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Show DAILY HERALD Wednesday, March 21, 2007 A5 EBHOIIMS EDITORIAL BOARD Craig Dennis, President & Publisher Randy Wright, Executive Editor Donald W. Meyers, Editorial page editor IN PURVIEW Utah issues at a glance I An occasional series of short editorials on issues of interest to Daily Herald readers. Help all U.S. downwinders In 1990, the federal government reversed decades of denial and accepted responsibility for the human suffering its nuclear tests in Nevada caused by enacting the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act. RECA offers compensation to people who contracted radiation-relate- d illnesses due to fallout exposure. The act awards $50,000 to downwinders, along with $75,000 for those who worked at the Nevada Test Site. It also covers uranium miners, who are eligible for $100,000 payments. While it sounds generous and suggests that the government is taking responsibility for its past lies and denials, it doesn't really go far enough. RECA classifies each down-windby geography and by disease suffered. In Utah, only those in Beaver, Garfield, Iron, Kane, arrested for conducting a "die-in- " claiming that BYLTs policies cause gay and lesbian students to commit suicide. Oh, please. While Soulforce claims it wants to promote dialogue and understanding on gay and transgender issues, it seems more interested in getting its members arrested on the campuses of religious schools and military academies. It strengthens the cause (so the group's members suppose) to show how mean these schools are by arresting people who just "innocently" walked onto the campus. Tomorrow, Soulforce is plan- ning a six-ho- walk around BYlTs perimeter, billed as a "Walls of Jericho" march. Chances are, some of the protesters will attempt to stray onto campus and maybe get arrested. We have some advice for BYU officials: Ignore the protesters. Campus police should keep an eye on the demonstration to make sure the publicity stunt does not disrupt traffic or classes, and that no violence erupts. But the cops should just let them do their thing and leave. Last year, BYU played into demonstrators' hands by calling out the goon squad a group of Nixonian Secret Service types Millard, Piute, San Juan, Sevier, with little radios in their ears to Washington and Wayne counties who have an illness traceable to make arrests. It was ridiculous. radiation exposure are eligible for Let the demonstrators "die" on the RECA payments, despite the fact lawn, for heaven's sake. It's just that there is a lot of scientific evinot worth the trouble. dence showing that downwinders live elsewhere. A 1997 National Cancer Insti- tute study shows that northern Utah, Idaho and Montana received similar levels of radiation exposure as did the areas traditionally associated with Polygamist cops under suspicion Utah and Arizona police authorities are deciding whether members of an Two years ago, the National force patrolling Hilldale and Colorado City, Ariz.; should turn in Academy of Sciences Board of Radiation Effects called for the their badges. It may be that the officers are government to remove the artif drawn borders defining who more loyal to the Fundamentalist is eligible for RECA compensaChurch of Jesus Christ of Latter tion. The fallout didn't respect Day Saints than to the laws of county lines or state borders, and Utah and Arizona. At the very least, the officers neither, should the compensation. should be relieved of duty while Utah's congressional delegation the accusations against them are should lead the push to expand RECA to anyone who can prove being reviewed. The evidence they were sickened by radioactive against the officers includes a letter to Warren Jeffs from Town fallout. This isn't about cost conMarshal Fred Barlow pledging his trol. It's about a moral debt. loyalty to the incarcerated church leader. Barlow even deferred to Jef f s's judgment in a police hiring down-winder- s. eight-memb- Ignore Soulforce's immature tactics They're baaack! The Soulforce Equality Rid- ers come to town today for yet another rally against Brigham Young University's policies on homosexuality. For those of you who missed it last year, 24 activists were decision. The officers are also accused of ignoring court orders regarding the property being held in a church trust and refusing to participate in depositions. Police officers in any other community that behaved this way would be placed on leave until charges were thoroughly investigated. These should, too. MEDIA VOICES Keep them safe From The Washington Post, March 19,2007 1 verything about the 2008 nresidential election has States i been are moving up their primaries and caucuses, And the candidates all 18 of them and counting are adjusting accordingly, making this one of the earliest election cycles in history. As a result, serious thought must be r" given to adjusting another aspect of the campaign: protection for presidential candidates. Such security was mandated after the 1968 assassination of - Sea Robert F. Kennedy in as he campaigned fornia, for the Democratic Party nomina-tion. The decision on who gets protection and when rests with Secretary of Homeland Security 7 Michael Chertof f , in consulta- tion with congressional leaders. ZZ Usually this happens in the first two months of the election year. and Sea John Kerry, Cali-ZZ- Z li John Edwards, were given Secret Service details in February 2004. But it has been given earlier. The Rev. Jesse Jackson had protection during both of his campaigns for the White House. A similar departure from custom, if not a new law rooted in a new reality, is in order now. We understand that asking for Secret Service protection sword. can be a double-edgeCandidates may fear looking presumptuous or cowardly. They also may resist the separation from voters that protection can demand. But the course of history is unpredictable, and every step should be taken to ensure that it is not altered by a madman with a gun. Right now, because she is a former first lady, only Sea Hillary Rodham Clinton, has federal protection. With an estimated $100 million already allocated for this purpose, Mr. Chertoff should consider bringing more into the fold sooner rather than later. then-Se- d DOONESBURY 41I GMWiO. WW ABSOlWWr H16H-TSCATJUISNOOK-- I IAH0MA! T8ECH LETTERS for help on behalf of Earth and Mother Nature that? It's not the government's fault. The biggest complaint about these s is the raids, which someCan nature's disasters really be times result in the detaining or deportation of illegal mothers and fathers, stopped? If so, why can't anyone do children" behind. something about it? leaving "U.S.-bor- n Rainforests in Africa are being cut Many of us are reluctant to see these families split. But illegal immidown, as we speak. Water destroys cities because dams and walls are not grants know this, so they produce "antall enough or strong enough. All the chor babies." These are (or have been) while, fossil fuels are put to the worst illegal immigrants' guarantee that they use. And all of a sudden ... there is will not be deported. If we want to see America continue global warming. People don't understand that nature as a great nation, then we must do (arid our earthly home) must be helped. something about anchor babies: Only babies born to legal citizens should auInstead of erecting buildings and sports arenas, why can't the money be tomatically be citizens themselves. Vernon Moulton, put to use for something helpful? I clean my neighborhood, which is Pleasant Grove filled with trash and muck, because I really care. I want to stay alive on this Illegal immigrants can stay, planet. I sincerely call out to the world legal immigrants must leave to truly care, and to please, please help Mother Nature., I just read the article titled: "Son of I Graydon Szabo, deported Utah couple will be in naFreedom Academy (sixth grade), tional bee." In spite of this family being here Provo legally, it appears that we are focused on sending home legal immigrants To perilous, pothole Payson who do everything right except anI was driving from Payson High ticipate our red tape. It took that red tape 10 years to take School, traveling north on Main Street; at the light on Eighth South, I hit a them out of contention based on the time it took for their home country to huge pothole. Thinking, 'Oh, my goodness, I need find stability. Never mind that they came and apto watch better,' I continued down Main Street. But then, a car came plied legally in a less stable time, and toward me that was weaving all over they carved out their life here and its side of the street. It was also dodgraised their family. Is that a new carrot to discourage ing potholes. (Mind you, this is Main Street.) illegal border crossing? Did we just I decided to count the potholes; but Show the world that we are dead seriit's not possible, there are too many. ous about deporting legal immigrants who follow the rules? Do we hold up Payson, where are our tax dollars the rights of citizenship until they no going? Do you know that we are a longer qualify? laughingstock because our roads are so bad? This whole situation and outcome is Now I have a huge bulge on the side made more ironic by the way we don't of my tire. I get to go buy a new one . enforce immigration laws for illegal entry. (my tires are only six months old). How many times has this happened to If this story doesn't embarrass us, people, and they don't realize that it's nothing will. It took a boatload of missing logic from a pothole? I'll bet Payson will not be replacing to have this outcome. This should have ended as a classic, American family's my tire, and that hole will be there next year at this time. success story; but instead, it has ended I Becky Baker, as a tragic comedy of errors. I Mary Lowry, Payson Calling 'Anchor babies' threaten to sink our country, Herald. The Daily Herald: "Your Town, Your Neighbors ... but Someone Else's Newspaper." Utah County is one of the most conservative places in the country, yet the Herald consistently takes a liberal editorial position (especially when it . comes to illegal immigration). Monday, March 12, the Herald furthered the cause of continued illegal immigratioa It's true that families of illegal immigrants that are caught in packinghouse raids are torn apart when the government cracks down on them. Families are split similarly to the way that any family is split after being jailed. Whose fault is Garry Trudeau crack-down- Saratoga Springs Traditional barbers give a lot more than just haircuts I read the article in the Daily Herald about the Utah Legislature considering separating barbers from cosmetology. The 1976 law that blended both vocations should have never been enacted. Currentry, I go to a barber who has been bartering longer than I've been alive. He knows how to give good haircuts, how to dispense advice, and he keeps up with current events (locally and worldwide). My barber has cut the hair of law professional athletes, high-levenforcement officers and common residents. el Traditional barbers offer more than MALLARD FILLMORE just "a shave and a haircut," they help men with good grooming. They are a "window to the world." Yes, traditional barbers dispense tidbits of wisdom and tradition that can't be obtained from a chatty blonde woman with a cigarette who has done too many perms, has inhaled too many chemicals, and has too much bitterness from the other women in cosmetology shops. I James A. Marples, Provo Begging the taxpayers for insatiable education funding Every time there's a spare nickel in the state coffers, all of the proponents for education raise their begging heads, asking for a dime. Because education is the "golden child" of any governmental, budgetary process (and because it appeals to the masses as being absolutely necessary) it's always funded in some unbeliev' able amount. It doesn't matter if the issue is general annual funding or special bonding e or. a piece of the surplus, the begging never ends. There is never enough funding for education. We still have teachers that are underpaid, classrooms that are overcrowded, and a "No Child Left Behind" program which could be more aptly called the "no self achieving student can excel" program. It's time for a comprehensive evaluation of the state education program from top to bottom. If the quality of public education rises to the level where it's funded, there will be no need for private education. But the public system falls far short. Contact your local representatives and pressure them for this evaluation and cost reduction. There are other ways to fund public education without always coming to the taxpayer for another raise. I Bryan J. Burr, one-tim- -- Alpine How to comment letters to dhlettersheraldextra.com 5 Fax to Mail to P.O. Box 717, 344-298- Provo, UT 84603. I Letters must include the author's full name, address and daytime phone number. I We prefer shorter letters, 100 to 200 words. Letters may be edited for length. I Writers are encouraged to include their occupation and other personal informatioa I Because of the volume of letters, we cannot acknowledge unpublished letters. I Letters become the property of the Daily Herald. Bruce Tinsley wwrrtBecAuse iTKXSNrrm.UKe.H0M. wavBiTAmoums. AU.K10M1, comet , OWY. WHICH No IPTC Reader found |