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Show EDrrORUL BOARD H I DITOfflAI AJbert Manzi. President & Publisher Randy Wright, Executive Editor Donald W. Meyers, Editorial page editor D Oiristian Harrison, Public adviser Sam Rushfortb, Public adviser Nancy Hut chins. Public adviser 2ailtt&?kratf IN OUR VIEW Big turnout iff ''CJ.---- U ' r I he 2004 election was definitely one to This was the first election in 12 years with no incumbent running for governor. An open race beIn Utah, state election tween Republican Jon M. Hunts-- . officials said voter man Jr. and Democrat Scott M. turnout appeared to be Mathesori Jr. surely drove public between 76-7-8 percent, high even interest. for the Beehive State. By compariThere also was Amendment 3, which defines marriage as being son, the 2000 presidential election between a man and a woman and only saw 69.85 percent of the state's registered voters bother to outlaws civil unions. Both sides of turn out for the elec-tio- a this emotional issue As of press time, ., were working hard it was not known if before the election to the turnout would At some polling get their point across break the 1992 record and get people out to of 81 percent, when places Tuesday, the polls. Bill Clinton faced Election night also voters had to wait was different this George H.W. Bush and Ross Perot. in line to cast year. The TV networks took steps this At some polling their ballot, a places Tuesday, voters year to avoid a repeat of the 2000 debacle had to wait in line to albeit refreshing, cast their ballot, a rewhere Florida was first called for Al inconvenient, freshing, albeit inconGore, then for Bush venient, change from change from and finally taken out lighter Utah elections. of play as the election the Nacarrato, Amy Utah lighter results were sorted state's elections direcout during the next elections. tor, said voter regis five weeks. tration was up this : The networks and year in Utah, second The Associated Press only to 1992. We wonshared a polling ser- - ; der how many of those people were the recipients of vice this year to conduct exit polls, clean underwear and Ramen noowhile the AP supplied actual vote dles that Michael Moore handed counts gathered from across the out at UVSC as incentives for country. The networks also agreed to hold off on trying to scoop each slackers. other on getting the election results Nationally, election turnout was heavy in most parts of the country, first, preferring instead to go for a side effect of a close race and accuracy, heeding Voltaire's adfinish of vice: "In the case of news, we must memories of the await the sacrament, of confirmathe 2000 election. tion." In Utah, there's a couple addiIt was an exciting night. Let's tional reasons that this year's election is garnering more interest hope the voter enthusiasm will carthan past races. ry through to future elections. V V, V r V 1l!C , - LETTERS No comparison between Gov. Matheson, Michael Moore I thought I knew this Jerry Myrup from Provo, but after reading his letter to the Herald published on Oct. 15, 1 am not so sure. First, he sort of equates former Gov. Scott Matheson and family with Michael Moore in that they deserve the same courtesy from local residents. If I were a member of the Matheson family I would be insulted. Second, he rightfully supports Michael Moore and certain students at UVSC in that they have a right to their opinions. But then he takes the stand that "rude, obnoxious and abusive" former BYU students should not have the right to protest having their home towns polluted by the presence of someone who the vast majority of local residents (myself included) consider to be a certified liar and slob. Jerry, you can't have it both ways. I Don Myrup, American Fork nail-bitin- g MEDIA VOICES The next four years could be rough From the Los Angeles Times, year, lacking controls on drug prices, may bloat from an originaln cost over ly projected 10 years to $1 trillion. And if costs aren't brought under control, total federal spending on Medicare and Medicaid could mushroom from 3.9 percent of gross domestic product in 2003 to 21 percent in 2050. By comparison, the annual deficit causing such worry today is 3.6 percent of GDP. The longer the next president waits to tell the truth, the worse the eventual pain " Nov. 2, 2004 'Liberals' contributed more to progress than 'conservatives' $400-billio- to today's Congratulations may be. You for the next four years. Bigger congratulations to the loser: At least you don't have to be president for the next four years. Seen as part of a strategy for your party's victory in 2008, your decision to lose today's election may have been a brilliant stroke. For all the talk about the funda- mental disagreements between this year's candidates, there are important issues on which both talked nonsense or neither talked much at all. But in the next four years they will be unavoidable. Mr. President, You can run or Mr. President-elect- : but you can't hide. Iraq: You say you didn't hear a real plan from either candidate to calm Iraq and get U.S. troops out? That's partly because every step depends on the success of a previous step. An attempt to take the city of Fallujah from insurgents ' has been delayed until after the election, but its success remains a prerequisite to Iraq's own elections. If the insurgents are pushed back enough for the elections to be credible, it's possible that more nations will be willing to step in. But if the United Nations holds .back, Muslim nations won't send troops, a necessity for successful peace- keeping. The ifs, compounded, make for odds no president could like. The deficit Both President Bush and Sea John F. Kerry declared, on tenuous evidence, that they , could halve federal deficits by 2008. What they glossed over was r that current deficits are nothing ' compared with financing the future of Medicare and Medicaid, and to a lesser extent Social Securi-ty. The Congressional Budget Office estimates that the prescription drug benefit measure passed last While hearing literally thousands of sermons, attending various Bible studies and reading the Bible through several times, my conclusion is that Jesus Christ was indeed a liberal at the time of his presence on earth. His messages rocked the religious and secular world and continue to do so today. There is a vast network of people who describe themselves as conservatives and categorize others as "liberals." These "liberals" are summarily denounced as unpatriotic and downright evil Most people I know draw a little water from both wells. in If "liberals" were America in early days, we might very well be colonies rather than states. Did the British consider George Washington a liberal or a conservative? His actions and the actions of many early patriots were about as liberal as it gets. Would they be considered unpatriotic andor evil by conservatives today? Advancing a few years, those who were considered "liberal" at their particular times in history promoted women' suffrage, Social Security, intevoting rights and grated Medicarl. !' yhy dp many of the conservative advocated refuse to admit that "liberal" is not synonymous with "evil" just as "conservative" is not synonymous with "Christian"? will be. Immigration: The president will find specifics harder to come by than stump-speec- h generalizations about the value of immigrants. If the next reform is mostly a guest-workprogram, what about the 8 million to 10 million people already here illegally? If there's going to be an "earned legalization" path, what of the government's vow, in the 1996 immigration bill to never have another mass legalization program? And who's going to keep an eye on more than 100,000 temporary workers to make sure they go home when their contracts er non-existe- are up? Energy: High demand for oil and supply disruptions in key producing countries may keep oil in the range of $50 to $60 per barrel, curbing global economic growth. A Congress couldn't write, much less pass, responsible energy legislation. The administration's secret consultations with the energy industry actually increased dependence on foreign oil. Even if Kerry could come through on conservation, then what? There are other big issues health care, for example, and the . f environment, and jobs that the new or renewed president will . IftAnt 1Anl incur--. out tkiu.ii uicac at icaai rcuu tkltm laic I?. selves to some incremental solutions. The ones above require bigger thinking and bold, painful solutions. Whoever you are, we're confident you have it in you. GOP-controll- DOONESBURY hi JoeH. Walfeer, Harriman, Tenn. Provo council ignores wishes of per pie who elected it c 'li It wc lewildering to sit through a Muni : 1 Council meeting where neigh- - chairs, school board members of three neighborhoods for downexflroatheunanimous support designation of 200 North grading from its collector status, only to watch council members vote to uphold an outdated, unwanted designation for what is .jjjents , I I ' mm AMIVOTIN&R3R kEERVBSUSE I "T clearly a neighborhood thoroughfare. Certain council members' arguments that downgrading the designation wouldn't affect traffic is exactly the wrong viewpoint. We understand that traffic will continue to flow whatever residents' concerns the designation are in limiting future expansion in order to preserve neighborhoods. The council's reasoning is akin to basing zoning decisions on current usage with no thought for what it would like things to become in the future. The council's vote sent a clear message to its constituency: We'll do what we want. I Lee Adair, Provo Spent fuel rods only small tip of nuclear waste iceberg While Utah grapples with nuclear waste issues, it needs to be aware that a lot more high-levnuclear waste exists than has been given press. Spent fuel rods constitute less than 15 percent of the highly radioactive wastes. deThe other 85 percent are high-levfense wastes from weapons processing. They sit in tanks at Hanford, Wash, and Savannah River, S.C., sites, and are more than can fill five mountain repositories. Sixty percent of those wastes are at Hanford. If Utah's going to be a holding state for nuclear wastes, it had better be prepared to hold a lot of waste. Most of the articles on nuclear waste say all nuclear wastes will fit in Yucca Mountain. They cannot fit in Yucca Mountain. They cannot fit in five Yucca Mountains. I Ron Bourgoin, Rocky Mount, N.C. el Time to crack down on smut U.S. Rep. Chris Cannon voted for that returns family-friendl-y broadcast television and radio to the families of America. H.R. 3717, The Broadcast Decency Enforcement Act of 2004 passed overwhelmingry in the House of Representatives by a vote of MALLARD FILLMORE Garry Trudeau WWSWRSS II' AMINOnNSRDR PUSH BBCMjSE 391-2- I J""" 2. to our representatives and ask for greater fines and jail sentence to be brought against the offenders. Please write our legislators, ask them to create legislation that will fine any place of business, or person that sells any type of pornographic materials to our vouth, to receive a jail sentence and a heavy fine to go with it. Triple the sentence on the third offense. I Grant J. Price, Perry Please write Mexican immigrants actually pay their way in America During the election, I noticed that the topic of Mexican immigration was a popular discussion. I also realized, however, that most people were quite uneducated concerning this matter. Many think that the Mexican population is stealing American jobs, invading our schools, giving us a "dirtier" community and using our tax dollars. After speaking with a congressman, I have learned that all of these common complaints are quite false. In all actuality, the majority of Mexican immigrants are in jobs that the majority of Americans would not want. There are just as many dirty Americans as there are dirty Mexicans, we just happen to notice the dirty Mexicans rather than the clean majority. Their children may be attending American schools, but our schools offer a better education than they could ever icveive ui iiicu iiauvc luuiiuy. wiicim comes to tax dollars, the Mexicans actually contribute millions a year to the tax pool and those dollars are usually never returned through tax refunds. So in reality, the Mexicans more than pay for their children's education with their unreturned tax dollars. The majority of them are actuality peaceful and productive members of society who are seeking a better life and more opportu nity. I Candice Cooper, Lindon Bruce Tinsley mimieiSENHomffiB? HimvcHAumsem I ! f rv nt.isvun nrr-ni- HMJwrw . ' c ' miITV m& imkim if SUSPECT EUOKN 'RESULTS I I LJsli INW.H5PmJSUT0HJT mi THZNAWNTHR0U6HIT. ON SHOUEPA LOT OF CLASS. NIX- ft ?p) WW i . m ill m mm l W IJSTs |