to the deaths of nun- groups ' r- andthe consequent dreds of children as. v well as Russian troops, potential for revenge attacks and further violence relisome of whom were killed, acciable official information is going to dentally, by thjhii3antes themselves. matter even more in the coming The controls weeks. Rumors will need to be tie news were even heavier thai ajhyone knew at countered, passions may have to be calmed. But if no one trusts the the time. The eminent war correspondent Anna Politkovskaya says government, and no one believes she was given a drug that knocked the media, who can do so? In God not interested in a football game -- !; New interrogation methods a good step abandoning cruel and tactics that humiliated detainees, U.S. military interrogators now say that they are getting much more useful, e intelligence from prisoners. This is encouraging news and, if the pattern holds, can eventually produce better results. ; Meanwhile, insurgents continue and deadly to stage attacks against U.S. troops. The U.S. death toll reached 1,000 this week, and rebels show no signs of retreating from strongholds. Good intelligence can be a powerful tool in disrupting the insurgents and protecting US. troops. If a interrogation approach gets the job done, so much the better. Too bad it took a public uproar over prisoner abuses to get the military to be accountable and to establish more humane techniques to gather information from detainees. This is a lesson learned After , high-valu- more-huma- the hard way. Beginning last fall, several U.S. soldiers in charge of detainees at Abu Ghraib prison were allowed to do as they pleased in the name of intelligence gathering. The pictures and reports were appalling. Some showed naked, hooded detainees cowering as dogs snapped at them. Other detainees were forced to walk on all fours on a leash and simulate sexual acts. Seven soldiers face criminal charges. The humiliating tactics shocked Americans, enraged Iraqis and forced the military to change course. Most of the abusive techniques now are banned and have' been replaced witWa 'rapport-base- d" approachihat attempts to maintain detainees' dignity. The new policy also requires releasing innocent detainees more quickly. Human-rightgroups long have maintained that most prisoners aren't connected to insurgents. Treating all detainees humanely not only is good policy, it also is the best way to achieve our goals. s Herald poll YOU'VE GOT TO BE KIDDING!!! With "Frances" bearing down on Florida, wars, people being held hostage, famines, etc. etc. do you actually think God would possibly have any interest in a little insignificant football game in Provo, Utah? I'm sure that the only thing he would be remotely interested in ... is the behavior of the fans who will be witnessing the event, and the safety of the players. GO BYU!!!!! I Bev Hawkins American Fork Buckeyes are God's team Recently we asked the following question at the Daily Herald Web site, www.harktheherdld.com: "Whose side is God on, Notre Dame?" tongue-in-chee- Orem BYU or How to comment letters to dhlettersheraldextra.com Fax to Mail to P.O. Box 717, 344-298- He's rooting for Utah this year . - 40.8- Notre Dame 1- 0- 1 I are unscientific and numbers mav not add unto 100 percent due to rounding I BYU 49.3 1 1 1 iiiiniiiiii Total votes: 1,420 Current poll: "Should U.S. boycott; the 200 Olympics in China?" Polling is open at our Web site until Thursday at 11:45 p.m. as 5 "" NOTE Results Of course God does not pick sides in football or any other sport. But your k poll deserves the same kind of answer. If he did, he would ab-solutery cheer for the Scarlet and Gray of the Ohio State Buckeyes! I Doug Gardine - aft . Provo, UT 84603. I Letters must include the author's full name, address and daytime phone number. I We prefer shorter letters, 100 and 200 words. Letters may be edited for length. I Writers are encouraged to include their occupation and other personal information. t Because of the volume of letters, we cannot acknowledge unpublished letters. I Letters become the property of the Daily Herald. STAff Daily Herat DONALD W. MEYERS Terrorists can't destroy American spirit' - From the Miami Herald Sept. 9, 2004 luimmuMiyffl YORK - SomethmgYmiss- -' " NEWwas obvious to me as the plane flew in to Newark airport. There was a gap in the skyline of southern Manhattan. I know. Sept. 11. Even though the destruction of the World Trade Center's twin towers has achieved notorious iconic status in the American memory, thatdoesn't quite prepare you for the cold reality that New York's tallest buildings are missing. After spending nearlyjthree-quarter- s of my life in the New York metropolitan area, the twin towers have been imprinted on me. They were a permanent I thought part of the landscape, a symbol for the dry. It would be like losing the Church Office Building in Salt Lake City. It's a wound to the memory that doesn't heal right away, if ever. You always notice the gap. And that gap in New York is even more dramatic when you go into the city and visit the site where the towers once stood, known as "Ground Zero" ever since that day terrorists kicked in America's collective door. Instead of two quarter-mil- e high skyscrapers with breathtaking views from the top, there hole. Nearby is now a buildings still show signs of damage from the events of that day. Trie hole reminds us of how terrorists cowardly attacked defenseless people, both on the planes and in the towers. It also reminds us how New York's bravest rushed into the jaws of death, hoping to save as many lives as possible from the carnage. But this site also reminds us why it is the terrorists, not the United States, that will lose this war. Terrorists hope to create despair and fear in their targets, get them to back ' down and cower in the shadows. But CUR 3KXJNP2RO they didn't count on the spirit of Americans, especially New Yorkers. ' This city's weathered quite a bit in history. It was occupied by the British' for most of the Revolution. It was rocked by the nation's financial storms. ' , It saw draft riots in the Civil War. It even teetered on the brink of bankruptcy and epitomized all that was wrong ' with urban America. But New York always snapped back, proving to be the , true city too tough to die. And you see this at Ground Zero. Sidewalk vendors have set up shop around the pit, offering souvenirs to the tourists who come to look at the site. St. Paul's Church, which became a makeshift memorial site after the attacks, is again a place where people can sit in the church yard and enjoy a quiet place in the heart of the financial dis--, trict. And workers are in the pit, constructing a new skyscraper that wfll rise even higher than the orginal towers. Mayor Michael Bloomberg said the city has to yoak oacK us SKyune. It is the ultimate in Churchillian defiance. By building a new tower on the site, New Yorkers are telling the terrorists that they didn't win. That they refuse to kowtow to thugs. The new tower wont replace the r World Trade Center. But it will fill the' gap in the city's skyline, and in the hearts of many Americans. , Editorial Page Editor Donald W. can be reached at 4 Meyers 344-254- dmeyersheraldextra.com. or |