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Show Pave A14 Ghe Salt Lake Tribune OPINION WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 3, 1999 OUR VIEW The Salt Lake Tribune’s Editorial Position Reverse DCFS Policy Thelast time the state's child welfare agency got sued by an independent ad. vocacy organization, its operation was found to be terribly deficient and the state wound up pouring millions of dol lars into repairing it. This time, the state agency is in the wrong again, and it should correct the problem that has invited the latest litigation againstit “This time”refers to a lawsuit filed Thursdayin 8rd District Court by Utah Children, a Salt Lake City-based child. advocacy organization, against the State’s Division of Child and Family Services, or, more specifically, the boardthat sets its policy. The aim of the lawsuit is absolutely justifiable: to overturn apolicy set by the board this year that bars the adoption of Utah fos ter children by homosexual or unmar ried heterosexual! couples. ‘The anti-gay policy was the bra child of the DCFS board’s chairman, Scott Clark, who also hasattemptedthis year to extend the policy to cover foster parents, as well. He and the six board members who voted with him in favorof the policy last January were individu ally named in the lawsuit. The Tribune opposedthe board's action at the time of the vote, and it supports repeal of the policy, whether by court orderor by the ming to its senses and revers: s case is not of the itude ofthe landmark lawsuit filed Youth Law, which brought about major changes in Utah's child-welfare system But UtahChildren, a spected local organization, per id morerisks to considerin filing its lawsuit; ultimate. ly, though, it is not makin political statement on gayrights as muchasit is taking a principled standforchildren’s rights. Utah Children is contending that, in an environment of heightened state awareness of child abuse and thus more children entering the child-welfare sys: tem, it is counterproductive to limit the pool of potential adoptive parents. It has been difficult enough for the st even with an active push fromGov. Leavitt, to recruit foster and adoptive families; it makeslittle sense to limit that pool of families in such an arbitrary manner The lawsuit claims that the DC board had neither constitutional nor statutory basis forcreating the anti-gay polic id that it adopted the rule with out substantial evidence supportingit in fact, the lawsuit states, DOFS re. ceived more than 20 responses during the comment period last summer, and not one supported the new rule. Even the Child Welfare League of Ame whose standards are supposed to guide DCFS, opposed the rule ‘Theonly explanationforthis ruleis theinstitutionalizationof anti-gaybias; anysense of its ownsorry history in Francisco-based National Center for court, it would do thereversing itself. ‘Sweetness’ to the End todisclosethat he hadalife-threatening liver disease and admitted, “Hell, yeah, I'm scared. Tough guys don't often make admissionslikethat, but Payton, who died of complications from his rare disease Monday at the age of 45, was an anoma ly, He was a football player who did not fear throwing his 210-pound body into much bigger opponents, but who also answered to the fitting nickname “Sweetness, emingly the most in congruous moniker ever for one who engagedin sucha violent sport Among the many remembrance: the wake of Payton’s inevitable but jarring death this week wasapertinent comment by Jim McMahon,the former BYU quarterback who teamed the Chicago backfield with Payton for six years: “He was the greatest and he didn't act like it rds, but verytelling in this age . Perhaps that is why Payton’s name sometimes yets overlooked in the de bate over who was the NFL'sgreatest running back, even though hefinished with the most career yards (16,726) and carries (3,838). He was not the kind of athlete to draw acclaimto himself, but rather the kind who, whenhe had to se Letters from The Tribune’s readers 2 Reduce Consumptien these6billion peopleand beyond. not a coach or a teammatebut his 12. ‘old son. Make no misté e, though, Payton’s record states his case persuasively. In the years before McMahonarrived and helped the Bears to the 1985 NFL cham- country in the world following China and pionship, Payton had to play with a onof ordinary quarte undays in the churned out 100-yard games when defenses were geared strictly to stop him. ‘Throughall thehits, he missed only one mein 13 year: statistic that Utah fans can apprec The sports world might acknowledge that tragedies doindeedstrikein threes; in the last three weeks, it has Wilt amberlain, Payne Stewart and alter Payton. In all three cases Chamberlain because he seemed inde- 40s there was a sense the ied too young. But Pay: be cause he knewdeath was coming, able to impart some lasting lessons: that Americans should wakeup to the need of organ donation andthat, of course, “sweetness” is alwaysa virtue. Witha current populationof more 35 million, Americansconstitute 5 percent of the world's population but consumer 25 percent of the world’s enerOn average, an Amer n consumes But that hasn't stopped a few busy. bodies in Congress from ing a rela: tively small market in wine via the In. ternet soundlike Al Capone's bootleggers. “This new black marketin alcohol having even a tiny portion of their market monopolies disrupted, and so they've mounted campaignto stopIn: ternet wine sales. The premiseoftheir campaign: The Internet allows under: age drinkersto get beer and wine over the Net. Technically, that is true. But what is technicallypossiblein this case doesn’t mix with reality. How manyteens are going to wait days for speci arrive when they really now? And howmany of them are going to try to get fine wines? Just about zero, is dangerous,” says Florida Rep. Joe Scarborough, sponsor of bill that would render most Internet wine sales illegal. “It is bootleg, Nonsense. His legislation is about protecting local monopolies created when Prohibition ended. The Internet allows small wineries to go around wholesalers anddistributors to reach a select few people who want their wines. Congress has far more important business fake at hand thanchasing after a , The Salt Lake Tribune UTAH’S INDEPENDENT VOICE SINCE1871 PAST PUBLISHERS JohnF. Fitzpatrick (1924-1960) less, consume reuse, and recycle. We need to minimi: our motorized travel orat least drive a car that uses les gas. We need to mini. mizeelectricity use in our homes. We needtoeat less meat 3. highest rate of meat consumption at 260 poundsper year Weneed to plan when(orif) and how large our families will be so there’s not a continue to stay aware of these popula tion and consumption issues. John W. Gallivan (1960-1983) EDITOR Jerry O'Brien (1983-1994) James EB, Shelledy KEARNS-TRIBUNE CORPORATION, 143 §, MAIN ST. SALT LAKECITY, #4111 A are @ Our fax number is (801) 257-8950. withoutslantingit. I notice that your paperselects most letters bashing the Mor- mon church with Sen. Orrin Hatch appended sometimes. Why do you allow this? You wouldn't be hereif it weren't for the Mormons. They foundedthis state at a heavy pr and it contains so many Mormons whoread your paper. Youal- low so many gayandlesbian supporters. Surely you must know that Utahns are moreunderstanding andneutral on gays than inother parts of the country. Gays’ lives are their ownbusiness but whyare you so supporting andinterested ts tiresome to hear your s' letters bashing us. These ll your Forum unreasonably friends havewrittensensibleletters that was amazedthat so many almost 1 out of 10 knew that Utah was in the west ern UnitedStates. But, perhaps it should not havebeen a shock to me. In my travels, I found Europeansvery knowledgeable about the United States andespecially its politics. While visiting I know of, but you ignoreothers. Can't the Forumgetridofthese prejudices and makeyour letters representative of the actual populace? We don't have that many gays and church bashers in our community. Paris. Finding out | was American, they began asking about Pat Buchanan, Bill Clinton and Bob Dole. Their understanding of American electoral andsocial issues impressedme. Imagineif a similar poll were taken in Utah; Namethelast European Olympic Winter Games? (Lillehammer, 1994) In what countryis Lillehammer? (Norway) In what county or region is Lilleham mer? (Oppland)I believe Utahns might farepoorly in sucha poll Europeans careonly as muchfor Utah as Utahns care for Europe. Contrary to local opinion (are you sitting Utah is not the center of The Universe, are, so that may be why we sense your dislike of Republicans. I would plead withyou to improve your Forum page by giving representation to all of us, and please get rid of those prejudices and handed, while the evolutionists would have their cookies. I think he hasit backwards. Using the same analogy, true evolutionists would say the said ingredients would cometogether randomly and over time, would emerge on their own, into delicious cookies. Creationists, on the perfect amount oftime. 1 like his cookie analogy because it demonstrates how preposterous the theory ofevolution actually is. I know of no such cookies that can make themselves. It would be like throwing a bunch of metaland electrical components into the air and expecting to see a 747 appear. Now whois it that has this magic wand of which hespeal it not the evolutionist? What the evolutionists would discover overtime,I'mafraid, is that the forenamed cookie ingredients would becomea stinky, moldy mess. Our world (when you lookatits biology, chemistry, physics and all the sci- entific lawsof nature) has suchorder and functions perfectly, do ourbodies, because they weredesignedtodoso, It is the creationists who end up with their cookies. It takes far more “stubborn”faith to believe that a world such as ours just “happened” than to give credit and honorto an intelligent designer. There, Mr. Kramer,is your answer to understanding how the “communionofearth, water and sun produces miilionsof acres of wheat, oats and sugarbeets. KAREN DAHL a Sandy Costly Commissioner stereotypes. ELDON BRINLEY Salt Lake City Qa I see that Commissioner Mary Callaghan is trying to save the taxpayers money again with her wall-to-wallcities plan(Tribune, Oct. 2). She should instead tell the people who voted herin again last Nature Adapts Why do environmentalists seem to have thefalse idea that ecosystems should remain constant? The nature of nature is that it cycles. If erosion happe new plants grow in new areas. If humans add a road, nature adapts. If log- gers remove congested trees orlightning sparks afire, nature reforests itself or establishes more meadows, It’s time for ecologists and the U.S. November(I didn’t) why she does not ask the state legislators for the $10 million which the state shortchanges the county for services that are provided for them (Rolly Report, Dec. 13, 1998). Lalso believe that Commissioner Callaghan should explain why she let the county buy the overpriced South Moun: tain Golf Course for $15.8 million, and why the much-needed new Adult Detention Centeris over budget(the reason for the latest tax hike) and behind schedule, Forest Service to become more userconscious and let nature do what comes after the agencies that owe the county ly, which is to experience cycles cclimate change. After all, people Golf Course because her ideas cost the part of nature too, JIM K. NGO Salt LakeCity batch. Thecreationists, he argued, would continue having faith, though empty. I suppose you areall Democrats there since 86 percent of ourwriters and press France in 1995, I struck up a conversa- tion with a group of high school-age ids beneath the Arc de Triomphe in sugar and chocolate chips to gain their on a cookie sheet and bake them for the I have been a regular subscriber of your paper for 20 years, and I have enjoyed it when you have reportedthe news while at the sametime you turn down prised me, but not quite the same ists would wave a “magic wand” to pro- duce the cookies, while evolutionists would mix the eggs,oil, flour, oatmeal, of each ingredient, measure them, put themtogether, mix them, place spoonfuls excellent letters from others. Three of my (Tribune, Oct, 20). The results also sur: parison of creationists and evolutionists, made the analogy of baking a batch of cookies. His premise was that creation- would needto know the correct amounts Slanied Lette: Salt Lake City The UtahTravel Council and Univer. sity of Utah rchers were surprised so few Europeans knew where Utah is, according to a commissioned poll Necessary Designer Mark Kramer's (Forum, Oct. 11) com- other hand, would say that someone KRISTEN HILDEN What does that mean? Perhaps that PUBLISHER Dominic Welch submissions City, Utah 84110 Ss. ‘These areastonishing statistics and we needto pay attentionto the impact we are having on the world. If everyone consumed as Americans do, we would need two moreKarth-sizeplanets to take careof us al. We need to work onbal ancing human numbers and consumption with the natural resources and hab itat of the U.S. Weneedto reduce cons' Knowledgeable Folks vintages direct from wineries via the Web. Winedistributors aren't keen on all ladeshis or we'd wager. whom nowroutinely order hard-to-get not published, ™ Mail to Public Forum, TheSalt Lake Tribune, P.O. Box 867, Salt Lake Wine on the Web crisis where noneexists. The Internet has beena boon to wine lovers, manyof received, as muchenergy as two Japaneseor six Mexicans or 13 Chinese or 128 Bang- FromThe Intelligencer, Wheeling, W.Va. Leave it to politicians to conjure a @ Keepit short. Concise letters developing a single theme are more likely to bepublished. Please typeanddoublespace. ® Letters arecondensed andedited. Because of the volume of mail The U.S. is the third most populous burden on ourselves, our communi and ourworld, And most importantly, w need to continuethe discussionso people ANOTHER VIEW Where to Write When submitting letters to the Public Forum, please include your full name, signature, address and daytime telephone numbers. Information other than your nameandthe city in which youlive are kept confidential Recently there has beenalot of press about the day the world’s popuhed 6billion on Oct. 12. So,is thestory the sheer numbersof people on. e to offer that the real a quality oflife for Jeet someoneto present himforhis Hall of Fame inductionsix years ago, chose a9 Walter Payion was the toughest of football players when he performed for the Chicago Bears, but last February he was not afraid to show his vulne ility tothe public. He held a press conference THE PUBLIC FORUM it serves no other purpose. The policy needs to be reversed, and if DCFS had against DCPS in 1993 by the San I fee! Commissioner Callaghan should go money, and unload the South Mountain taxpayers too much money. NATE HORNOK Taylorsville CHARLES C. WALDO Taylorsville h‘ |